Publications

Order by: publication date number of citations

• The Hoyle Family: break-up measurements to probe α-condensation in light nuclei

  Robin Smith, Jack Bishop, Joel Hirst, Tzany Kokalova, Carl Wheldon

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 3, 030 (2020) · published 26 February 2020 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The 12C Hoyle state is a candidate for α-condensation, due to its large volume and α-cluster structure. This paper discusses precision break-up measurements and how they can elucidate α-condensate structures. Two experiments are discussed in detail, firstly concerning the break-up of 12C and then the decays of heavier nuclei. With more theoretical input, and increasingly complex detector setups, precision break-up measurements can, in principle, provide insight into the structures of states in α-conjugate nuclei. At present, such searches have not delivered evidence for α-condensation in 12C or 16O.

• Neutron production in ($\alpha$,n) reactions in SOURCES4

  Vitaly A. Kudryavtsev, Piotr Krawczun, Rayna Bocheva

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 12, 018 (2023) · published 3 July 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Neutrons produced in spontaneous fission and ($\alpha,n$) reactions can induce background events in underground experiments looking for rare processes. A number of computer codes are available to calculate cross-sections of ($\alpha,n$) reactions, branching ratios to various states and neutron yields. SOURCES4 code has been used in this work to calculate neutron yields and energy spectra with input cross-sections and branching ratios taken from experimental data and models from EMPIRE2.19/3.2.3 and TALYS1.9 codes. A comparison of SOURCES4 calculations with experimental data from alpha beams and radioactive decay chains is presented.

• Multiscale response of ionic systems to a spatially varying electric field

  Jesper Schmidt Hansen

  SciPost Phys. 2, 017 (2017) · published 27 May 2017 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  In this paper the response of ionic systems subjected to a spatially varying electric field is studied. Following the Nernst-Planck equation, two forces driving the mass flux are present, namely, the concentration gradient and the electric potential gradient. The mass flux due to the concentration gradient is modelled through Fick's law, and a new constitutive relation for the mass flux due to the potential gradient is proposed. In the regime of low screening the response function due to the potential gradient is closely related to the ionic conductivity. In the large screening regime, on the other hand, the response function is governed by the charge-charge structure. Molecular dynamics simulations are conducted and the two wave vector dependent response functions are evaluated for models of a molten salt and an ionic liquid. In the low screening regime the response functions show same wave vector dependency, indicating that it is the same underlying physical processes that govern the response. In the screening regime the wave vector dependency is very different and, thus, the overall response is determined by different processes. This is in agreement with the observed failure of the Nernst-Einstein relation.

• The CYGNO/INITIUM experiment

  F. D. Amaro, E. Baracchini, L. Benussi , S. Bianco, C. Capoccia, M. Caponero, D. Santos Cardoso, G. Cavoto, A. Cortez, I. A. Costa, E. Dané, G. Dho, F. Di Giambattista, E. Di Marco, G. D’Imperio, F. Iacoangeli, H. P. L. Jùnior, G. S. P. Lopes, G. Maccarrone, R. D. P. Mano, R. R. M. Gregorio, D. J. G. Marques, G. Mazzitelli, A. G. McLean, A. Messina, C. M. B. Monteiro, R. A. Nobrega, I. Fonseca Pains, E. Paoletti, L. Passamonti, S. Pelosi, F. Petrucci, S. Piacentini, D. Piccolo, D. Pierluigi, D. Pinci, A. Prajapati, F. Renga, R. J. C. Roque, F. Rosatelli, A. Russo, J. M. F. dos Santos, G. Saviano, N. J. C. Spooner, R. Tesauro, S. Tommasini, S. Torelli

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 12, 019 (2023) · published 3 July 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The CYGNO project for the development of a high precision optical readout gaseous TPC for directional Dark Matter search and solar neutrino spectroscopy will be presented. It is to be hosted at Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso. CYGNO peculiar features are the use of sCMOS cameras and PMTs coupled to GEMs amplification of a helium-based gas mixture at atmospheric pressure, in order to achieve 3D tracking with head tail capability and background rejection down to O(keV) energy, to boost sensitivity to low WIMP masses. The latest R&D results within the CYGNO project will be discussed along with the underground installation and operation of a 50 l prototype, soon to be followed by a O(1) m3 experiment demonstrator in 2024-2026. The latest results on the negative ion drift operation at atmospheric pressure within CYGNO optical readout approach will be illustrated, which is the aim of the ERC Consolidator Grant project INITIUM.

• Anisotropic ionization threshold and directional sensitivity in solid state DM detectors

  Matti Heikinheimo, Sebastian Sassi, Kimmo Tuominen, Kai Nordlund, Nader Mirabolfathi

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 12, 020 (2023) · published 3 July 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The threshold displacement energy for nuclear recoils depends strongly on the direction of the recoiling nucleus with respect to the crystal lattice. Assuming that similar dependence holds for the ionization threshold for low energy nuclear recoils, we explore the consequences of the resulting directional dependence of the observable event rate in ionization detectors. For low mass dark matter, this effect leads to a daily modulation in the event rate. We discuss how this effect can be utilized to separate the DM signal from the solar neutrino background and how the structure of the modulation signal can be used to identify the type of the DM-nucleon coupling.

• Hyperons - a strange key to the strong interaction

  Karin Schoenning

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 3, 027 (2020) · published 25 February 2020 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Hyperons provide new angles on two of the most challenging problems in contempo- rary physics: a coherent and quantitative description of the strong interaction, and the matter-antimatter asymmetry of the Universe. In these proceedings, I will demonstrate the merits of hyperons as a diagnostic tool using two recent measurements by the BE- SIII experiment as an illustrative example. Furthermore, I will highlight the prospect of future hyperon studies with the next-generation experiment PAND

• Group theoretical derivation of consistent particle theories

  Giuseppe Nisticò

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 14, 040 (2023) · published 24 November 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Current quantum theories of an elementary free particle assume unitary space inversion and anti-unitary time reversal operators. In so doing robust classes of possible theories are discarded. The present work shows that consistent theories can be derived through a strictly deductive development from the principle of relativistic invariance and position covariance, also with anti-unitary space inversion and unitary time reversal operators. In doing so the class of possible consistent theories is extended for positive but also zero mass particles. In particular, consistent theories for a Klein-Gordon particle are derived and the non-localizability theorem for a non zero helicity massless particle is extended.

• Non-linear photoconductivity of strongly driven graphene

  Lukas Broers, Ludwig Mathey

  SciPost Phys. 18, 199 (2025) · published 20 June 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We present the non-linear DC photoconductivity of graphene under strong infra-red (IR) radiation. The photoconductivity is obtained as the response to a strong DC electric field, with field strengths outside of the linear-response regime, while the IR radiation is described by a strong AC electric field. The conductivity displays two distinct regimes in which either the DC or the AC field dominates. We explore these regimes and associate them with the dynamics of driven Landau-Zener quenches in the case of a large DC field. In the limit of a large AC field, we describe the conductivity in a Floquet picture and compare the results to the closely related Tien-Gordon effect. We present analytical calculations for the non-linear differential photoconductivity, for both regimes based on the corresponding mechanisms. As part of this discussion of the non-equilibrium state of graphene, we present analytical estimates of the conductivity of undriven graphene as a function of temperature and DC bias field strength that show very good agreement with our simulations.

• Clocking mechanism from a minimal spinning particle model

  Tobiasz Pietrzak, Łukasz Bratek

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 14, 042 (2023) · published 24 November 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The clock hypothesis plays an important role in the theory of relativity. To test this hypothesis, a mechanical model of an ideal clock is needed. Such a model should have the phase of its intrinsic periodic motion increasing linearly with the affine parameter of the clock's center of mass worldline. A class of relativistic rotators introduced by Staruszkiewicz in the context of an ideal clock is studied. A singularity in the inverse Legendre transform leading from the Hamiltonian to the Lagrangian leads to new possible Lagrangians characterized by fixed values of mass and spin. In free motion the rotators exhibit intrinsic motion with the speed of light and fixed frequency.

• Segal's contractions, AdS and conformal groups

  Daniel Sternheimer

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 14, 043 (2023) · published 24 November 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Symmetries and their applications always played an important role in I.E. Segal's work. I shall exemplify this, starting with his correct proof (at the Lie group level) of what physicists call the "O'Raifeartaigh theorem", continuing with his incidental introduction in 1951 of the (1953) Inönü-Wigner contractions, of which the passage from AdS (SO(2,3)) to Poincaré is an important example, and with his interest in conformal groups in the latter part of last century. Since the 60s Flato and I had many fruitful interactions with him around these topics. In a last section I succintly relate these interests in symmetries with several of ours, especially elementary particles symmetries and deformation quantization, and with an ongoing program combining both.