arXiv subjects

X. Li

Publications and source records attributed to X. Li.

At least 235 records · Page 13Linked to original sources

arXiv2018

Low-Mass Dark Matter Search with the DarkSide-50 Experiment

We present the results of a search for dark matter WIMPs in the mass range below 20 GeV/c^2 using a target of low-radioactivity argon. The data were obtained using the DarkSide-50 apparatus at Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS). The analysis is based on the ionization signal, for which the DarkSide-50 time projection chamber is fully efficient at 0.1 keVee. The observed rate in the detector at 0.5 keVee is about 1.5 events/keVee/kg/day and is almost entirely accounted for by known background sources. We obtain a 90% C.L. exclusion limit above 1.8 GeV/c^2 for the spin-independent cross section of dark matter WIMPs on nucleons, extending the exclusion region for dark matter below previous limits in the range 1.8-6 GeV/c^2.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2018

Insight-HXMT observations of the New Black Hole Candidate MAXI J1535-571: timing analysis

We present the X-ray timing results of the new black hole candidate (BHC) MAXI J1535-571 during its 2017 outburst from Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (\emph{Insight}-HXMT) observations taken from 2017 September 6 to 23. Following the definitions given by \citet{Belloni2010}, we find that the source exhibits state transitions from Low/Hard state (LHS) to Hard Intermediate state (HIMS) and eventually to Soft Intermediate state (SIMS). Quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) are found in the intermediate states, which suggest different types of QPOs. With the large effective area of \emph{Insight}-HXMT at high energies, we are able to present the energy dependence of the QPO amplitude and centroid frequency up to 100 keV which is rarely explored by previous satellites. We also find that the phase lag at the type-C QPOs centroid frequency is negative (soft lags) and strongly correlated with the centroid frequency. By assuming a geometrical origin of type-C QPOs, the source is consistent with being a high inclination system.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2018

Singular charge fluctuations at a magnetic quantum critical point

Strange metal behavior is ubiquitous to correlated materials ranging from cuprate superconductors to bilayer graphene. There is increasing recognition that it arises from physics beyond the quantum fluctuations of a Landau order parameter which, in quantum critical heavy fermion antiferromagnets, may be realized as critical Kondo entanglement of spin and charge. The dynamics of the associated electronic delocalization transition could be ideally probed by optical conductivity, but experiments in the corresponding frequency and temperature ranges have remained elusive. We present terahertz time-domain transmission spectroscopy on molecular beam epitaxy-grown thin films of YbRh$_2$Si$_2$, a model strange metal compound. We observe frequency over temperature scaling of the optical conductivity as a hallmark of beyond-Landau quantum criticality. Our discovery implicates critical charge fluctuations as playing a central role in the strange metal behavior, thereby elucidating one of the longstanding mysteries of correlated quantum matter.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2018

Resource Orchestration of 5G Transport Networks for Vertical Industries

The future 5G transport networks are envisioned to support a variety of vertical services through network slicing and efficient orchestration over multiple administrative domains. In this paper, we propose an orchestrator architecture to support vertical services to meet their diverse resource and service requirements. We then present a system model for resource orchestration of transport networks as well as low-complexity algorithms that aim at minimizing service deployment cost and/or service latency. Importantly, the proposed model can work with any level of abstractions exposed by the underlying network or the federated domains depending on their representation of resources.

cs.NI↗

arXiv2018

Electroluminescence pulse shape and electron diffusion in liquid argon measured in a dual-phase TPC

We report the measurement of the longitudinal diffusion constant in liquid argon with the DarkSide-50 dual-phase time projection chamber. The measurement is performed at drift electric fields of 100 V/cm, 150 V/cm, and 200 V/cm using high statistics $^{39}$Ar decays from atmospheric argon. We derive an expression to describe the pulse shape of the electroluminescence signal (S2) in dual-phase TPCs. The derived S2 pulse shape is fit to events from the uppermost portion of the TPC in order to characterize the radial dependence of the signal. The results are provided as inputs to the measurement of the longitudinal diffusion constant DL, which we find to be (4.12 $\pm$ 0.04) cm$^2$/s for a selection of 140keV electron recoil events in 200V/cm drift field and 2.8kV/cm extraction field. To study the systematics of our measurement we examine datasets of varying event energy, field strength, and detector volume yielding a weighted average value for the diffusion constant of (4.09 $\pm$ 0.09) cm$^2$ /s. The measured longitudinal diffusion constant is observed to have an energy dependence, and within the studied energy range the result is systematically lower than other results in the literature.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2018

Structural transitions in hybrid improper ferroelectric Ca$_3$Ti$_2$O$_7$ tuned by site-selective iso-valent substitutions: a first-principles study

Ca$_3$Ti$_2$O$_7$ is an experimentally confirmed hybrid improper ferroelectric material, in which the electric polarization is induced by a combination of the coherent TiO$_6$ octahedral rotation and tilting. In this work, we investigate the tuning of ferroelectricity of Ca$_3$Ti$_2$O$_7$ using iso-valent substitutions on Ca-sites. Due to the size mismatch, larger/smaller alkaline earths prefer $A$'/$A$ sites respectively, allowing the possibility for site-selective substitutions. Without extra carriers, such site-selected iso-valent substitutions can significantly tune the TiO$_6$ octahedral rotation and tilting, and thus change the structure and polarization. Using the first-principles calculations, our study reveals that three substituted cases (Sr, Mg, Sr+Mg) show divergent physical behaviors. In particular, (CaTiO$_3$)$_2$SrO becomes non-polar, which can reasonably explain the suppression of polarization upon Sr substitution observed in experiment. In contrast, the polarization in (MgTiO$_3$)$_2$CaO is almost doubled upon substitutions, while the estimated coercivity for ferroelectric switching does not change. The (MgTiO$_3$)$_2$SrO remains polar but its structural space group changes, with moderate increased polarization and possible different ferroelectric switching paths. Our study reveals the subtle ferroelectricity in the $A_3$Ti$_2$O$_7$ family and suggests one more practical route to tune hybrid improper ferroelectricity, in addition to the strain effect.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2018

Limits on light WIMPs with a 1 kg-scale germanium detector at 160 eVee physics threshold at the China Jinping Underground Laboratory

We report results of a search for light weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) dark matter from the CDEX-1 experiment at the China Jinping Underground Laboratory (CJPL). Constraints on WIMP-nucleon spin-independent (SI) and spin-dependent (SD) couplings are derived with a physics threshold of 160 eVee, from an exposure of 737.1 kg-days. The SI and SD limits extend the lower reach of light WIMPs to 2 GeV and improve over our earlier bounds at WIMP mass less than 6 GeV.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2018

Limits on Light Weakly Interacting Massive Particles from the First 102.8 kg ${\times}$ day Data of the CDEX-10 Experiment

We report the first results of a light weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) search from the CDEX-10 experiment with a 10 kg germanium detector array immersed in liquid nitrogen at the China Jinping Underground Laboratory with a physics data size of 102.8 kg day. At an analysis threshold of 160 eVee, improved limits of 8 $\times 10^{-42}$ and 3 $\times 10^{-36}$ cm$^{2}$ at a 90\% confidence level on spin-independent and spin-dependent WIMP-nucleon cross sections, respectively, at a WIMP mass ($m_χ$) of 5 GeV/${c}^2$ are achieved. The lower reach of $m_χ$ is extended to 2 GeV/${c}^2$.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2018

T0 Fan-out for Back-n White Neutron Facility at CSNS

the main physics goal for Back-n white neutron facility at China Spallation Neutron Source (CSNS) is to measure nuclear data. The energy of neutrons is one of the most important parameters for measuring nuclear data. Method of time of flight (TOF) is used to obtain the energy of neutrons. The time when proton bunches hit the thick tungsten target is considered as the start point of TOF. T0 signal, generated from the CSNS accelerator, represents this start time. Besides, the T0 signal is also used as the gate control signal that triggers the readout electronics. Obviously, the timing precision of T0 directly affects the measurement precision of TOF and controls the running or readout electronics. In this paper, the T0 fan-out for Back-n white neutron facility at CSNS is proposed. The T0 signal travelling from the CSNS accelerator is fanned out to the two underground experiment stations respectively over long cables. To guarantee the timing precision, T0 signal is conditioned with good signal edge. Furthermore, techniques of signal pre-emphasizing and equalizing are used to improve signal quality after T0 being transmitted over long cables with about 100 m length. Experiments show that the T0 fan-out works well, the T0 signal transmitted over 100 m remains a good time resolution with a standard deviation of 25 ps. It absolutely meets the required accuracy of the measurement of TOF.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2018

Electronics of Time-of-flight Measurement for Back-n at CSNS

Back-n is a white neutron experimental facility at China Spallation Neutron Source (CSNS). The time structure of the primary proton beam make it fully applicable to use TOF (time-of-flight) method for neutron energy measuring. We implement the electronics of TOF measurement on the general-purpose readout electronics designed for all of the seven detectors in Back-n. The electronics is based on PXIe (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express eXtensions for Instrumentation) platform, which is composed of FDM (Field Digitizer Modules), TCM (Trigger and Clock Module), and SCM (Signal Conditioning Module). T0 signal synchronous to the CSNS accelerator represents the neutron emission from the target. It is the start of time stamp. The trigger and clock module (TCM) receives, synchronizes and distributes the T0 signal to each FDM based on the PXIe backplane bus. Meantime, detector signals after being conditioned are fed into FDMs for waveform digitizing. First sample point of the signal is the stop of time stamp. According to the start, stop time stamp and the time of signal over threshold, the total TOF can be obtained. FPGA-based (Field Programmable Gate Array) TDC is implemented on TCM to accurately acquire the time interval between the asynchronous T0 signal and the global synchronous clock phase. There is also an FPGA-based TDC on FDM to accurately acquire the time interval between T0 arriving at FDM and the first sample point of the detector signal, the over threshold time of signal is obtained offline. This method for TOF measurement is efficient and not needed for additional modules. Test result shows the accuracy of TOF is sub-nanosecond and can meet the requirement for Back-n at CSNS.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2018

Photon detector system timing performance in the DUNE 35-ton prototype liquid argon time projection chamber

The 35-ton prototype for the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment far detector was a single-phase liquid argon time projection chamber with an integrated photon detector system, all situated inside a membrane cryostat. The detector took cosmic-ray data for six weeks during the period of February 1, 2016 to March 12, 2016. The performance of the photon detection system was checked with these data. An installed photon detector was demonstrated to measure the arrival times of cosmic-ray muons with a resolution better than 32 ns, limited by the timing of the trigger system. A measurement of the timing resolution using closely-spaced calibration pulses yielded a resolution of 15 ns for pulses at a level of 6 photo-electrons. Scintillation light from cosmic-ray muons was observed to be attenuated with increasing distance with a characteristic length of $155 \pm 28$ cm.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2018

Internal alignment and position resolution of the silicon tracker of DAMPE determined with orbit data

The DArk Matter Particle Explorer (DAMPE) is a space-borne particle detector designed to probe electrons and gamma-rays in the few GeV to 10 TeV energy range, as well as cosmic-ray proton and nuclei components between 10 GeV and 100 TeV. The silicon-tungsten tracker-converter is a crucial component of DAMPE. It allows the direction of incoming photons converting into electron-positron pairs to be estimated, and the trajectory and charge (Z) of cosmic-ray particles to be identified. It consists of 768 silicon micro-strip sensors assembled in 6 double layers with a total active area of 6.6 m$^2$. Silicon planes are interleaved with three layers of tungsten plates, resulting in about one radiation length of material in the tracker. Internal alignment parameters of the tracker have been determined on orbit, with non-showering protons and helium nuclei. We describe the alignment procedure and present the position resolution and alignment stability measurements.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2017

Gate-Control of Anisotropic Spin Transport and Spin Helix Dynamics in a Modulation-Doped GaAs Quantum Well

Electron spin transport and dynamics are investigated in a single, high-mobility, modulation-doped, GaAs quantum well using ultrafast two-color Kerr-rotation micro-spectroscopy, supported by qualitative kinetic theory simulations of spin diffusion and transport. Evolution of the spins is governed by the Dresselhaus bulk and Rashba structural inversion asymmetries, which manifest as an effective magnetic field that can be extracted directly from the experimental coherent spin precession. A spin precession length L-SOI is defined as one complete precession in the effective magnetic field. It is observed that application of (a) an out-of-plane electric field changes the spin decay time and L-SOI through the Rashba component of the spin-orbit coupling, (b) an in-plane magnetic field allows for extraction of the Dresselhaus and Rashba parameters, and (c) an in-plane electric field markedly modifies both the L-SOI and diffusion coefficient. While simulations reproduce the main features of the experiments, the latter results exceed the corresponding simulations and extend previous studies of drift-current-dependent spin-orbit interactions.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2017

An algorithm to resolve γ-rays from charged cosmic rays with DAMPE

The DArk Matter Particle Explorer (DAMPE), also known as Wukong in China, launched on December 17, 2015, is a new high energy cosmic ray and γ-ray satellite-borne observatory in space. One of the main scientific goals of DAMPE is to observe GeV-TeV high energy γ-rays with accurate energy, angular, and time resolution, to indirectly search for dark matter particles and for the study of high energy astrophysics. Due to the comparatively higher fluxes of charged cosmic rays with respect to γ-rays, it is challenging to identify γ-rays with sufficiently high efficiency minimizing the amount of charged cosmic ray contamination. In this work we present a method to identify γ-rays in DAMPE data based on Monte Carlo simulations, using the powerful electromagnetic/hadronic shower discrimination provided by the calorimeter and the veto detection of charged particles provided by the plastic scintillation detector. Monte Carlo simulations show that after this selection the number of electrons and protons that contaminate the selected γ-ray events at $\sim10$ GeV amounts to less than 1% of the selected sample. Finally, we use flight data to verify the effectiveness of the method by highlighting known γ-ray sources in the sky and by reconstructing preliminary light curves of the Geminga pulsar.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2017

Direct detection of a break in the teraelectronvolt cosmic-ray spectrum of electrons and positrons

High energy cosmic ray electrons plus positrons (CREs), which lose energy quickly during their propagation, provide an ideal probe of Galactic high-energy processes and may enable the observation of phenomena such as dark-matter particle annihilation or decay. The CRE spectrum has been directly measured up to $\sim 2$ TeV in previous balloon- or space-borne experiments, and indirectly up to $\sim 5$ TeV by ground-based Cherenkov $γ$-ray telescope arrays. Evidence for a spectral break in the TeV energy range has been provided by indirect measurements of H.E.S.S., although the results were qualified by sizeable systematic uncertainties. Here we report a direct measurement of CREs in the energy range $25~{\rm GeV}-4.6~{\rm TeV}$ by the DArk Matter Particle Explorer (DAMPE) with unprecedentedly high energy resolution and low background. The majority of the spectrum can be properly fitted by a smoothly broken power-law model rather than a single power-law model. The direct detection of a spectral break at $E \sim0.9$ TeV confirms the evidence found by H.E.S.S., clarifies the behavior of the CRE spectrum at energies above 1 TeV and sheds light on the physical origin of the sub-TeV CREs.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2017

The Electronics, Trigger and Data Acquisition System for the Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber of the DarkSide-50 Search for Dark Matter

The DarkSide-50 experiment at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso is a search for dark matter using a dual phase time projection chamber with 50 kg of low radioactivity argon as target. Light signals from interactions in the argon are detected by a system of 38 photo-multiplier tubes (PMTs), 19 above and 19 below the TPC volume inside the argon cryostat. We describe the electronics which processes the signals from the photo-multipliers, the trigger system which identifies events of interest, and the data-acquisition system which records the data for further analysis. The electronics include resistive voltage dividers on the PMTs, custom pre-amplifiers mounted directly on the PMT voltage dividers in the liquid argon, and custom amplifier/discriminators (at room temperature). After amplification, the PMT signals are digitized in CAEN waveform digitizers, and CAEN logic modules are used to construct the trigger, the data acquisition system for the TPC is based on the Fermilab "artdaq" software. The system has been in operation since early 2014.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2017

Follow up of GW170817 and its electromagnetic counterpart by Australian-led observing programs

The discovery of the first electromagnetic counterpart to a gravitational wave signal has generated follow-up observations by over 50 facilities world-wide, ushering in the new era of multi-messenger astronomy. In this paper, we present follow-up observations of the gravitational wave event GW170817 and its electromagnetic counterpart SSS17a/DLT17ck (IAU label AT2017gfo) by 14 Australian telescopes and partner observatories as part of Australian-based and Australian-led research programs. We report early- to late-time multi-wavelength observations, including optical imaging and spectroscopy, mid-infrared imaging, radio imaging, and searches for fast radio bursts. Our optical spectra reveal that the transient source afterglow cooled from approximately 6400K to 2100K over a 7-day period and produced no significant optical emission lines. The spectral profiles, cooling rate, and photometric light curves are consistent with the expected outburst and subsequent processes of a binary neutron star merger. Star formation in the host galaxy probably ceased at least a Gyr ago, although there is evidence for a galaxy merger. Binary pulsars with short (100 Myr) decay times are therefore unlikely progenitors, but pulsars like PSR B1534+12 with its 2.7 Gyr coalescence time could produce such a merger. The displacement (about 2.2 kpc) of the binary star system from the centre of the main galaxy is not unusual for stars in the host galaxy or stars originating in the merging galaxy, and therefore any constraints on the kick velocity imparted to the progenitor are poor.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2017

Slater Insulator in Iridate Perovskites with Strong Spin-Orbit Coupling

The perovskite SrIrO3 is an exotic narrow-band metal owing to a confluence of the strengths of the spin-orbit coupling (SOC) and the electron-electron correlations. It has been proposed that topological and magnetic insulating phases can be achieved by tuning the SOC, Hubbard interactions, and/or lattice symmetry. Here, we report that the substitution of nonmagnetic, isovalent Sn4+ for Ir4+ in the SrIr1-xSnxO3 perovskites synthesized under high pressure leads to a metal-insulator transition to an antiferromagnetic (AF) phase at TN > 225 K. The continuous change of the cell volume as detected by x-ray diffraction and the lamda-shape transition of the specific heat on cooling through TN demonstrate that the metal-insulator transition is of second-order. Neutron powder diffraction results indicate that the Sn substitution enlarges an octahedral-site distortion that reduces the SOC relative to the spin-spin exchange interaction and results in the type-G AF spin ordering below TN. Measurement of high-temperature magnetic susceptibility shows the evolution of magnetic coupling in the paramagnetic phase typical of weak itinerant-electron magnetism in the Sn-substituted samples. A reduced structural symmetry in the magnetically ordered phase leads to an electron gap opening at the Brillouin zone boundary below TN in the same way as proposed by Slater.

cond-mat.str-el↗