arXiv subjects

T. Kobayashi

Publications and source records attributed to T. Kobayashi.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2021

Zonal profile corrugations and staircase formation: Role of the transport crossphase

Recently, quasi-stationary structures called $E \times B$ staircases were observed in gyrokinetic simulations, in all transport channels [Dif-Pradalier et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 114, 085004 (2015)]. We present a novel analytical theory - supported by collisional drift-wave fluid simulations - for the generation of density profile corrugations (staircase), independent of the action of zonal flows: Turbulent fluctuations self-organize to generate quasi-stationary radial modulations $Δθ(r,t)$ of the transport crossphase $θ$ between density and electric potential fluctuations. The radial modulations of the associated particle flux drive zonal corrugations of the density profile, via a modulational instability. In turn, zonal density corrugations regulate the turbulence via nonlinear damping of the fluctuations.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2021

Diffuse Supernova Neutrino Background Search at Super-Kamiokande

A new search for the diffuse supernova neutrino background (DSNB) flux has been conducted at Super-Kamiokande (SK), with a $22.5\times2970$-kton$\cdot$day exposure from its fourth operational phase IV. The new analysis improves on the existing background reduction techniques and systematic uncertainties and takes advantage of an improved neutron tagging algorithm to lower the energy threshold compared to the previous phases of SK. This allows for setting the world's most stringent upper limit on the extraterrestrial $\barν_e$ flux, for neutrino energies below 31.3 MeV. The SK-IV results are combined with the ones from the first three phases of SK to perform a joint analysis using $22.5\times5823$ kton$\cdot$days of data. This analysis has the world's best sensitivity to the DSNB $\barν_e$ flux, comparable to the predictions from various models. For neutrino energies larger than 17.3 MeV, the new combined $90\%$ C.L. upper limits on the DSNB $\barν_e$ flux lie around $2.7$ cm$^{-2}$$\cdot$$\text{sec}^{-1}$, strongly disfavoring the most optimistic predictions. Finally, potentialities of the gadolinium phase of SK and the future Hyper-Kamiokande experiment are discussed.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2021

Investigation of the ground-state spin inversion in the neutron-rich 47,49Cl isotopes

A first gamma-ray study of 47,49Cl spectroscopy was performed at the Radioactive Isotope Beam Factory with 50Ar projectiles at 217 MeV/nucleon, impinging on the liquid hydrogen target of the MINOS device. Prompt de-excitation gamma-rays were measured with the NaI(Tl) array DALI2+. Through the one-proton knockout reaction 50Ar(p,2p), a spin assignment could be determined for the low-lying states of 49Cl from the momentum distribution obtained with the SAMURAI spectrometer. A spin-parity J = 3/2+ is deduced for the ground state of 49Cl, similar to the recently studied N = 32 isotope 51K.

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2021

Search for neutrinos in coincidence with gravitational wave events from the LIGO-Virgo O3a Observing Run with the Super-Kamiokande detector

The Super-Kamiokande detector can be used to search for neutrinos in time coincidence with gravitational waves detected by the LIGO-Virgo Collaboration (LVC). Both low-energy ($7-100$ MeV) and high-energy ($0.1-10^5$ GeV) samples were analyzed in order to cover a very wide neutrino spectrum. Follow-ups of 36 (out of 39) gravitational waves reported in the GWTC-2 catalog were examined; no significant excess above the background was observed, with 10 (24) observed neutrinos compared with 4.8 (25.0) expected events in the high-energy (low-energy) samples. A statistical approach was used to compute the significance of potential coincidences. For each observation, p-values were estimated using neutrino direction and LVC sky map ; the most significant event (GW190602_175927) is associated with a post-trial p-value of $7.8\%$ ($1.4σ$). Additionally, flux limits were computed independently for each sample and by combining the samples. The energy emitted as neutrinos by the identified gravitational wave sources was constrained, both for given flavors and for all-flavors assuming equipartition between the different flavors, independently for each trigger and by combining sources of the same nature.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2021

Charge neutral fermions and magnetic field driven instability in insulating YbIr$_3$Si$_7$

Materials where localized magnetic moments are coupled to itinerant electrons, the so-called Kondo lattice materials, provide a very rich backdrop for strong electron correlations. They are known to realize many exotic phenomena, including unconventional superconductivity, strange metals, and correlated topological phases of matter. Here, we report what appears to be electron fractionalization in insulating Kondo lattice material YbIr$_3$Si$_7$, with emergent neutral excitations that carry heat but not electric current and contribute to metal-like specific heat. We show that these neutral particles change their properties as the material undergoes a transformation between two antiferromagnetic phases in an applied magnetic field. In the low-field AF-I phase, we find that the low temperature linear specific heat coefficient $γ$ and the residual linear term in the thermal conductivity $κ/T(T\rightarrow 0)$ are finite, demonstrating itinerant gapless excitations. These results, along with a spectacular violation of the Wiedemann-Franz law, directly indicate that YbIr$_3$Si$_7$ is a charge insulator but a thermal metal. Nuclear magnetic resonance spectrum reveals a spin-flop transition to a high field AF-II phase. Near the transition field, $γ$ is significantly enhanced. Most surprisingly, inside the AF-II phase, $κ/T$ exhibits a sharp drop below $\sim300$ mK, indicating either opening of a tiny gap or a linearly vanishing density of states. This finding demonstrates a transition from a thermal metal into an insulator/semimetal driven by the spin-flop magnetic transition. These results suggest that spin degrees of freedom directly couple to the neutral fermions, whose emergent Fermi surface undergoes a field-driven instability at low temperatures.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2021

Probing the Symmetry Energy with the Spectral Pion Ratio

Many neutron star (NS) properties, such as the proton fraction within a NS, reflect the symmetry energy contributions to the Equation of State that dominate when neutron and proton densities differ strongly. To constrain these contributions at supra-saturation densities, we measure the spectra of charged pions produced by colliding rare isotope tin (Sn) beams with isotopically enriched Sn targets. Using ratios of the charged pion spectra measured at high transverse momenta, we deduce the slope of the symmetry energy to be $42 < L < 117$ MeV. This value is slightly lower but consistent with the $L$ values deduced from a recent measurement of the neutron skin thickness of $^{208}$Pb.

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2021

Quasi-free Neutron Knockout Reaction Reveals a Small $s$-orbital Component in the Borromean Nucleus $^{17}$B

A kinematically complete quasi-free $(p,pn)$ experiment in inverse kinematics was performed to study the structure of the Borromean nucleus $^{17}$B, which had long been considered to have neutron halo. By analyzing the momentum distributions and exclusive cross sections, we obtained the spectroscopic factors for $1s_{1/2}$ and $0d_{5/2}$ orbitals, and a surprisingly small percentage of 9(2)$\%$ was determined for $1s_{1/2}$. Our finding of such a small $1s_{1/2}$ component and the halo features reported in prior experiments can be explained by the deformed relativistic Hartree-Bogoliubov theory in continuum, revealing a definite but not dominant neutron halo in $^{17}$B. The present work gives the smallest $s$- or $p$-orbital component among known nuclei exhibiting halo features, and implies that the dominant occupation of $s$ or $p$ orbitals is not a prerequisite for the occurrence of neutron halo.

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2020

Symmetry energy investigation with pion production from Sn+Sn systems

In the past two decades, pions created in the high density regions of heavy ion collisions have been predicted to be sensitive at high densities to the symmetry energy term in the nuclear equation of state, a property that is key to our understanding of neutron stars. In a new experiment designed to study the symmetry energy, the multiplicities of negatively and positively charged pions have been measured with high accuracy for central $^{132}$Sn+$^{124}$Sn, $^{112}$Sn+$^{124}$Sn, and $^{108}$Sn+$^{112}$Sn collisions at $E/A=270~\mathrm{MeV}$ with the S$π$RIT Time Projection Chamber. While the uncertainties of individual pion multiplicities are measured to 4\%, those of the charged pion multiplicity ratios are measured to 2\%. We compare these data to predictions from seven major transport models. The calculations reproduce qualitatively the dependence of the multiplicities and their ratios on the total neutron to proton number in the colliding systems. However, the predictions of the transport models from different codes differ too much to allow extraction of reliable constraints on the symmetry energy from the data. This finding may explain previous contradictory conclusions on symmetry energy constraints obtained from pion data in Au+Au system. These new results call for better understanding of the differences among transport codes, and new observables that are more sensitive to the density dependence of the symmetry energy.

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2020

Neutron-Antineutron Oscillation Search using a 0.37 Megaton$\cdot$Year Exposure of Super-Kamiokande

As a baryon number violating process with $ΔB=2$, neutron-antineutron oscillation ($n\to\bar n$) provides a unique test of baryon number conservation. We have performed a search for $n\to\bar n$ oscillation with bound neutrons in Super-Kamiokande, with the full data set from its first four run periods, representing an exposure of 0.37~Mton-years. The search used a multivariate analysis trained on simulated $n\to\bar n$ events and atmospheric neutrino backgrounds and resulted in 11 candidate events with an expected background of 9.3 events. In the absence of statistically significant excess, we derived a lower limit on $\bar n$ appearance lifetime in $^{16}$O nuclei of $3.6\times{10}^{32}$ years and on the neutron-antineutron oscillation time of $τ_{n\to\bar n} > 4.7\times10^{8}$~s at 90\% C.L..

hep-ex↗

arXiv2020

$\boldsymbol{N=32}$ shell closure below calcium: Low-lying structure of $^{50}$Ar

Low-lying excited states in the $N=32$ isotope $^{50}$Ar were investigated by in-beam $γ$-ray spectroscopy following proton- and neutron-knockout, multi-nucleon removal, and proton inelastic scattering at the RIKEN Radioactive Isotope Beam Factory. The energies of the two previously reported transitions have been confirmed, and five additional states are presented for the first time, including a candidate for a 3$^-$ state. The level scheme built using $γγ$ coincidences was compared to shell-model calculations in the $sd-pf$ model space, and to ab initio predictions based on chiral two- and three-nucleon interactions. Theoretical proton- and neutron-knockout cross sections suggest that two of the new transitions correspond to $2^+$ states, while the previously proposed $4^+$ state could also correspond to a $2^+$ state.

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2020

Charge disproportionation in the spin-liquid candidate $κ$-(ET)$_2$Cu$_2$(CN)$_3$ at 6 K revealed by $^{63}$Cu NQR measurements

The spin-liquid candidate $κ$-(ET)$_2$Cu$_2$(CN)$_3$ [ET: bis(ethylenedithio)tetrathiafulvalene] does not exhibit magnetic ordering down to a very low temperature, but shows a mysterious anomaly at 6 K. The origin of the so-called 6 K anomaly is still under debate. We carried out nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR) measurements on the copper sites of the insulating layers, which are sensitive to the charge dynamics unlike the conventional spin-1/2 nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). The main finding of this study is that the observation of a sharp peak behavior in the nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rate $T_1^{-1}$ of $^{63}$Cu NQR at 6 K while $T_1^{-1}$ of both $^{13}$C and $^{1}$H NMR show no clear anomaly. This behavior can be understood as a second-order phase transition related to charge disproportionation in the ET layers.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2020

Surface localization of the dineutron in $^{11}$Li

The formation of a dineutron in the nucleus $^{11}$Li is found to be localized to the surface region. The experiment measured the intrinsic momentum of the struck neutron in $^{11}$Li via the $(p,pn)$ knockout reaction at 246 MeV/nucleon. The correlation angle between the two neutrons is, for the first time, measured as a function of the intrinsic neutron momentum. A comparison with reaction calculations reveals the localization of the dineutron at $r\sim3.6$ fm. The results also support the density dependence of dineutron formation as deduced from Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov calculations for nuclear matter.

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2020

The S$π$RIT Time Projection Chamber

The SAMURAI Pion Reconstruction and Ion-Tracker Time Projection Chamber (S$π$RIT TPC) was designed to enable measurements of heavy ion collisions with the SAMURAI spectrometer at the RIKEN Radioactive Isotope Beam Factory and provide constraints on the Equation of State of neutron-rich nuclear matter. The S$π$RIT TPC has a 50.5 cm drift length and an 86.4 cm $\times$ 134.4 cm pad plane with 12,096 pads that are equipped with the Generic Electronics for TPCs readout electronics. The S$π$RIT TPC allows excellent reconstruction of particles and provides isotopic resolution for pions and other light charged particles across a wide range of energy losses and momenta. Details of the S$π$RIT TPC are presented, along with discussion of the TPC performance based on cosmic ray and experimental data.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2020

Extending the Southern Shore of the Island of Inversion to $^{28}$F

Detailed spectroscopy of the neutron-unbound nucleus $^{28}$F has been performed for the first time following proton/neutron removal from $^{29}$Ne/$^{29}$F beams at energies around 230 MeV/nucleon. The invariant-mass spectra were reconstructed for both the $^{27}$F$^{(*)}+n$ and $^{26}$F$^{(*)}+2n$ coincidences and revealed a series of well-defined resonances. A near-threshold state was observed in both reactions and is identified as the $^{28}$F ground state, with $S_n(^{28}$F$)=-199(6)$ keV, while analysis of the $2n$ decay channel allowed a considerably improved $S_n(^{27}$F$)=1620(60)$ keV to be deduced. Comparison with shell-model predictions and eikonal-model reaction calculations have allowed spin-parity assignments to be proposed for some of the lower-lying levels of $^{28}$F. Importantly, in the case of the ground state, the reconstructed $^{27}$F$+n$ momentum distribution following neutron removal from $^{29}$F indicates that it arises mainly from the $1p_{3/2}$ neutron intruder configuration. This demonstrates that the island of inversion around $N=20$ includes $^{28}$F, and most probably $^{29}$F, and suggests that $^{28}$O is not doubly magic.

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2020

Search for proton decay into three charged leptons in 0.37 megaton-years exposure of the Super-Kamiokande

A search for proton decay into three charged leptons has been performed by using 0.37$\,$Mton$\cdot$years of data collected in Super-Kamiokande. All possible combinations of electrons, muons and their anti-particles consistent with charge conservation were considered as decay modes. No significant excess of events has been found over the background, and lower limits on the proton lifetime divided by the branching ratio have been obtained. The limits range between $9.2\times10^{33}$ to $3.4\times10^{34}$ years at 90$\,$% confidence level, improving by more than an order of magnitude upon limits from previous experiments. A first limit has been set for the $p\rightarrowμ^-e^+e^+$ mode.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2019

Shell evolution of $N=40$ isotones towards $^{60}$Ca: First spectroscopy of $^{62}$Ti

Excited states in the $N=40$ isotone $^{62}$Ti were populated via the $^{63}$V$(p,2p)$$^{62}$Ti reaction at $\sim$200~MeV/u at the Radioactive Isotope Beam Factory and studied using $γ$-ray spectroscopy. The energies of the $2^+_1 \rightarrow 0^{+}_{\mathrm{gs}}$ and $4^+_1 \rightarrow 2^+_1$ transitions, observed here for the first time, indicate a deformed $^{62}$Ti ground state. These energies are increased compared to the neighboring $^{64}$Cr and $^{66}$Fe isotones, suggesting a small decrease of quadrupole collectivity. The present measurement is well reproduced by large-scale shell-model calculations based on effective interactions, while ab initio and beyond mean-field calculations do not yet reproduce our findings. The shell-model calculations for $^{62}$Ti show a dominant configuration with four neutrons excited across the $N=40$ gap. Likewise, they indicate that the $N=40$ island of inversion extends down to $Z=20$, disfavoring a possible doubly magic character of the elusive $^{60}$Ca.

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2019

Search for Astronomical Neutrinos from Blazar TXS0506+056 in Super-Kamiokande

We report a search for astronomical neutrinos in the energy region from several GeV to TeV in the direction of the blazar TXS0506+056 using the Super-Kamiokande detector following the detection of a 100 TeV neutrino from the same location by the IceCube collaboration. Using Super-Kamiokande neutrino data across several data samples observed from April 1996 to February 2018 we have searched for both a total excess above known backgrounds across the entire period as well as localized excesses on smaller time scales in that interval. No significant excess nor significant variation in the observed event rate are found in the blazar direction. Upper limits are placed on the electron and muon neutrino fluxes at 90\% confidence level as $6.03 \times 10^{-7}$ and $4.52 \times 10^{-7}$ to $9.26 \times 10^{-10}$ [${\rm erg}/{\rm cm}^2/{\rm s}$], respectively.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2019

Band-dependent superconducting gap in SrFe$_{2}$(As$_{0.65}$P$_{0.35}$)$_{2}$ studied by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy

The isovalent-substituted iron pnictide compound SrFe$_{2}$(As$_{1-x}$P$_{x}$)$_{2}$ exhibits multiple evidence for nodal superconductivity via various experimental probes, such as the penetration depth, nuclear magnetic resonance and specific heat measurements. The direct identification of the nodal superconducting (SC) gap structure is challenging, partly because the presence of nodes is not protected by symmetry but instead caused by an accidental sign change of the order parameter, and also because of the three-dimensionality of the electronic structure. We have studied the SC gaps of SrFe$_{2}$(As$_{0.65}$P$_{0.35}$)$_{2}$ in three-dimensional momentum space by synchrotron and laser-based angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. The three hole Fermi surfaces (FSs) at the zone center have SC gaps with different magnitudes, whereas the SC gaps of the electron FSs at the zone corner are almost isotropic and $k_{z}$-independent. We propose that the SC gap of the outer hole FS changes sign around the Z-X [($0, 0, 2π$)-($π,π, 2π$)] direction.

cond-mat.supr-con↗