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S. X. Wu

Publications and source records attributed to S. X. Wu.

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Search for Double Beta Decays of $^{134}$Xe with EXO-200 Phase II

EXO-200 was a leading double beta decay experiment consisting of a single-phase, enriched liquid xenon time projection chamber filled with an admixture of 80.672% $^{136}$Xe and 19.098% $^{134}$Xe. The detector operated at WIPP between 2010 and 2018 and was designed to search for double beta decay of $^{136}$Xe. Data was acquired in two phases separated by a period of detector upgrades. We report on the search for $0νββ$ and $2νββ$ decay of $^{134}$Xe with Phase II EXO-200 data, with median 90% C.L. exclusion sensitivity $T_{1/2}^{0ν} \geq 3.7\times 10^{23}$ yr and $T_{1/2}^{2ν} \geq 2.6 \times 10^{21}$ yr, respectively. No statistically significant signal is observed for either decay mode. We set a world-leading lower limit on the half-life of the neutrinoless decay mode of $^{134}$Xe of $T_{1/2}^{0ν} \geq 8.7\times10^{23}$ (90% C.L.) and the second strongest constraint on the two-neutrino decay of $T_{1/2}^{2ν} \geq 2.9\times10^{21}$ (90% C.L.), a 3-fold improvement over the EXO-200 Phase I measurement. New constraints are also set for the $2νββ$ and $0νββ$ decays of $^{134}$Xe to the lowest excited state of $^{134}$Ba.

nucl-ex

Search for Majoron-emitting modes of $^{136}$Xe double beta decay with the complete EXO-200 dataset

A search for Majoron-emitting modes of the neutrinoless double-beta decay of $^{136}$Xe is performed with the full EXO-200 dataset. This dataset consists of a total $^{136}$Xe exposure of 234.1 kg$\cdot$yr, and includes data with detector upgrades that have improved the energy threshold relative to previous searches. A lower limit of T$_{1/2}^{\rm{^{136}Xe}}>$4.3$\cdot$10$^{24}$ yr at 90\% C.L. on the half-life of the spectral index $n=1$ Majoron decay was obtained, a factor of 3.6 more stringent than the previous limit from EXO-200, corresponding to a constraint on the Majoron-neutrino coupling constant of $|\langle g_{ee}^{M}\rangle|$$<(0.4$-$0.9)\cdot10^{-5}$. The lower threshold and the additional data taken resulted in a factor 8.4 improvement for the $n=7$ mode compared to the previous EXO search. This search provides the most stringent limits to-date on the Majoron-emitting decays of $^{136}$Xe with spectral indices $n=1,2,3,$ and 7.

hep-ex

Measurement of the scintillation and ionization response of liquid xenon at MeV energies in the EXO-200 experiment

Liquid xenon (LXe) is employed in a number of current and future detectors for rare event searches. We use the EXO-200 experimental data to measure the absolute scintillation and ionization yields generated by $γ$ interactions from $^{228}$Th (2615~keV), $^{226}$Ra (1764~keV) and $^{60}$Co (1332~keV and 1173~keV) calibration sources, over a range of electric fields. The $W$-value that defines the recombination-independent energy scale is measured to be $11.5~\pm~0.5$~(syst.)~$\pm~0.1$~(stat.) eV. These data are also used to measure the recombination fluctuations in the number of electrons and photons produced by the calibration sources at the MeV-scale, which deviate from extrapolations of lower-energy data. Additionally, a semi-empirical model for the energy resolution of the detector is developed, which is used to constrain the recombination efficiency, i.e., the fraction of recombined electrons that result in the emission of a detectable photon. Detailed measurements of the absolute charge and light yields for MeV-scale electron recoils are important for predicting the performance of future neutrinoless double beta decay detectors.

physics.ins-det

Search for Neutrinoless Double-Beta Decay with the Complete EXO-200 Dataset

A search for neutrinoless double-beta decay ($0νββ$) in $^{136}$Xe is performed with the full EXO-200 dataset using a deep neural network to discriminate between $0νββ$ and background events. Relative to previous analyses, the signal detection efficiency has been raised from 80.8% to 96.4$\pm$3.0% and the energy resolution of the detector at the Q-value of $^{136}$Xe $0νββ$ has been improved from $σ/E=1.23\%$ to $1.15\pm0.02\%$ with the upgraded detector. Accounting for the new data, the median 90% confidence level $0νββ$ half-life sensitivity for this analysis is $5.0 \cdot 10^{25}$ yr with a total $^{136}$Xe exposure of 234.1 kg$\cdot$yr. No statistically significant evidence for $0νββ$ is observed, leading to a lower limit on the $0νββ$ half-life of $3.5\cdot10^{25}$ yr at the 90% confidence level.

hep-ex

Thermal stimulated current response in cupric oxide single crystal thin films over a wide temperature range

Cupric oxide single crystal thin films were grown by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. X-ray diffraction, Raman spectrum and in situ reflection high-energy electron diffraction show that the thin films are 2x2 reconstructed with an in-plane compression and out-of-plane stretching. Thermal stimulated current measurement indicates that the electric polarization response presents in the special 2D cupric oxide single crystal thin film over a wide temperature range from 130 K to near-room temperature. We infer that the abnormal electric response involves the changing of phase transition temperature induced by structure distortion, the spin frustration and magnetic fluctuation effect of short-range magnetic order, or the combined action of both two factors mentioned above. This work suggests a promising clue for finding new room temperature single phase multiferroics or tuning phase transition temperature.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci

The D0 Run II Impact Parameter Trigger

Many physics topics to be studied by the D0 experiment during Run II of the Fermilab Tevatron ppbar collider give rise to final states containing b--flavored particles. Examples include Higgs searches, top quark production and decay studies, and full reconstruction of B decays. The sensitivity to such modes has been significantly enhanced by the installation of a silicon based vertex detector as part of the DO detector upgrade for Run II. Interesting events must be identified initially in 100-200 microseconds to be available for later study. This paper describes custom electronics used in the DO trigger system to provide the real--time identification of events having tracks consistent with the decay of b--flavored particles.

physics.ins-det