arXiv subjects

S. Ricciardi

Publications and source records attributed to S. Ricciardi.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Tinkering in Primary School: From Episode to Science Practice

This study discusses the opportunity to integrate tinkering, a constructionist practice, into formal education, highlighting its potential and challenges. We propose a model through which teachers can blend the open exploratory nature of tinkering with structured learning in primary school classrooms, focusing on Physics Education. Despite pandemic-induced limitations, feedback from 20 teachers and analysis of fishbowl protocols revealed the positive impact of tinkering on classroom dynamics, teacher engagement, and student access to knowledge. Our findings indicated that tinkering can surface relevant scientific questions. Nevertheless, teachers feel unprepared to tackle them in the classroom. This evidence will guide our future co-designs to enhance learning experiences and address the complexities of incorporating tinkering into formal education.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2025

Neutrinos from Stored Muons (nuSTORM)

The Neutrinos from Stored Muons, nuSTORM, facility has been designed to deliver a definitive neutrino-nucleus scattering programme using beams of ,νe- and ,νμ- from the decay of muons confined within a storage ring. The facility is unique, it will be capable of storing μ beams with a central momentum of between 1 GeV/c and 6 GeV/c and a momentum spread of 16%. This specification will allow neutrino-scattering measurements to be made over the kinematic range of interest to the DUNE and Hyper-K collaborations. At nuSTORM, the flavour composition of the beam and the neutrino-energy spectrum are both precisely known. The storage-ring instrumentation will allow the neutrino flux to be determined to a precision of 1% or better. With its existing proton-beam infrastructure, CERN is uniquely well-placed to implement nuSTORM. A summary of the proposed implementation of nuSTORM at CERN is presented below.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2024

LSPE-STRIP on-sky calibration strategy using bright celestial sources

In this paper we describe the global on-sky calibration strategy of the LSPE-Strip instrument. Strip is a microwave telescope operating in the Q- and W-bands (central frequencies of 43 and 95 GHz respectively) from the Observatorio del Teide in Tenerife, with the goal to observe and characterise the polarised Galactic foreground emission, and complement the observations of the polarisation of the cosmic microwave background to be performed by the LSPE-SWIPE instrument and other similar experiments operating at higher frequencies to target the detection of the B-mode signal from the inflationary epoch of the Universe. Starting from basic assumptions on some of the instrument parameters (NET, 1/f noise knee frequency, beam properties, observing efficiency) we perform realistic simulations to study the level of accuracy that can be achieved through observations of bright celestial calibrators in the Strip footprint (sky fraction of 30 %) on the determination and characterisation of the main instrument parameters: global and relative gain factors (in intensity and in polarisation), polarisation direction, polarisation efficiency, leakage from intensity to polarisation, beams, window functions and pointing model.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2023

Transverse Emittance Reduction in Muon Beams by Ionization Cooling

Accelerated muon beams have been considered for next-generation studies of high-energy lepton-antilepton collisions and neutrino oscillations. However, high-brightness muon beams have not yet been produced. The main challenge for muon acceleration and storage stems from the large phase-space volume occupied by the beam, derived from the muon production mechanism through the decay of pions from proton collisions. Ionization cooling is the technique proposed to decrease the muon beam phase-space volume. Here we demonstrate a clear signal of ionization cooling through the observation of transverse emittance reduction in beams that traverse lithium hydride or liquid hydrogen absorbers in the Muon Ionization Cooling Experiment (MICE). The measurement is well reproduced by the simulation of the experiment and the theoretical model. The results shown here represent a substantial advance towards the realization of muon-based facilities that could operate at the energy and intensity frontiers.

physics.acc-ph↗

arXiv2022

Multiple Coulomb Scattering of muons in Lithium Hydride

Multiple Coulomb Scattering (MCS) is a well known phenomenon occurring when charged particles traverse materials. Measurements of muons traversing low $Z$ materials made in the MuScat experiment showed that theoretical models and simulation codes, such as GEANT4 (v7.0), over-estimated the scattering. The Muon Ionization Cooling Experiment (MICE) measured the cooling of a muon beam traversing a liquid hydrogen or lithium hydride (LiH) energy absorber as part of a programme to develop muon accelerator facilities, such as a Neutrino Factory or a Muon Collider. The energy loss and MCS that occur in the absorber material are competing effects that alter the performance of the cooling channel. Therefore measurements of MCS are required in order to validate the simulations used to predict the cooling performance in future accelerator facilities. We report measurements made in the MICE apparatus of MCS using a LiH absorber and muons within the momentum range 160 to 245 MeV/c. The measured RMS scattering width is about 9% smaller than that predicted by the approximate formula proposed by the Particle Data Group. Data at 172, 200 and 240 MeV/c are compared to the GEANT4 (v9.6) default scattering model. These measurements show agreement with this more recent GEANT4 (v9.6) version over the range of incident muon momenta.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2021

Performance of the MICE diagnostic system

Muon beams of low emittance provide the basis for the intense, well-characterised neutrino beams of a neutrino factory and for multi-TeV lepton-antilepton collisions at a muon collider. The international Muon Ionization Cooling Experiment (MICE) has demonstrated the principle of ionization cooling, the technique by which it is proposed to reduce the phase-space volume occupied by the muon beam at such facilities. This paper documents the performance of the detectors used in MICE to measure the muon-beam parameters, and the physical properties of the liquid hydrogen energy absorber during running.

physics.acc-ph↗

arXiv2021

Study of CKM angle $γ$ sensitivity using flavor untagged $B^0_s\rightarrow \tilde{D}^{(*)0}ϕ$ decays

A sensitivity study for the measurement of the CKM angle $γ$ from $B^0_s\rightarrow \tilde{D}^{(*)0}ϕ$ decays is performed using $D$ meson reconstructed in the quasi flavour-specific modes $Kπ$, $K3π$, $Kππ^0$, and \CP-eigenstate modes $KK$ and $ππ$, where the notation $\tilde{D}^0$ corresponds to a $D^0$ or a ${\tilde{D}^0}$ meson. The LHCb experiment is taken as a use case. A statistical uncertainty of about $8-19^{\circ}$ can be achieved with the $pp$ collision data collected by the LHCb experiment from year 2011 to 2018. The sensitivity to $γ$ should be of the order $3-8^{\circ}$ after accumulating 23\invfb of $pp$ collision data by 2025, while it is expected to further improve with 300~fb$^{-1}$ by the second half of the 2030 decade. The accuracy depends on the strong parameters $r^{(*)}_{B}$ and ${δ^{(*)}_{B}}$, describing, together with $γ$, the interference between the leading amplitudes of the $B^0_s\rightarrow \tilde{D}^{(*)0}ϕ$ decays.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2020

Wideband 67-116 GHz receiver development for ALMA Band 2

ALMA has been operating since 2011, but has not yet been populated with the full suite of intended frequency bands. In particular, ALMA Band 2 (67-90 GHz) is the final band in the original ALMA band definition to be approved for production. We aim to produce a wideband, tuneable, sideband-separating receiver with 28 GHz of instantaneous bandwidth per polarisation operating in the sky frequency range 67-116 GHz. Our design anticipates new ALMA requirements following the recommendations in the 2030 ALMA Development Roadmap. The cryogenic cartridge is designed to be compatible with the ALMA Band 2 cartridge slot, where the coldest components -- the feedhorns, orthomode transducers, and cryogenic low noise amplifiers -- operate at a temperature of 15 K. We use multiple simulation methods and tools to optimise our designs for both the passive optics and the active components. The cryogenic cartridge interfaces with a room temperature cartridge hosting the local oscillator (LO) and the downconverter module. This warm cartridge is largely based on GaAs semiconductor technology and is optimised to match the cryogenic receiver bandwidth with the required instantaneous LO tuning range. Our collaboration has designed, fabricated, and tested multiple technical solutions for each of the components, producing a state-of-the-art receiver covering the full ALMA Band 2 & 3 atmospheric window. The receiver is suitable for deployment on ALMA in the coming years, and is capable of dual-polarisation, sideband-separating observations in intermediate frequency bands spanning 4-18 GHz, for a total of 28 GHz on-sky bandwidth per polarisation channel. We conclude that the 67-116 GHz wideband implementation for ALMA Band 2 is now feasible, and this receiver is a compelling instrumental upgrade that will enhance observational capabilities and scientific reach.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2019

First demonstration of ionization cooling by the Muon Ionization Cooling Experiment

High-brightness muon beams of energy comparable to those produced by state-of-the-art electron, proton and ion accelerators have yet to be realised. Such beams have the potential to carry the search for new phenomena in lepton-antilepton collisions to extremely high energy and also to provide uniquely well-characterised neutrino beams. A muon beam may be created through the decay of pions produced in the interaction of a proton beam with a target. To produce a high-brightness beam from such a source requires that the phase space volume occupied by the muons be reduced (cooled). Ionization cooling is the novel technique by which it is proposed to cool the beam. The Muon Ionization Cooling Experiment collaboration has constructed a section of an ionization cooling cell and used it to provide the first demonstration of ionization cooling. We present these ground-breaking measurements.

physics.acc-ph↗

arXiv2019

First particle-by-particle measurement of emittance in the Muon Ionization Cooling Experiment

The Muon Ionization Cooling Experiment (MICE) collaboration seeks to demonstrate the feasibility of ionization cooling, the technique by which it is proposed to cool the muon beam at a future neutrino factory or muon collider. The emittance is measured from an ensemble of muons assembled from those that pass through the experiment. A pure muon ensemble is selected using a particle-identification system that can reject efficiently both pions and electrons. The position and momentum of each muon are measured using a high-precision scintillating-fibre tracker in a 4\,T solenoidal magnetic field. This paper presents the techniques used to reconstruct the phase-space distributions and reports the first particle-by-particle measurement of the emittance of the MICE Muon Beam as a function of muon-beam momentum.

physics.acc-ph↗

arXiv2018

Wideband 67-116 GHz cryogenic receiver development for ALMA Band 2

The Atacama Large Millimeter/sub-millimeter Array (ALMA) is already revolutionising our understanding of the Universe. However, ALMA is not yet equipped with all of its originally planned receiver bands, which will allow it to observe over the full range of frequencies from 35-950 GHz accessible through the Earth's atmosphere. In particular Band 2 (67-90 GHz) has not yet been approved for construction. Recent technological developments in cryogenic monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) amplifier and orthomode transducer (OMT) design provide an opportunity to extend the originally planned on-sky bandwidth, combining ALMA Bands 2 and 3 into one receiver cartridge covering 67-116 GHz. The IF band definition for the ALMA project took place two decades ago, when 8 GHz of on-sky bandwidth per polarisation channel was an ambitious goal. The new receiver design we present here allows the opportunity to expand ALMA's wideband capabilities, anticipating future upgrades across the entire observatory. Expanding ALMA's instantaneous bandwidth is a high priority, and provides a number of observational advantages, including lower noise in continuum observations, the ability to probe larger portions of an astronomical spectrum for, e.g., widely spaced molecular transitions, and the ability to scan efficiently in frequency space to perform surveys where the redshift or chemical complexity of the object is not known a priori. Wider IF bandwidth also reduces uncertainties in calibration and continuum subtraction that might otherwise compromise science objectives. Here we provide an overview of the component development and overall design for this wideband 67-116 GHz cryogenic receiver cartridge, designed to operate from the Band 2 receiver cartridge slot in the current ALMA front end receiver cryostat.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2017

Design and expected performance of the MICE demonstration of ionization cooling

Muon beams of low emittance provide the basis for the intense, well-characterised neutrino beams necessary to elucidate the physics of flavour at a neutrino factory and to provide lepton-antilepton collisions at energies of up to several TeV at a muon collider. The international Muon Ionization Cooling Experiment (MICE) aims to demonstrate ionization cooling, the technique by which it is proposed to reduce the phase-space volume occupied by the muon beam at such facilities. In an ionization-cooling channel, the muon beam passes through a material in which it loses energy. The energy lost is then replaced using RF cavities. The combined effect of energy loss and re-acceleration is to reduce the transverse emittance of the beam (transverse cooling). A major revision of the scope of the project was carried out over the summer of 2014. The revised experiment can deliver a demonstration of ionization cooling. The design of the cooling demonstration experiment will be described together with its predicted cooling performance.

physics.acc-ph↗

arXiv2016

Studies of the decays D^0 \rightarrow K_S^0K^-π^+ and D^0 \rightarrow K_S^0K^+π^-

The first measurements of the coherence factor R_{K_S^0Kπ} and the average strong--phase difference δ^{K_S^0Kπ} in D^0 \to K_S^0 K^\mpπ^\pm decays are reported. These parameters can be used to improve the determination of the unitary triangle angle γ in B^- \rightarrow $\widetilde{D}K^-$ decays, where $\widetilde{D}$ is either a D^0 or a D^0-bar meson decaying to the same final state, and also in studies of charm mixing. The measurements of the coherence factor and strong-phase difference are made using quantum-correlated, fully-reconstructed D^0D^0-bar pairs produced in e^+e^- collisions at the ψ(3770) resonance. The measured values are R_{K_S^0Kπ} = 0.70 \pm 0.08 and δ^{K_S^0Kπ} = (0.1 \pm 15.7)$^\circ$ for an unrestricted kinematic region and R_{K*K} = 0.94 \pm 0.12 and δ^{K*K} = (-16.6 \pm 18.4)$^\circ$ for a region where the combined K_S^0 π^\pm invariant mass is within 100 MeV/c^2 of the K^{*}(892)^\pm mass. These results indicate a significant level of coherence in the decay. In addition, isobar models are presented for the two decays, which show the dominance of the K^*(892)^\pm resonance. The branching ratio {B}(D^0 \rightarrow K_S^0K^+π^-)/{B}(D^0 \rightarrow K_S^0K^-π^+) is determined to be 0.592 \pm 0.044 (stat.) \pm 0.018 (syst.), which is more precise than previous measurements.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2016

Model-independent determination of the strong-phase difference between D^0 and D^0-bar-> K^0_S,L h^+ h^- (h=pi,K) and its impact on the measurement of the CKM angle gamma/phi_3

We report the first determination of the relative strong-phase difference between D^0 -> K^0_S,L K^+ K^- and D^0-bar -> K^0_S,L K^+ K^-. In addition, we present updated measurements of the relative strong-phase difference between D^0 -> K^0_S,L pi^+ pi^- and D^0-bar -> K^0_S,L pi^+ pi^-. Both measurements exploit the quantum coherence between a pair of D^0 and D^0-bar mesons produced from psi(3770) decays. The strong-phase differences measured are important for determining the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa angle gamma/phi_3 in B^- -> K^- D^0-tilde decays, where D^0-tilde is a D^0 or D^0-bar meson decaying to K^0_S h^+ h^- (h=pi,K), in a manner independent of the model assumed to describe the D^0 -> K^0_S h^+ h^- decay. Using our results, the uncertainty in gamma/phi_3 due to the error on the strong-phase difference is expected to be between 1.7 and 3.9 degrees for an analysis using B^- K^- D^0-tilde D^0-tilde -> K^0_S pi^+ pi^- decays, and between 3.2 and 3.9 degrees for an analysis based on B^- -> K^- D^0-tilde, D^0-tilde -> K^0_S K^+ K^- decays. A measurement is also presented of the CP-odd fraction, F_-, of the decay D^0 -> K^0_S K^+ K^- in the region of the phi -> K^+ K^- resonance. We find that in a region within 0.01 GeV^2/c^4 of the nominal phi mass squared F_- > 0.91 at the 90% confidence level.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2014

Foreground removal requirements for measuring large-scale CMB B-modes in light of BICEP2

The most convincing confirmation that the B-mode polarization signal detected at degree scales by BICEP2 is due to the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) would be the measurement of its large-scale counterpart. We assess the requirements for diffuse component separation accuracy over large portions of the sky in order to measure the large-scale B-mode signal corresponding to a tensor to scalar ratio of r=0.1-0.2. We use the method proposed by Bonaldi & Ricciardi (2011) to forecast the performances of different simulated experiments taking into account noise and foreground removal issues. We do not consider instrumental systematics, and we implicitly assume that they are not the dominant source of error. If this is the case, the confirmation of an r=0.1-0.2 signal is achievable by Planck even for conservative assumptions regarding the accuracy of foreground cleaning. Our forecasts suggest that the combination of this experiment with BICEP2 will lead to an improvement of 25-45% in the constraint on r. A next-generation CMB polarization satellite, represented in this work by the COrE experiment, can reduce dramatically (by almost another order of magnitude) the uncertainty on r. In this case, however, the accuracy of foreground removal becomes critical to fully benefit from the increase in sensitivity.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2014

New determination of the D0->K-pi+pi0 and D0->K-pi+pi+pi- coherence factors and average strong-phase differences

Measurements of the coherence factors (R_Kpipi0 and R_K3pi) and the average strong-phase differences (delta^Kpipi0_D and delta^K3pi_D) for the decays D0-> K-pi+pi0 and D0->K-pi+pi+pi- are presented. These parameters are important inputs to the determination of the unitarity triangle angle gamma in B+/- -> DK+/- decays, where D designates a D0 or D0bar meson decaying to a common final state. The measurements are made using quantum correlated DDbar decays collected by the CLEO-c experiment at the psi(3770) resonance, and augment a previously published analysis by the inclusion of new events in which the signal decay is tagged by the mode D-> K0Spi+pi-. The measurements also benefit from improved knowledge of external inputs, namely the D0D0bar mixing parameters, r_D^Kpi and several D-meson branching fractions. The measured values are R_Kpipi0 = 0.82 +- 0.07, delta_D^Kpipi0 = (164+20-14) deg., R_K3pi = 0.32+0.20-0.28 and delta^K3pi_D = (225+21_-78) deg. Consideration is given to how these measurements can be improved further by using the larger quantum-correlated data set collected by BESIII.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2014

Light sterile neutrino sensitivity at the nuSTORM facility

A facility that can deliver beams of electron and muon neutrinos from the decay of a stored muon beam has the potential to unambiguously resolve the issue of the evidence for light sterile neutrinos that arises in short-baseline neutrino oscillation experiments and from estimates of the effective number of neutrino flavors from fits to cosmological data. In this paper, we show that the nuSTORM facility, with stored muons of 3.8 GeV/c $\pm$ 10%, will be able to carry out a conclusive muon neutrino appearance search for sterile neutrinos and test the LSND and MiniBooNE experimental signals with 10$σ$ sensitivity, even assuming conservative estimates for the systematic uncertainties. This experiment would add greatly to our knowledge of the contribution of light sterile neutrinos to the number of effective neutrino flavors from the abundance of primordial helium production and from constraints on neutrino energy density from the cosmic microwave background. The appearance search is complemented by a simultaneous muon neutrino disappearance analysis that will facilitate tests of various sterile neutrino models.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2013

Performance of the LHCb RICH detector at the LHC

The LHCb experiment has been taking data at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN since the end of 2009. One of its key detector components is the Ring-Imaging Cherenkov (RICH) system. This provides charged particle identification over a wide momentum range, from 2-100 GeV/c. The operation and control software, and online monitoring of the RICH system are described. The particle identification performance is presented, as measured using data from the LHC. Excellent separation of hadronic particle types (pion, kaon and proton) is achieved.

physics.ins-det↗