arXiv subjects

M. Chabab

Publications and source records attributed to M. Chabab.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2025

Search for non-standard neutrino interactions with the first six detection units of KM3NeT/ORCA

KM3NeT/ORCA is an underwater neutrino telescope under construction in the Mediterranean Sea. Its primary scientific goal is to measure the atmospheric neutrino oscillation parameters and to determine the neutrino mass ordering. ORCA can constrain the oscillation parameters $Δm^{2}_{31}$ and $θ_{23}$ by reconstructing the arrival direction and energy of multi-GeV neutrinos crossing the Earth. Searches for deviations from the Standard Model of particle physics in the forward scattering of neutrinos inside Earth matter, produced by Non-Standard Interactions, can be conducted by investigating distortions of the standard oscillation pattern of neutrinos of all flavours. This work reports on the results of the search for non-standard neutrino interactions using the first six detection units of ORCA and 433 kton-years of exposure. No significant deviation from standard interactions was found in a sample of 5828 events reconstructed in the 1 GeV$-$1 TeV energy range. The flavour structure of the non-standard coupling was constrained at 90\% confidence level to be $|\varepsilon_{μτ} | \leq 5.4 \times 10^{-3}$, $|\varepsilon_{eτ} | \leq 7.4 \times 10^{-2}$, $|\varepsilon_{eμ} | \leq 5.6 \times 10^{-2}$ and $-0.015 \leq \varepsilon_{ττ} - \varepsilon_{μμ} \leq 0.017$. The results are comparable to the current most stringent limits placed on the parameters by other experiments.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2025

Acoustic Positioning for Deep Sea Neutrino Telescopes with a System of Piezo Sensors Integrated into Glass Spheres

Position calibration in the deep sea is typically done by means of acoustic multilateration using three or more acoustic emitters installed at known positions. Rather than using hydrophones as receivers that are exposed to the ambient pressure, the sound signals can be coupled to piezo ceramics glued to the inside of existing containers for electronics or measuring instruments of a deep sea infrastructure. The ANTARES neutrino telescope operated from 2006 until 2022 in the Mediterranean Sea at a depth exceeding 2000m. It comprised nearly 900 glass spheres with 432mm diameter and 15mm thickness, equipped with photomultiplier tubes to detect Cherenkov light from tracks of charged elementary particles. In an experimental setup within ANTARES, piezo sensors have been glued to the inside of such - otherwise empty - glass spheres. These sensors recorded signals from acoustic emitters with frequencies from 46545 to 60235Hz. Two waves propagating through the glass sphere are found as a result of the excitation by the waves in the water. These can be qualitatively associated with symmetric and asymmetric Lamb-like waves of zeroth order: a fast (early) one with $v_e \approx 5$mm/$μ$s and a slow (late) one with $v_\ell \approx 2$mm/$μ$s. Taking these findings into account improves the accuracy of the position calibration. The results can be transferred to the KM3NeT neutrino telescope, currently under construction at multiple sites in the Mediterranean Sea, for which the concept of piezo sensors glued to the inside of glass spheres has been adapted for monitoring the positions of the photomultiplier tubes.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2024

Astronomy potential of KM3NeT/ARCA

The KM3NeT/ARCA neutrino detector is currently under construction at 3500 m depth offshore Capo Passero, Sicily, in the Mediterranean Sea. The main science objectives are the detection of high-energy cosmic neutrinos and the discovery of their sources. Simulations were conducted for the full KM3NeT/ARCA detector, instrumenting a volume of 1 km$^3$, to estimate the sensitivity and discovery potential to point-like neutrino sources and an all-sky diffuse neutrino flux. This paper covers the reconstruction of track- and shower-like signatures, as well as the criteria employed for neutrino event selection. By leveraging both the track and shower observation channels, the KM3NeT/ARCA detector demonstrates the capability to detect the diffuse astrophysical neutrino flux within half a year of operation, achieving a 5$σ$ statistical significance. With an angular resolution below 0.1$^\circ$ for tracks and under 2$^\circ$ for showers, the sensitivity to point-like neutrino sources surpasses existing observed limits across the entire sky.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2024

Measurement of neutrino oscillation parameters with the first six detection units of KM3NeT/ORCA

KM3NeT/ORCA is a water Cherenkov neutrino detector under construction and anchored at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea. The detector is designed to study oscillations of atmospheric neutrinos and determine the neutrino mass ordering. This paper focuses on an initial configuration of ORCA, referred to as ORCA6, which comprises six out of the foreseen 115 detection units of photo-sensors. A high-purity neutrino sample was extracted, corresponding to an exposure of 433 kton-years. The sample of 5828 neutrino candidates is analysed following a binned log-likelihood method in the reconstructed energy and cosine of the zenith angle. The atmospheric oscillation parameters are measured to be $\sin^2θ_{23}= 0.51^{+0.04}_{-0.05}$, and $ Δm^2_{31} = 2.18^{+0.25}_{-0.35}\times 10^{-3}~\mathrm{eV^2} \cup \{-2.25,-1.76\}\times 10^{-3}~\mathrm{eV^2}$ at 68\% CL. The inverted neutrino mass ordering hypothesis is disfavoured with a p-value of 0.25.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2024

Search for quantum decoherence in neutrino oscillations with six detection units of KM3NeT/ORCA

Neutrinos described as an open quantum system may interact with the environment which introduces stochastic perturbations to their quantum phase. This mechanism leads to a loss of coherence along the propagation of the neutrino $-$ a phenomenon commonly referred to as decoherence $-$ and ultimately, to a modification of the oscillation probabilities. Fluctuations in space-time, as envisaged by various theories of quantum gravity, are a potential candidate for a decoherence-inducing environment. Consequently, the search for decoherence provides a rare opportunity to investigate quantum gravitational effects which are usually beyond the reach of current experiments. In this work, quantum decoherence effects are searched for in neutrino data collected by the KM3NeT/ORCA detector from January 2020 to November 2021. The analysis focuses on atmospheric neutrinos within the energy range of a few GeV to $100\,\mathrm{GeV}$. Adopting the open quantum system framework, decoherence is described in a phenomenological manner with the strength of the effect given by the parameters $Γ_{21}$ and $Γ_{31}$. Following previous studies, a dependence of the type $Γ_{ij} \propto (E/E_0)^n$ on the neutrino energy is assumed and the cases $n = -2,-1$ are explored. No significant deviation with respect to the standard oscillation hypothesis is observed. Therefore, $90\,\%$ CL upper limits are estimated as $Γ_{21} < 4.6\cdot 10^{-21}\,$GeV and $Γ_{31} < 8.4\cdot 10^{-21}\,$GeV for $n = -2$, and $Γ_{21} < 1.9\cdot 10^{-22}\,$GeV and $Γ_{31} < 2.7\cdot 10^{-22}\,$GeV for $n = -1$, respectively.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2024

Constraints on the energy spectrum of the diffuse cosmic neutrino flux from the ANTARES neutrino telescope

High-significance evidences of the existence of a high-energy diffuse flux of cosmic neutrinos have emerged in the last decade from several observations by the IceCube Collaboration. The ANTARES neutrino telescope took data for 15 years in the Mediterranean Sea, from 2007 to 2022, and collected a high-purity all-flavour neutrino sample. The search for a diffuse cosmic neutrino signal using this dataset is presented in this article. This final analysis did not provide a statistically significant observation of the cosmic diffuse flux. However, this is converted into limits on the properties of the cosmic neutrino spectrum. In particular, given the sensitivity of the ANTARES neutrino telescope between 1 and 50 TeV, constraints on single-power-law hypotheses are derived for the cosmic diffuse flux below 20 TeV, especially for power-law fits of the IceCube data with spectral index softer than 2.8.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2024

Higgs photon associated production in a Two Higgs Doublet Type-II Seesaw Model at future electron-positron colliders

We study the one-loop prediction for the single production of a SM-like Higgs boson in association with a photon in electron-positron collisions in the context of the two Higgs doublet type-II seesaw model ($2HDMcT$). We explore to what extent the new scalars in the $2HDMcT$ spectrum affect its production cross-section, the ratio $R_{γh_1}$ as well as the signal strengths $R_{γZ}$ and $R_{γγ}$ when $h_1$ is identified with the observed $SM$ Higgs boson within the $2HDMcT$ delimited parameter space. More specifically, we focus on $e^+e^- \to h_1γ$ process at one-loop, and analyzed how it evolves under a full set of theoretical constraints and the available experimental data, including $B\to X_sγ$ limit at 95$\%$ C.L. Our analysis shows that these observables are strongly dependent on the parameters of the model, especially the mixing angel $α_1$, the potential parameters $λ_{7}$, $λ_{9}$, the trilinear Higgs couplings, with a noticeable sensitivity to $α_1$. We found that $σ(e^+e^- \to h_1γ)$ can significantly be enhanced up to $8.1\,\,\times 10^{-2}$ fb, thus exceeding the Standard Model prediction. Additionally, as a byproduct, we also observed that $R_{γh_1}$ is entirely correlated with both the $h_1\toγγ$ and $h_1\toγZ$ signal strengths.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2024

Searches for neutrino counterparts of gravitational waves from the LIGO/Virgo third observing run with KM3NeT

The KM3NeT neutrino telescope is currently being deployed at two different sites in the Mediterranean Sea. First searches for astrophysical neutrinos have been performed using data taken with the partial detector configuration already in operation. The paper presents the results of two independent searches for neutrinos from compact binary mergers detected during the third observing run of the LIGO and Virgo gravitational wave interferometers. The first search looks for a global increase in the detector counting rates that could be associated with inverse beta decay events generated by MeV-scale electron anti-neutrinos. The second one focuses on upgoing track-like events mainly induced by muon (anti-)neutrinos in the GeV--TeV energy range. Both searches yield no significant excess for the sources in the gravitational wave catalogs. For each source, upper limits on the neutrino flux and on the total energy emitted in neutrinos in the respective energy ranges have been set. Stacking analyses of binary black hole mergers and neutron star-black hole mergers have also been performed to constrain the characteristic neutrino emission from these categories.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2024

Search for Neutrino Emission from GRB 221009A using the KM3NeT ARCA and ORCA detectors

Gamma-ray bursts are promising candidate sources of high-energy astrophysical neutrinos. The recent GRB 221009A event, identified as the brightest gamma-ray burst ever detected, provides a unique opportunity to investigate hadronic emissions involving neutrinos. The KM3NeT undersea neutrino detectors participated in the worldwide follow-up effort triggered by the event, searching for neutrino events. In this letter, we summarize subsequent searches, in a wide energy range from MeV up to a few PeVs. No neutrino events are found in any of the searches performed. Upper limits on the neutrino emission associated with GRB 221009A are computed.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2024

Review of the online analyses of multi-messenger alerts and electromagnetic transient events with the ANTARES neutrino telescope

By constantly monitoring at least one complete hemisphere of the sky, neutrino telescopes are well designed to detect neutrinos emitted by transient astrophysical events. Real-time searches with the ANTARES telescope have been performed to look for neutrino candidates coincident with gamma-ray bursts detected by the Swift and Fermi satellites, highenergy neutrino events registered by IceCube, transient events from blazars monitored by HAWC, photon-neutrino coincidences by AMON notices and gravitational wave candidates observed by LIGO/Virgo. By requiring temporal coincidence, this approach increases the sensitivity and the significance of a potential discovery. Thanks to the good angular accuracy of neutrino candidates reconstructed with the ANTARES telescope, a coincident detection can also improve the positioning area of non-well localised triggers such as those detected by gravitational wave interferometers. This paper summarises the results of the follow-up performed by the ANTARES telescope between 01/2014 and 02/2022, which corresponds to the end of the data taking period.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2024

Results of the follow-up of ANTARES neutrino alerts

High-energy neutrinos could be produced in the interaction of charged cosmic rays with matter or radiation surrounding astrophysical sources. To look for transient sources associated with neutrino emission, a follow-up program of neutrino alerts has been operating within the ANTARES Collaboration since 2009. This program, named TAToO, has triggered robotic optical telescopes (MASTER, TAROT, ROTSE and the SVOM ground based telescopes) immediately after the detection of any relevant neutrino candidate and scheduled several observations in the weeks following the detection. A subset of ANTARES events with highest probabilities of being of cosmic origin has also been followed by the Swift and the INTEGRAL satellites, the Murchison Widefield Array radio telescope and the H.E.S.S. high-energy gamma-ray telescope. The results of twelve years of observations are reported. No optical counterpart has been significantly associated with an ANTARES candidate neutrino signal during image analysis. Constraints on transient neutrino emission have been set. In September 2015, ANTARES issued a neutrino alert and during the follow-up, a potential transient counterpart was identified by Swift and MASTER. A multi-wavelength follow-up campaign has allowed to identify the nature of this source and has proven its fortuitous association with the neutrino. The return of experience is particularly important for the design of the alert system of KM3NeT, the next generation neutrino telescope in the Mediterranean Sea.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2024

Prospects for combined analyses of hadronic emission from $γ$-ray sources in the Milky Way with CTA and KM3NeT

The Cherenkov Telescope Array and the KM3NeT neutrino telescopes are major upcoming facilities in the fields of $γ$-ray and neutrino astronomy, respectively. Possible simultaneous production of $γ$ rays and neutrinos in astrophysical accelerators of cosmic-ray nuclei motivates a combination of their data. We assess the potential of a combined analysis of CTA and KM3NeT data to determine the contribution of hadronic emission processes in known Galactic $γ$-ray emitters, comparing this result to the cases of two separate analyses. In doing so, we demonstrate the capability of Gammapy, an open-source software package for the analysis of $γ$-ray data, to also process data from neutrino telescopes. For a selection of prototypical $γ$-ray sources within our Galaxy, we obtain models for primary proton and electron spectra in the hadronic and leptonic emission scenario, respectively, by fitting published $γ$-ray spectra. Using these models and instrument response functions for both detectors, we employ the Gammapy package to generate pseudo data sets, where we assume 200 hours of CTA observations and 10 years of KM3NeT detector operation. We then apply a three-dimensional binned likelihood analysis to these data sets, separately for each instrument and jointly for both. We find that the largest benefit of the combined analysis lies in the possibility of a consistent modelling of the $γ$-ray and neutrino emission. Assuming a purely leptonic scenario as input, we obtain, for the most favourable source, an average expected 68% credible interval that constrains the contribution of hadronic processes to the observed $γ$-ray emission to below 15%.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2024

Axially Symmetric Quadrupole-Octupole Model incorporating Sextic Potential

We present an extended application of the analytic quadrupole octupole axially symmetric model, originally employed to study the octupole deformation and vibrations in light actinides using an infinite well potential (IW). In this work, we extend the model's applicability to a broader range of nuclei exhibiting octupole deformation by incorporating a sextic potential instead of the Davidson potential.Similarly to conventional models, such as AQOA-IW (for infinite square potential) and AQOA-D (for the Davidson potential), our proposed model is referred to as AQOA-S. By employing the sextic potential, phenomenologically represented as $v(\tildeβ) = a_1\tilde β^2+a_2\tilde β^4+a_3\tilde β^6$, we can derive analytical expressions for the energy spectra and transition rates (B(E1), B(E2), B(E3)). The energy spectra of the model are essentially governed by two critical parameters: $ϕ_0$, indicating the balance between octupole and quadrupole strain, and $α$, a key factor in adjusting the shape and behavior of the spectra through the sextic potential. In terms of applications, the study encompasses five isotopes, namely $^{222-226}$Ra and $^{224,226}$Th. Significantly, our model demonstrates remarkable agreement with the corresponding experimental data, particularly for the recently determined B(EL) transition rates of $^{224}$Ra, surpassing the performance of the model that employs the Davidson potential. The stability of the octupole deformation in $^{224}$Ra adds particular significance to these findings.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2023

The Power Board of the KM3NeT Digital Optical Module: design, upgrade, and production

The KM3NeT Collaboration is building an underwater neutrino observatory at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea consisting of two neutrino telescopes, both composed of a three-dimensional array of light detectors, known as digital optical modules. Each digital optical module contains a set of 31 three inch photomultiplier tubes distributed over the surface of a 0.44 m diameter pressure-resistant glass sphere. The module includes also calibration instruments and electronics for power, readout and data acquisition. The power board was developed to supply power to all the elements of the digital optical module. The design of the power board began in 2013, and several prototypes were produced and tested. After an exhaustive validation process in various laboratories within the KM3NeT Collaboration, a mass production batch began, resulting in the construction of over 1200 power boards so far. These boards were integrated in the digital optical modules that have already been produced and deployed, 828 until October 2023. In 2017, an upgrade of the power board, to increase reliability and efficiency, was initiated. After the validation of a pre-production series, a production batch of 800 upgraded boards is currently underway. This paper describes the design, architecture, upgrade, validation, and production of the power board, including the reliability studies and tests conducted to ensure the safe operation at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea throughout the observatory's lifespan

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2023

Embedded Software of the KM3NeT Central Logic Board

The KM3NeT Collaboration is building and operating two deep sea neutrino telescopes at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea. The telescopes consist of latices of photomultiplier tubes housed in pressure-resistant glass spheres, called digital optical modules and arranged in vertical detection units. The two main scientific goals are the determination of the neutrino mass ordering and the discovery and observation of high-energy neutrino sources in the Universe. Neutrinos are detected via the Cherenkov light, which is induced by charged particles originated in neutrino interactions. The photomultiplier tubes convert the Cherenkov light into electrical signals that are acquired and timestamped by the acquisition electronics. Each optical module houses the acquisition electronics for collecting and timestamping the photomultiplier signals with one nanosecond accuracy. Once finished, the two telescopes will have installed more than six thousand optical acquisition nodes, completing one of the more complex networks in the world in terms of operation and synchronization. The embedded software running in the acquisition nodes has been designed to provide a framework that will operate with different hardware versions and functionalities. The hardware will not be accessible once in operation, which complicates the embedded software architecture. The embedded software provides a set of tools to facilitate remote manageability of the deployed hardware, including safe reconfiguration of the firmware. This paper presents the architecture and the techniques, methods and implementation of the embedded software running in the acquisition nodes of the KM3NeT neutrino telescopes.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2023

The two Higgs doublet type-II seesaw model: Naturalness and $\bar{B}\to X_sγ$ versus heavy Higgs masses

We extend the work \cite{Ouazghour:2018mld} to a more general and detailed analysis through studying the naturalness problem and $B$ physics constraints within the context of two higgs doublets model augmented with a complex scalar triplet field ($2HDMcT$). We first derive the modified Vetman conditions and show that naturalness problem might be evaded at the electroweak scale. Then, we evaluate the branching ratio of $\bar{B}\to X_sγ$ radiative decay at the Next to leading order. Besides unitarity, boundedness from below constraints and the present collider data from Higgs signal rate measurements, the parameter space of $2HDMcT$ is then revisited to see how the modified Veltman conditions and $\bar{B}\to X_sγ$ experimental bounds induce significant delimitations. Our analysis shows that the naturalness affects drastically the masses of heavy Higgs $h_3$, $A_2$, $H_2^\pm$ and $H^{\pm\pm}$. More specifically, we considered three benchmak scenarios corresponding to $μ_2 > 20, 40, 70$ GeV. For $μ_2 > 40$, we find stringent upper limits on $m_{h_2}$, $m_{A_1}$ and $m_{H_1^\pm}$ at $880$, $920$ and $918$ GeV respectively. If, in addition, the measurements of $\bar{B}\to X_sγ$ decay rate are also considered, the lower masses limits of nonstandard Higgs bosons ($h_2$, $h_3$, $A_1$, $A_2$, $H_1^\pm$, $H_2^\pm$, $H^{\pm\pm}$) are pushed up to higher values located between $490$ and $750$ GeV. Besides, we also demonstrate that the $\bar{B}\to X_sγ$ experimental limits can only be accommodated within $2HDMcT$ if two conditions are fullfilled : $α_1$ parameter positive and the Higgs mass hierarchy $m_{h_{3}}>m_{H_2^\pm}>m_{H^{\pm\pm}}$.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2023

Searches for neutrinos in the direction of radio-bright blazars with the ANTARES telescope

Active galaxies, especially blazars, are among the most promising neutrino source candidates. To date, ANTARES searches for these objects considered GeV-TeV $γ$-ray bright blazars. Here, a statistically complete radio-bright blazar sample is used as the target for searches of origins of neutrinos collected by the ANTARES neutrino telescope over 13 years of operation. The hypothesis of a neutrino-blazar directional correlation is tested by pair counting and by a complementary likelihood-based approach. The resulting post-trial $p$-value is $3.0\%$ ($2.2σ$ in the two-sided convention), possibly indicating a correlation. Additionally, a time-dependent analysis is performed to search for temporal clustering of neutrino candidates as a mean of detecting neutrino flares in blazars. None of the investigated sources alone reaches a significant flare detection level. However, the presence of 18 sources with a pre-trial significance above $3σ$ indicates a $p=1.4\%$ ($2.5σ$ in the two-sided convention) detection of a time-variable neutrino flux. An \textit{a posteriori} investigation reveals an intriguing temporal coincidence of neutrino, radio, and $γ$-ray flares of the J0242+1101 blazar at a $p=0.5\%$ ($2.9σ$ in the two-sided convention) level. Altogether, the results presented here suggest a possible connection of neutrino candidates detected by the ANTARES telescope with radio-bright blazars.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2023

Probing DDM and ML quantum concepts in shape phase transitions of $γ$-unstable nuclei

In a recent paper (S. Ait El Korchi et al. 2020 EPL 132 52001), we explored, inside the context of Critical Point Symmetries (CPSs) X(3) and Z(4), a correlation between two exceedingly known quantum concepts, the Minimal Length (ML) and the Deformation-Dependent Mass (DDM), that are commonly applied in various areas of physics. Such a correlation has been strongly identified in transition nuclei by calculating some physical observables of that quantum system, like as energy spectra, moments of inertia and transition probabilities. In this paper we extend that study to E(5) dynamical symmetry corresponding to the shape phase transition U(5)$\leftrightarrow$O(6). The experimental realization of the models was found to occur in some nuclei, using the existing phenomenological potentials : Infinite Square Well, Davidson and Kratzer, whose models fits provide the best agreement. Importantly the calculations performed in this work using these potentials corroborate the fact that the revealed correlation between both quantum concepts is not destructively affected by the presence of other model parameters and hence its existence is independent of the form or type of the used potential. Undoubtedly, the present work will open the way for more investigations of this correlation in the limits of other critical points symmetries in nuclear shape phase transitions which play today a major role in nuclear structure research from theoretical as well as experimental point of view.

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