SearcharxivSearch

arXiv subjects

M. Mancini

Publications and source records attributed to M. Mancini.

14 recordsLinked to original sources

Search for a new 17 MeV resonance via $e^+e^-$ annihilation with the PADME Experiment

The PADME Experiment at the Frascati DA$\Phi$NE LINAC has searched for a hypothetical particle with mass around 17 MeV, commonly referred to as the X17, using a positron beam incident on a fixed target. The beam energy was varied between 262 and 296 MeV, corresponding to center-of-mass energies $\sqrt{s}$ between 16.4 and 17.4 MeV. The X17 should be produced resonantly via $e^+e^-$ annihilation when $\sqrt{s}$ approaches its mass, inducing an excess of events with a two-body final state over the background expectation. The beam energy spacing was fixed to less than half the expected width of the resonance's line shape. Uncertainties below 1% per $\sqrt{s}$ point were achieved. A blind analysis has been performed. The data are consistent with the expected background in most of the explored energy range, and limits are set in previously unexplored regions of the available parameter space. The most significant deviation is found for $\sqrt{s} \approx 16.90$ MeV, corresponding to a global significance of approximately 2 standard deviations over the null hypothesis expectation.

hep-ex

Source location and evolution of a multi-lane type II radio burst

Shocks in the solar corona can accelerate electrons that in turn generate radio emission known as type II radio bursts. The characteristics and morphology of these radio bursts in the dynamic spectrum reflect the evolution of the shock itself, together with the properties of the local corona where it propagates. In this work, we study the evolution of a complex type II radio burst showing a multi-lane structure, to find the locations where the radio emission is produced and relate them to the properties of the local environment. Using radio imaging, we track separately each lane composing the type II burst and relate the position of the emission to the properties of the ambient medium such as density, Alfven speed, and magnetic field. We show that the radio burst morphology in the dynamic spectrum changes with time and it is related to the complexity of the local environment. The initial stage of the radio emission show a single lane in the spectrum, while the latter stages of the radio signature evolve in a multi-lane scenario. The radio imaging reveals how the initial stage of the radio emission separates with time into different locations along the shock front as the density and orientation of the magnetic field change along the shock propagation. At the time where the spectrum shows a multi-lane shape, we found a clear separation of the imaged radio sources. By combining radio imaging with the properties of the local corona, we described the evolution of a type II radio burst and, for the first time, identified three distinct radio emission regions above the CME front. Two regions were located at the flanks, producing earlier radio emission than the central position, in accordance with the complexity of density and Alfven speed values in the regions where radio emission is generated. This unprecedented observation provides new insights into the nature of multi-lane type II bursts.

astro-ph.SR

Steering of Sub-GeV positrons by ultra-thin bent Silicon crystal for ultra slow extraction applications

For the first time at the Beam Test Facility of the DA{\Phi}NE accelerator complex at the Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati of INFN, 450 MeV positrons have been deflected with high efficiency, using the Planar Channeling process in a bent silicon crystal. The deflection angle obtained is beyond 1 mrad. This interesting result finds several applications for manipulation of this kind of beams, in particular for slow extraction from leptons circular accelerators like DA{\Phi}NE. In this work the experimental apparatus, the measurement procedure and the experimental results are reported.

physics.acc-ph

Characterization of the PADME positron beam for the X17 measurement

This paper presents a detailed characterization of the positron beam delivered by the Beam Test Facility at Laboratori Nazionali of Frascati to the PADME experiment during Run III, which took place from October to December 2022. It showcases the methodology used to measure the main beam parameters such as the position in space, the absolute momentum scale, the beam energy spread, and its intensity through a combination of data analysis and Monte Carlo simulations. The results achieved include an absolute precision in the momentum of the beam to within $\sim$ 1-2 MeV$/c$, a relative beam energy spread below 0.25\%, and an absolute precision in the intensity of the beam at the level of 2\% percent.

hep-ex

Detectability of a phase transition in neutron star matter with third-generation gravitational wave interferometers

Possible strong first-order hadron-quark phase transitions in neutron star interiors leave an imprint on gravitational waves, which could be detected with planned third-generation interferometers. Given a signal from the late inspiral of a binary neutron star (BNS) coalescence, %the possibility of assessing the presence of such a phase transition depends on the precision that can be attained in the determination of the tidal deformability parameter, as well as on the model used to describe the hybrid star equation of state. For the latter, we employ here a phenomenological meta-modelling of the equation of state that largely spans the parameter space associated with both the low density phase and the quark high density compatible with current constraints. We show that with a network of third-generation detectors, a single loud BNS event might be sufficient to infer the presence of a phase transition at low baryon densities with an average Bayes factor $B\approx 100$, up to a luminosity distance ($\mathcal{D}_L \lesssim$ 300 Mpc).

astro-ph.HE

First release of Apertif imaging survey data

(Abridged) Apertif is a phased-array feed system for WSRT, providing forty instantaneous beams over 300 MHz of bandwidth. A dedicated survey program started on 1 July 2019, with the last observations taken on 28 February 2022. We describe the release of data products from the first year of survey operations, through 30 June 2020. We focus on defining quality control metrics for the processed data products. The Apertif imaging pipeline, Apercal, automatically produces non-primary beam corrected continuum images, polarization images and cubes, and uncleaned spectral line and dirty beam cubes for each beam of an Apertif imaging observation. For this release, processed data products are considered on a beam-by-beam basis within an observation. We validate the continuum images by using metrics that identify deviations from Gaussian noise in the residual images. If the continuum image passes validation, we release all processed data products for a given beam. We apply further validation to the polarization and line data products. We release all raw observational data from the first year of survey observations, for a total of 221 observations of 160 independent target fields, covering approximately one thousand square degrees of sky. Images and cubes are released on a per beam basis, and 3374 beams are released. The median noise in the continuum images is 41.4 uJy/bm, with a slightly lower median noise of 36.9 uJy/bm in the Stokes V polarization image. The median angular resolution is 11.6"/sin(Dec). The median noise for all line cubes, with a spectral resolution of 36.6 kHz, is 1.6 mJy/bm, corresponding to a 3-sigma HI column density sensitivity of 1.8 x 10^20 atoms cm^-2 over 20 km/s (for a median angular resolution of 24" x 15"). We also provide primary beam images for each individual Apertif compound beam. The data are made accessible using a Virtual Observatory interface.

astro-ph.IM

Continuum source catalog for the first APERTIF data release

The first data release of Apertif survey contains 3074 radio continuum images covering a thousand square degrees of the sky. The observations were performed during August 2019 to July 2020. The continuum images were produced at a central frequency 1355 MHz with the bandwidth of $\sim$150 MHz and angular resolution reaching 10". In this work we introduce and apply a new method to obtain a primary beam model using a machine learning approach, Gaussian process regression. The primary beam models obtained with this method are published along with the data products for the first Apertif data release. We apply the method to the continuum images, mosaic them and extract the source catalog. The catalog contains 249672 radio sources many of which are detected for the first time at these frequencies. We cross-match the coordinates with the NVSS, LOFAR/DR1/value-added and LOFAR/DR2 catalogs resulting in 44523, 22825 and 152824 common sources respectively. The first sample provides a unique opportunity to detect long term transient sources which have significantly changed their flux density for the last 25 years. The second and the third ones combined together provide information about spectral properties of the sources as well as the redshift estimates.

astro-ph.IM

CompOSE Reference Manual

CompOSE (CompStar Online Supernovae Equations of State) is an online repository of equations of state (EoS) for use in nuclear physics and astrophysics, e.g., in the description of compact stars or the simulation of core-collapse supernovae and neutron-star mergers, see http://compose.obspm.fr. The main services, offered via the website, are: a collection of data tables in a flexible and easily extendable data format for different EoS types and related physical quantities with extensive documentation and referencing; software for download to extract and to interpolate these data and to calculate additional quantities; webtools to generate EoS tables that are customized to the needs of the users and to illustrate dependencies of various EoS quantities in graphical form. This manual is an update of previous versions that are available on the CompOSE website, at arXiv:1307.5715 [astro-ph.SR], and that was originally published in the journal "Physics of Particles and Nuclei" with doi:10.1134/S1063779615040061. It contains a detailed description of the service, containing a general introduction as well as instructions for potential contributors and for users. Short versions of the manual for EoS users and providers will also be available as separate publications.

astro-ph.HE

In-situ Tuning of the Electric Dipole Strength of a Double Dot Charge Qubit: Charge Noise Protection and Ultra Strong Coupling

Semiconductor quantum dots, where electrons or holes are isolated via electrostatic potentials generated by surface gates, are promising building blocks for semiconductor-based quantum technology. Here, we investigate double quantum dot (DQD) charge qubits in GaAs, capacitively coupled to high-impedance SQUID array and Josephson junction array resonators. We tune the strength of the electric dipole interaction between the qubit and the resonator in-situ using surface gates. We characterize the qubit-resonator coupling strength, qubit decoherence, and detuning noise affecting the charge qubit for different electrostatic DQD configurations. We find that all quantities can be tuned systematically over more than one order of magnitude, resulting in reproducible decoherence rates $\Gamma_2/2\pi<~5$ MHz in the limit of high interdot capacitance. Conversely, by reducing the interdot capacitance, we can increase the DQD electric dipole strength, and therefore its coupling to the resonator. By employing a Josephson junction array resonator with an impedance of $\sim4$ k$\Omega$ and a resonance frequency of $\omega_r/2\pi \sim 5.6$ GHz, we observe a coupling strength of $g/2\pi \sim 630$ MHz, demonstrating the possibility to achieve the ultrastrong coupling regime (USC) for electrons hosted in a semiconductor DQD. These results are essential for further increasing the coherence of quantum dot based qubits and investigating USC physics in semiconducting QDs.

cond-mat.mes-hall

Measuring absolute frequencies beyond the GPS limit via long-haul optical frequency dissemination

Global Positioning System (GPS) dissemination of frequency standards is ubiquitous at present, providing the most widespread time and frequency reference for the majority of industrial and research applications worldwide. On the other hand, the ultimate limits of the GPS presently curb further advances in high-precision, scientific and industrial applications relying on this dissemination scheme. Here, we demonstrate that these limits can be reliably overcome even in laboratories without a local atomic clock by replacing the GPS with a 642-km-long optical fiber link to a remote primary caesium frequency standard. Through this configuration we stably address the $^1$S$_0$---$^3$P$_0$ clock transition in an ultracold gas of $^{173}$Yb, with a precision that exceeds the possibilities of a GPS-based measurement, dismissing the need for a local clock infrastructure to perform high-precision tasks beyond GPS limit. We also report an improvement of two orders of magnitude in the accuracy on the transition frequency reported in literature.

physics.optics

A strongly interacting gas of two-electron fermions at an orbital Feshbach resonance

We report on the experimental observation of a strongly interacting gas of ultracold two-electron fermions with orbital degree of freedom and magnetically tunable interactions. This realization has been enabled by the demonstration of a novel kind of Feshbach resonance occurring in the scattering of two 173Yb atoms in different nuclear and electronic states. The strongly interacting regime at resonance is evidenced by the observation of anisotropic hydrodynamic expansion of the two-orbital Fermi gas. These results pave the way towards the realization of new quantum states of matter with strongly correlated fermions with orbital degree of freedom.

cond-mat.quant-gas

Observation of chiral edge states with neutral fermions in synthetic Hall ribbons

Chiral edge states are a hallmark of quantum Hall physics. In electronic systems, they appear as a macroscopic consequence of the cyclotron orbits induced by a magnetic field, which are naturally truncated at the physical boundary of the sample. Here we report on the experimental realization of chiral edge states in a ribbon geometry with an ultracold gas of neutral fermions subjected to an artificial gauge field. By imaging individual sites along a synthetic dimension, we detect the existence of the edge states, investigate the onset of chirality as a function of the bulk-edge coupling, and observe the edge-cyclotron orbits induced during a quench dynamics. The realization of fermionic chiral edge states is a fundamental achievement, which opens the door towards experiments including edge state interferometry and the study of non-Abelian anyons in atomic systems.

cond-mat.quant-gas

Foams in contact with solid boundaries: equilibrium conditions and conformal invariance

A liquid foam in contact with a solid surface forms a two-dimensional foam on the surface. We derive the equilibrium equations for this 2D foam when the solid surface is curved and smooth, generalising the standard case of flat Hele Shaw cells. The equilibrium conditions at the vertices in 2D, at the edges in 3D, are invariant by conformal transformations. Regarding the films, conformal invariance only holds with restrictions, which we explicit for 3D and flat 2D foams. Considering foams confined in thin interstices between two non parallel plates, normal incidence and Laplace's law lead to an approximate equation relating the plate profile to the conformal map. Solutions are given for the logarithm and power laws in the case of constant pressure. The paper concludes on a comparison with available experimental data.

cond-mat.soft

Star-triangle equivalence in soap froths

In two dimensional foams at equilibrium, triangular bubbles can be freely exchanged with 3-fold stars --three edges ending at a central vertex. This theorem is deduced here from Moukarzel's duality. Moreover, to probe the method, a few related properties are established: under slow gas diffusion, T2 processes are continuous for triangles but not for other types of bubbles. In general, the gas flow results in different configurations in the presence of a triangle than in the presence of a star.

cond-mat.soft