arXiv subjects

M. Skurzok

Publications and source records attributed to M. Skurzok.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2023

Measurements of high-n transitions in intermediate mass kaonic atoms by SIDDHARTA-2 at DA$\mathrmΦ$NE

The SIDDHARTA-2 experiment installed at the DA$\mathrmΦ$NE collider of INFN-LNF performed, for the first time, measurements of high-n transitions in intermediate mass kaonic atoms during the data taking campaigns of 2021 and 2022. Kaonic carbon, oxygen, nitrogen and aluminium transitions, which occur in the setup materials, were measured by using the kaons stopped in the gaseous helium target cell with aluminium frames and Kapton walls, and are reported in this paper. These new kaonic atoms measurements add valuable input to the kaonic atoms transitions data base, which is used as a reference for theories and models of the low-energy strong interaction between antikaon and nuclei. Moreover, these results pave the way for future dedicated kaonic atoms measurements through the whole periodic table and to a new era for the antikaon-nuclei studies at low energy.

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arXiv2023

New opportunities for kaonic atoms measurements from CdZnTe detectors

We present the tests performed by the SIDDHARTA-2 collaboration at the DAΦNE collider with a quasi-hemispherical CdZnTe detector. The very good room-temperature energy resolution and efficiency in a wide energy range show that this detector technology is ideal for studying radiative transitions in intermediate and heavy-mass kaonic atoms. The CdZnTe detector was installed for the first time in an accelerator environment to perform tests on the background rejection capabilities, which were achieved by exploiting the SIDDHARTA-2 Luminosity Monitor. A spectrum with an $^{241}Am$ source has been acquired, with beams circulating in the main rings, and peak resolutions of 6% at 60 keV and of 2.2% at 511 keV have been achieved. The background suppression factor, which turned out to be of the order of $\simeq10^{5-6}$, opens the possibility to plan for future kaonic atom measurements with CdZnTe detectors.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2023

J-PET detection modules based on plastic scintillators for performing studies with positron and positronium beams

The J-PET detector, which consists of inexpensive plastic scintillators, has demonstrated its potential in the study of fundamental physics. In recent years, a prototype with 192 plastic scintillators arranged in 3 layers has been optimized for the study of positronium decays. This allows performing precision tests of discrete symmetries (C, P, T) in the decays of positronium atoms. Moreover, thanks to the possibility of measuring the polarization direction of the photon based on Compton scattering, the predicted entanglement between the linear polarization of annihilation photons in positronium decays can also be studied. Recently, a new J-PET prototype was commissioned, based on a modular design of detection units. Each module consists of 13 plastic scintillators and can be used as a stand-alone, compact and portable detection unit. In this paper, the main features of the J-PET detector, the modular prototype and their applications for possible studies with positron and positronium beams are discussed. Preliminary results of the first test experiment performed on two detection units in the continuous positron beam recently developed at the Antimatter Laboratory (AML) of Trento are also reported.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2022

Studies of the linearity and stability of Silicon Drift Detectors for kaonic atoms X-ray spectroscopy

The SIDDHARTA-2 experiment at the DA$Φ$NE collider aims to perform precision measurements of kaonic atoms X-ray spectroscopy for the investigation of the antikaon-nucleon strong interaction. To achieve this goal, novel large-area Silicon Drift Detectors (SDDs) have been developed. These devices have special geometry, field configuration and readout electronics that ensure excellent performance in terms of linearity and stability. The paper presents preliminary results for the linearity determination and stability monitoring of the SDDs system during the measurement of kaonic deuterium carried out in the summer of 2022.

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arXiv2022

First tests of the full SIDDHARTA-2 experimental apparatus with a 4 He gaseous target

In this paper, we present the first tests performed after the full installation of the SIDDHARTA-2 experimental apparatus on the Interaction Region of the DAΦNE collider at the INFN National Laboratories of Frascati. Before starting the first measurement of the kaonic deuterium 2p{\rightarrow}1s transition, accurate evaluation of the background rejection. mainly achieved with the Kaon Trigger system, was required. This run, performed in the period 04-26/05/2022 with a 4 He gaseous target, confirmed the 10^5 rejection factor obtained with a reduced version of the setup and different machine conditions in 2021. This important outcome motivated the filling of the target cell with deuterium and the starting of the measurement campaign of the kaonic deuterium 2p{\rightarrow}1s transition.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2021

The J-PET detector -- a tool for precision studies of ortho-positronium decays

The J-PET tomograph is constructed from plastic scintillator strips arranged axially in concentric cylindrical layers. It enables investigations of positronium decays by measurement of the time, position, polarization and energy deposited by photons in the scintillators, in contrast to studies conducted so far with crystal and semiconductor based detection systems where the key selection of events is based on the measurement of the photons energies. In this article we show that the J-PET tomograph system is capable of exclusive measurements of the decays of ortho-positronium atoms. We present the first positronium production results, its lifetime distribution measurements and discuss estimation of the influence of various background sources. The tomograph s performance demonstrated here makes it suitable for precision studies of positronium decays including entanglement of the final state photons, positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy plus molecular imaging diagnostics.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2020

Characterization of the SIDDHARTA-2 luminosity monitor

A luminosity monitor, based on plastic scintillator detectors, has been developed for the SIDDHARTA-2 experiment aiming to perform high precision measurements of kaonic atoms and was installed in 2020 on the DAFNE $e^+e^-$ collider at LNF (Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati, INFN). The main goal of this system is to provide the~instantaneous and integrated luminosity of the DAFNE facility by measuring the rate of $K^+K^-$ correlated pairs emitted by the phi meson decay. This task requires an accurate timing of the DAQ signals, as well as timing resolution below 1ns, in order to disentangle the $K^\pm$ signals from the background minimum ionizing particles (MIPs) produced during the $e^+e^-$ collisions at DAFNE. In this paper the luminosity monitor concept as well as its laboratory characterization and the first results inside DAFNE are presented.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2020

Search for the $η$ mesic $^3$He in the $pd\rightarrow d p π^{0}$ reaction with the WASA-at-COSY facility

The excitation function for the $pd\rightarrow$ $d p π^{0}$ reaction has been measured by WASA-at-COSY experiment with the aim of searching for $^{3}\hspace{-0.03cm}\mbox{He}$-$η$ mesic nuclei. The measurement in the vicinity of $η$ meson production was performed using a ramped proton beam. The data analysis and interpretation was carried out with the assumption that the $η$-mesic Helium decays via the formation of an intermediate N$^{*}$(1535) resonance. No direct signal of the $η$-mesic nucleus is observed in the excitation function. We determine a new improved upper limit for the total cross section for the bound state production and decay in the $pd\rightarrow$ $(^{3}\hspace{-0.03cm}\mbox{He}$-$η)_{bound} \rightarrow$ $d p π^{0}$ process. It varies between 13 nb to 24 nb for the bound state with width in the range $Γ\in (5,50)$ MeV.

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arXiv2020

Synchronisation and calibration of the 24-modules J-PET prototype with 300~mm axial field of view

Research conducted in the framework of the J-PET project aims to develop a cost-effective total-body positron emission tomography scanner. As a first step on the way to construct a full-scale J-PET tomograph from long strips of plastic scintillators, a 24-strip prototype was built and tested. The prototype consists of detection modules arranged axially forming a cylindrical diagnostic chamber with the inner diameter of 360 mm and the axial field-of-view of 300 mm. Promising perspectives for a low-cost construction of a total-body PET scanner are opened due to an axial arrangement of strips of plastic scintillators, wchich have a small light attenuation, superior timing properties, and the possibility of cost-effective increase of the axial field-of-view. The presented prototype comprises dedicated solely digital front-end electronic circuits and a triggerless data acquisition system which required development of new calibration methods including time, thresholds and gain synchronization. The system and elaborated calibration methods including first results of the 24-module J-PET prototype are presented and discussed. The achieved coincidence resolving time equals to CRT = 490 $\pm$ 9 ps. This value can be translated to the position reconstruction accuracy $σ(Δl) =$ 18 mm which is fairly position-independent.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2020

Isoscalar Single-Pion Production in the Region of Roper and $d^*(2380)$ Resonances

Exclusive measurements of the quasi-free $pn \to ppπ^-$ and $pp \to ppπ^0$ reactions have been performed by means of $pd$ collisions at $T_p$ = 1.2 GeV using the WASA detector setup at COSY. Total and differential cross sections have been obtained covering the energy region $T_p = 0.95 - 1.3$ GeV ($\sqrt s$ = 2.3 - 2.46 GeV), which includes the regions of $Δ(1232)$, $N^*(1440)$ and $d^*(2380)$ resonance excitations. From these measurements the isoscalar single-pion production has been extracted, for which data existed so far only below $T_p$ = 1 GeV. We observe a substantial increase of this cross section above 1 GeV, which can be related to the Roper resonance $N^*(1440)$, the strength of which shows up isolated from the $Δ$ resonance in the isoscalar $(Nπ)_{I=0}$ invariant-mass spectrum. No evidence for a decay of the dibaryon resonance $d^*(2380)$ into the isoscalar $(NNπ)_{I=0}$ channel is found. An upper limit of 90 $μ$b (90 $\%$ C.L.) corresponding to a branching ratio of 5 $\%$ has been deduced.

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arXiv2020

Hit-time and hit-position reconstruction in strips of plastic scintillators using multi-threshold readouts

In this article, a new method for the reconstruction of hit-position and hit-time of photons in long scintillator detectors is investigated. This research is motivated by the recent development of the positron emission tomography scanners based on plastic scintillators. The proposed method constitutes a new way of signal processing in Multi-Voltage-Technique. It is based on the determination of the degree of similarity between the registered signals and the synchronized model signals stored in a library. The library was established for a set of well defined hit-positions along the length of the scintillator. The Mahalanobis distance was used as a measure of similarity between the two compared signals. The method was validated on the experimental data measured using two-strips J-PET prototype with dimensions of 5x9x300 mm$^3$. The obtained Time-of-Flight (TOF) and spatial resolutions amount to 325~ps (FWHM) and 25~mm (FWHM), respectively. The TOF resolution was also compared to the results of an analogous study done using Linear Fitting method. The best TOF resolution was obtained with this method at four pre-defined threshold levels which was comparable to the resolution achieved from the Mahalanobis distance at two pre-defined threshold levels. Although the algorithm of Linear Fitting method is much simpler to apply than the Mahalanobis method, the application of the Mahalanobis distance requires a lower number of applied threshold levels and, hence, decreases the costs of electronics used in PET scanner.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2020

Differential Cross Sections for Neutron-Proton Scattering in the Region of the $d^*(2380)$ Dibaryon Resonance

Differential cross sections have been extracted from exclusive and kinematically complete high-statistics measurements of quasifree polarized $\vec{n}p$ scattering performed in the energy region of the $d^*(2380)$ dibaryon resonance covering the the range of beam energies $T_n$ = 0.98 - 1.29 GeV ($\sqrt s$ = 2.32 - 2.44 GeV). The experiment was carried out with the WASA-at-COSY setup having a polarized deuteron beam impinged on the hydrogen pellet target and utilizing the quasifree process $dp \to np + p_{spectator}$. That way the $np$ differential cross section $σ(Θ)$ was measured over a large angular range. The obtained angular distributions complement the corresponding analyzing power $A_y(Θ)$ measurements published previously. A SAID partial-wave analysis incorporating the new data strengthens the finding of a resonance pole in the coupled $^3D_3 - ^3G_3$ waves.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2020

Search for eta mesic 3He with the WASA-at-COSY facility in the pd-> 3He 2gamma and pd-> 3He 6gamma reactions

We report on the experimental search for the bound state of an $η$ meson and $^{3}\hspace{-0.03cm}\mbox{He}$ nucleus performed using the WASA-at-COSY detector setup. In order to search for the $η$-mesic nucleus decay, the $pd\rightarrow$ $^{3}\hspace{-0.03cm}\mbox{He} 2γ$ and $pd\rightarrow$ $^{3}\hspace{-0.03cm}\mbox{He} 6γ$ channels have been analysed. These reactions manifest the direct decay of $η$ meson bound in $^{3}\hspace{-0.03cm}\mbox{He}$ nucleus. This non-mesonic decay channel has been considered for the first time. When taking into account only statistical errors, the obtained excitation functions reveal a slight indication for a possible bound state signal corresponding to an $^3$He-$η$ nucleus width $Γ$ above 20 MeV and binding energy $B_s$ between 0 and 15 MeV. However, the determined cross sections are consistent with zero in the range of the systematic uncertainty. Therefore, as final result we estimate only the upper limit for the cross section of the $η$-mesic $^{3}\hspace{-0.03cm}\mbox{He}$ nucleus formation followed by the $η$ meson decay which varies between $2$ nb and $15$ nb depending on possible bound state parameters.

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arXiv2019

Estimating relationship between the Time Over Threshold and energy loss by photons in plastic scintillators used in the J-PET scanner

Time-Over-Threshold (TOT) technique is being used widely due to its implications in developing the multi channel readouts mainly when fast signal processing is required. Using TOT technique as a measure of energy loss instead of charge integration methods significantly reduces the signals readout cost by combining the time and energy information. Therefore, this approach can potentially be used in J-PET tomograph which is build from plastic scintillators characterized by fast light signals. The drawback in adopting this technique is lying in the non-linear correlation between input energy loss and TOT of the signal. The main motivation behind this work is to develop the relationship between TOT and energy loss and validate it with the J-PET tomograph. The experiment was performed using the $^{22}$Na beta emitter source placed in the center of the J-PET tomograph. One can obtain primary photons of two different energies: 511 keV photon from the annihilation of positron (direct annihilation or through the formation of para-Positronim atom or pick-off process of ortho-Positronium atoms), and 1275 keV prompt photon. This allows to study the correlation between TOT values and energy loss for energy range up to 1000 keV. As the photon interacts dominantly via Compton scattering inside the plastic scintillator, there is no direct information of primary photon energy. However, using the J-PET geometry one can measure the scattering angle of the interacting photon. Since, $^{22}$Na source emits photons of two different energies, it is required to know unambiguously the energy of incident photons and its corresponding scattering angle for the estimation of energy deposition. In this work, the relationship between Time Over Threshold and energy loss by interacting photons inside the plastic scintillators used in J-PET scanner is established for a energy deposited range 100-1000 keV

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2019

Performance assessment of the 2$γ$ positronium imaging with the total-body PET scanners

In living organisms the positron-electron annihilation (occurring during the PET imaging) proceeds in about 30% via creation of a metastable ortho-positronium atom. In the tissue, due to the pick-off and conversion processes, over 98% of ortho-positronia annihilate into two 511~keV photons. In this article we assess the feasibility for reconstruction of the mean ortho-positronium lifetime image based on annihilations into two photons. The main objectives of this work include: (i) estimation of the sensitivity of the total-body PET scanners for the ortho-positronium mean lifetime imaging using $2γ$ annihilations, and (ii) estimation of the spatial and time resolution of the ortho-positronium image as a function of the coincidence resolving time (CRT) of the scanner. Simulations are conducted assuming that radiopharmaceutical is labelled with $^{44}Sc$ isotope emitting one positron and one prompt gamma. The image is reconstructed on the basis of triple coincidence events. The ortho-positronium lifetime spectrum is determined for each voxel of the image. Calculations were performed for cases of total-body detectors build of (i) LYSO scintillators as used in the EXPLORER PET, and (ii) plastic scintillators as anticipated for the cost-effective total-body J-PET scanner. To assess the spatial and time resolution the three cases were considered assuming that CRT is equal to 140ps, 50ps and 10ps. The estimated total-body PET sensitivity for the registration and selection of image forming triple coincidences is larger by a factor of 12.2 (for LYSO PET) and by factor of 4.7 (for plastic PET) with respect to the sensitivity for the standard $2γ$ imaging by LYSO PET scanners with AFOV=20cm.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2019

Study of Three-Nucleon Dynamics in the dp breakup collisions using the WASA detector

Differential cross section for the 1H(d,pp)n breakup reaction at deuteron beam energy of 340 MeV has been measured with the use of WASA detector at COSY-Juelich. The set of proton-proton coincidences registered at Forward Detector has been analysed on dense grid of kinematic variables, giving in total around 5600 data points. The cross section data are compared to theoretical predictions based on the state-of-the-art nucleon-nucleon potentials, combined with three-nucleon force, Coulomb interaction or carried out in a relativistic regime.

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2019

Non-mesonic decay of the $η$-mesic $^{3}\hspace{-0.03cm}\mbox{He}$ via $pd\rightarrow(^{3}\hspace{-0.03cm}\mbox{He}$-$η)_{bound}\rightarrow$ $^{3}\hspace{-0.03cm}\mbox{He} 2γ(6γ$) reaction

In this article a theoretical model for the $η$-mesic $^{3}\hspace{-0.03cm}\mbox{He}$ non-mesonic decay channels is presented. We present the resultant relative momentum distribution of bound $^{3}\hspace{-0.03cm}\mbox{He}$-$η$ as well as in-medium branching ratios of $η\rightarrow 2γ$ and $η\rightarrow 3π^0$, which are crucial for the Monte Carlo simulations of measured processes and thus for the experimental data interpretation. As an example we also apply the model for the estimation of the detection efficiency of the WASA-at-COSY detector.

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arXiv2019

K$^-$ multi-nucleon absorption cross sections and branching ratios in $Λ$p and $Σ^0$p final states

The determination of low-energy cross sections and branching ratios of the K$^-$ multi-nucleon absorption processes in $Λ$p and $Σ^0$p final states performed by the AMADEUS collaboration is presented. Low momentum K$^-$ ($p_\mathrm{K} \simeq$ 127 MeV/c) produced at the DA$Φ$NE collider are impinged on a Carbon target within the KLOE detector and the two and three nucleon absorption processes are disentangled by comparing the experimental data to phenomenological calculations. The $Λ$p spectra are interpreted in terms of K$^-$ multi-nucleon absorption processes; the possible contribution of a K$^-$pp bound state is demonstrated to overlap with the two nucleon capture process, its absolute yield thus resulting indistinguishable.

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