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At least 37 records · Page 2

Nuclear Structure Studies for Schiff Moment Enhancement

One of the major open questions in modern physics is the origin of the matter-antimatter asymmetry observed in the universe. While the Standard Model contains sources of charge-parity (CP) violation, they appear insufficient to explain the observed dominance of matter over antimatter. As a result, searches for additional sources of CP violation are an important area of contemporary nuclear and particle physics. Atomic electric dipole moments (EDMs) provide sensitive probes of CP-violating interactions. In heavy nuclei, the observable atomic EDM can be enhanced through the presence of a nuclear Schiff moment, which arises from CP-violating nuclear forces and nuclear structure effects. The review paper Nuclear Schiff Moments and CP Violation by Jonathan Engel provides an overview of the theoretical framework connecting CP violation, nuclear structure, and Schiff moments. The long-term goal of this project is to contribute to the identification and characterization of nuclei that may exhibit enhanced Schiff moments. Such nuclei are often associated with strong octupole correlations or low-energy parity-doublet structures that can amplify CP-violating effects. This report summarizes progress made during the initial phase of the project, including a survey of candidate isotopes and preparation for nuclear-structure calculations using the HFODD code.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS

Probing CP and flavor violation in neutral kaon decays with ALPs

We analyze the three-body decays of the long-lived neutral kaon K L → ππa, where a is an axion-like particle (ALP), and compare them to the two-body decay K L → π 0 a. While the latter requires both flavor violation (FV) and CP violation (CPV), the former can proceed via FV alone, allowing the ratio of decay rates to serve as a probe of CPV of the underlying UV theory. We emphasize the importance of weak-interaction-induced contributions, often neglected in recent calculations. We explore both minimal and non-minimal flavor-violating scenarios, and identify classes of models where ALP production from neutral three-body decays is comparable to — or even dominates over — the two-body decay, despite its reduced phase space. Finally, we discuss the phenomenological implications of our results and show how these decays can provide complementary probes of ALP couplings beyond those accessible via charged kaon channels.

Axions and ALPs

Measurements and interpretations of W ± Z production cross-sections in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV with the ATLAS detector

Measurements of integrated and differential cross-sections for W ± Z production in proton-proton collisions are presented. The data collected by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider from 2015 to 2018 at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV are used, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 140 fb −1 . The W ± Z candidate events are reconstructed using leptonic decay modes of the gauge bosons into electrons or muons. The integrated cross-section per lepton flavour for the production of W ± Z is measured in the detector fiducial region with a relative precision of 4%. The measured value is compared with the Standard Model prediction at a precision of up to next-to-next-to-leading-order in QCD and next-to-leading-order in electroweak. Cross-sections for W + Z and W − Z production and their ratio are presented. The W ± Z production is also measured differentially as functions of various kinematic variables, including new observables sensitive to CP-violation effects. All measurements are compared with state-of-the-art Standard Model predictions from fixed-order calculations or Monte Carlo generators based on next-to-leading-order matrix elements interfaced with parton showers. An effective field theory interpretation of the measurements is performed, considering both CP-conserving and CP-violating dimension-6 operators modifying the W ± Z production. In the absence of observed deviations from the Standard Model, limits on CP-conserving Wilson coefficients are extracted using the transverse mass of the W ± Z system. For CP-violating coefficients a machine learning approach is used to construct an observable with enhanced sensitivity to CP-violation effects.

hadron-hadron scattering

New Experiment to Measure the Electron Electric Dipole Moment

An electron can possess an electric dipole moment (edm) only if time reversal symmetry (T) is violated. No edm of any particle has yet been discovered. CP-violation, equivalent to T-violation by the CPT theorem, does occur in Kaon decays and can be accounted for by the standard model. However, this mechanism leads to an electron edm d(sub e) of the order of 10(exp -38) e cm, whereas the current experimental bound on d(sub e) is about 10(exp -27) e cm. However, well-motivated extensions of the standard model such as supersymmetric theories do predict that de could be as large as the current bound. In addition, CP violation in the early universe is required to explain the preponderance of matter over anti-matter, but the exact mechanism of this CP violation is unclear. For these reasons, we are undertaking a new experimental program to determine de to an improved accuracy of 10(exp -29) e cm. Our experiment will use laser-cooled, trapped Cesium atoms to measure the atomic edm d(sub Cs) that occurs if d(sub e) is not zero. In order to do this, we will measure the energy splitting between the atoms spin states in parallel electric and magnetic fields. The signature of an edm would be a linear dependence of the splitting on the electric field E due to the interaction - d(sub Cs) dot E. Our measurement will be much more sensitive than previous measurements because atoms can be stored in the trap for tens of seconds, allowing for much narrower Zeeman resonance linewidths. Also, our method eliminates the most important systematic errors, proportional to atomic velocity, which have limited previous experiments. In this presentation, we will describe the design of our new apparatus, which is presently under construction. An important feature of our experimental apparatus is that magnetic field noise will be suppressed to a very low value of the order of 1 fT/(Hz)1/2. This requires careful attention to the Johnson noise currents in the chamber, which have not been important in previous experiments. In addition we will present estimates of the limits of the various errors that we expect for our experiment.

Kittle, Melanie

What can solve the strong CP problem?

Three possible strategies have been advocated to solve the strong CP problem. The first is the axion, a dynamical mechanism that relaxes any initial value of the CP violating angle $\overline{θ}$ to zero. The second is the imposition of new symmetries that are believed to set $\overline{θ}$ to zero in the UV. The third is the acceptance of the fine tuning of parameters. We argue that the latter two solutions do not solve the strong CP problem. The θ term of QCD is not a parameter — it does not exist in the Hamiltonian. Rather, it is a property of the quantum state that our universe finds itself in, arising from the fact that there are CP violating states of a CP preserving Hamiltonian. It is not eliminated by imposing parity as a symmetry since the underlying theory is already parity symmetric and that does not preclude the existence of CP violating states. Moreover, since the value of θ realized in our universe is a consequence of measurement, it is inherently random and cannot be fine tuned by choice of parameters. Rather any fine tuning would require a tuning between parameters in the theory and the random outcome of measurement. Our results considerably strengthen the case for the existence of the axion and axion dark matter. The confusion around θ arises from the fact that unlike classical mechanics, the Hamiltonian and Lagrangian are not equivalent in quantum mechanics. The Hamiltonian defines the differential time evolution, whereas the Lagrangian is a solution to this evolution. Consequently, initial conditions could in principle appear in the Lagrangian but not in the Hamiltonian. This results in aspects of the initial condition such as θ misleadingly appearing in the Lagrangian as parameters. We comment on the similarity between the θ vacua and the violations of the constraint equations of classical gauge theories in quantum mechanics.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS

Microgravity Electron Electric Dipole Moment Experiment with a Cold Atom Beam

New physics beyond the Standard Model: The small CP violation contained in the Standard Model is insufficient to account for the baryon/antibaryon asymmetry in the universe. New sources of CP violation are provided by extensions to the Standard Model. They contain CP-violating phases that couple directly to leptons and from which a large electron electric dipole moment (EDM) may be generated. Observation of an electron EDM would be proof of a Standard Model extension because the Standard Model only allows an electron EDM of less than 10(exppp -57) C-m (S.I. units; 1 C-m = 1.6 x 10(exp -21) e-cm). A null result, however, constrains models and improving the limit tightens constraints, further restricting the models.

Gould, Harvey

Us participation in the construction of the T2k superfgd detector as part of the T2k ND280 upgrade

The neutrino physics field as a whole has made astonishing advances during the last two decades. Before 1998, there was no neutrino oscillation, meaning no neutrino mass and mixing. Today, neutrino oscillation is firmly established and we have measured all three mixing parameters and two mass parameters. Furthermore, these findings pave the way to determine the mass ordering/hierarchy and to explore Charge-Parity (CP) violation in the lepton sector, which may hold a critical key to our understanding of the matter−antimatter asymmetry in the universe, one of the most profound mysteries in science. In fact, T2K, a long baseline neutrino oscillation experiment based in Japan, has recently released the results that show initial hint of CP violation making the prospects of DUNE, a next generation long baseline neutrino oscillation experiment based in the US, discovering CP violation in neutrinos very bright.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS

Latest Three Flavor Neutrino Oscillation Results from the NOvA Experiment.

NOvA, is a two-detector, long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment located at Fermilab, Batavia, IL, USA. It is designed primarily to constrain neutrino oscillation parameters such as the atmospheric mass squared splitting, $\Delta m^2_{32}$, the mixing angle, $\theta_{23}$, neutrino mass hierachy, and the CP-violating phase, $\delta_{CP}$, using $\nu_\mu \ (\bar{\nu}_\mu)$ disappearance and $\nu_e \ (\bar{\nu}_e)$ appearance data. NOvA receives a high purity instense beam of neutrinos and anti-neutrinos from Fermilab's Neutrinos at Main Injector (NuMI) beamline. The NOvA near detector (ND) observes un-oscillated $\nu_\mu \ (\bar{\nu}_\mu)$ and beam $\nu_e \ (\bar{\nu}_e)$ events, while the far detector (FD), which is situated 810 km away from the near detector, records un-oscillated $\nu_\mu \ (\bar{\nu}_\mu)$ and oscillated $\nu_e \ (\bar{\nu}_e)$ events. The best fit values of the oscillation parameters are extracted by performing a joint fit of the far detector predicted events to data from $\nu_\mu \to \nu_\mu$, $\bar{\nu}_\mu \to \bar{\nu}_\mu$, $\nu_\mu \to \nu_e$, and $\bar{\nu}_\mu \to \bar{\nu}_e$ oscillation channels. We present latest joint fit results from NOvA based on a neutrino-beam exposure of $27.24 \times 10^{20}$ POT and an anti-neutrino beam exposure of $12.55\times 10^{20}$ POT and improved simulations.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS

Three-Flavor Neutrino Oscillations at NOvA

NOvA, is a two-detector, long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment located at Fermilab, Batavia, IL, USA. It is designed primarily to constrain neutrino oscillation parameters such as the atmospheric mass squared splitting, $\Delta m^2_{32}$, the mixing angle, $\theta_{23}$, neutrino mass hierachy, and the CP-violating phase, $\delta_{CP}$, using $\nu_\mu \ (\bar{\nu}_\mu)$ disappearance and $\nu_e \ (\bar{\nu}_e)$ appearance data. NOvA receives a high purity 900 KW instense beam of neutrinos and anti-neutrinos from Fermilab's Neutrinos at Main Injector (NuMI) beamline. NOvA used functionally identical finely granulated liquid scintillation detectors, both situated 14.6 mrad off-axis to the beam direction. The NOvA near detector observes un-oscillated $\nu_\mu \ (\bar{\nu}_\mu)$ and beam $\nu_e \ (\bar{\nu}_e)$ events, while the far detector, which is situated 809 km away from the near detector, records un-oscillated $\nu_\mu \ (\bar{\nu}_\mu)$ and oscillated $\nu_e \ (\bar{\nu}_e)$ events. We will discuss the neutrino oscillation analysis strategy at NOvA and the latest three-flavor oscillation results from 10 years of NOvA data in this talk.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS

NOvA in 10 Minutes

NOvA is a long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment based at Fermilab, IL, USA, that observes $\nu_\mu \ (\bar{\nu}_\mu) \to \nu_\mu\ (\bar{\nu}_\mu)$ disappearance and $\nu_\mu \ (\bar{\nu}_\mu) \to \nu_e \ (\bar{\nu}_e)$ appearance oscillations from a beam of muon neutrinos (anti-neutrinos) provided by the Fermilab's NuMI beamline. The experiment consists of two functionally identical active liquid scintillattor tracking calorimeters, both situated 14.6 mrad off-axis to the beam direction. The detectors are made out of extruded PVC cells arranged in alternating horizontal and vertical planes for 3-dimensional reconstruction of neutrino events. The NOvA experiment has a wide-ranging scientific program that includes studying standard 3-flavor neutrino oscillations, resolution of neutrino mass orderings, measuring the CP-violating phase, $\delta_{CP}$, beyond standard model (BSM) phenomenon such as non-standard interactions (NSI) and sterile neutrino searches, neutrino-nucleus cross-section measurements, exotics, astrophysics and more. The NOvA experiment leverages its identical detector technology to mitigate systematic uncertainties for its neutrino oscillation analysis. This talk will provide an overview of the experiment's detector design and the data-driven techniques used by the experiment in its neutrino oscillation analysis.

Choudhary, Brajesh [Delhi U.]

Tests of LBNF Beam Monitor Prototypes for the DUNE Experiment

The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is a long-baseline on-axis neutrino oscillation experiment that will use a beam from the Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility (LBNF) to constrain the mixing angle $$\theta_{23}$, the neutrino mass hierarchy, and the CP violating phase $\delta_{CP}$. To ensure the beam remains on-axis, the LBNF beamline will employ two ionization chamber systems: the Hadron Alignment Detection System (HADeS) for primary beam alignment and the Muon Monitoring System (MuMS) for continuous beam monitoring and neutrino flux estimation. We have constructed prototypes for these systems at the University of Texas at Austin based on a design currently used in the NuMI hadron monitor. These prototypes were tested with a radioactive source and in beam tests at Fermilab's Irradiation Test Area. We present the results of these studies and discuss ongoing efforts to optimize the HADeS and MuMS designs.

Murthy, Chinmay

Event Selections in the NOvA 2024 Analysis

The NuMI Off-axis $\nu_e$ Experiment (NOvA) is a long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment that studies a neutrino beam produced by the Neutrinos at the Main Injector (NuMI) facility at Fermilab to constrain the PNFS mixing angles, the neutrino mass hierarchy, and the CP-violating phase $\delta_{CP}$. These parameters are extracted by comparing the spectra of muon neutrinos and electron neutrinos measured at the near and far detectors, using an extrapolation of the Near Detector spectra. Accurate event selection is critical to this process, as only interactions with well-reconstructed energies and interaction types should be included in the oscillation analysis to reduce systematic uncertainties. In this work, we describe the selection criteria used for muon and electron neutrinos in the Near and Far Detector. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the criteria by examining the efficiency and purity of the event selections as well as their impact on key variables used in the oscillation analysis.

Chen, Hanyi [Indiana U.]

New directions for joint neutrino oscillation measurements with T2K and NOvA

The first joint analysis of data from the NOvA and T2K neutrino oscillations experiments was published in 2025, offering the most precise measurements of the larger mass splitting $\Delta m_{32}^{2}$, the largest mixing angle $\theta_{23}$, and the CP-violating phase $\delta_{CP}$ available at the time. In addition to working towards a reanalysis with additional data collected since that analysis, the collaborations are now exploring possible constraints on BSM physics scenarios. This poster will discuss the potential of a joint measurement of parameters in a framework treating effective non-standard neutral-current neutrino-matter interactions, NC-NSI. Uniquely, the differing baselines and energies of T2K and NOvA allow strong constraints to be set on the electron-muon and electron-tau parameters of NSI contributions to the Hamiltonian, while at the same time maintaining good sensitivity to the standard 3-flavor neutrino oscillations parameters, including the CP phase.

Mikola, Veera [Glasgow U.]

NOvA in 10 Minutes

NOvA is a long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment that utilizes the NuMI beamline at Fermilab. The experiment consists of two functionally identical, segmented liquid scintillator detectors. A 300-ton near detector sits at Fermilab, while a 14-kiloton far detector is located 810 km away in Ash River, Minnesota. Both are situated 14.6 mrad off the beam axis to peak the neutrino energy spectrum near the first oscillation maximum. NOvA measures muon neutrino disappearance and electron neutrino appearance in both neutrino and antineutrino beam modes, providing sensitivity to the neutrino mass ordering, the octant of the atmospheric mixing angle \theta_{23}, and the CP-violating phase \delta_{CP}. In this talk, I will give a concise overview of the NOvA experiment and its detectors, followed by highlights from recent oscillation analyses. I will also highlight notable cross-section measurements at the near detector. Finally, I will briefly introduce ongoing analyses beyond the standard three-flavor oscillation framework, including searches for sterile neutrinos and non-standard interactions, as well as exotic signatures such as magnetic monopoles, light dark matter, neutrino magnetic moments, and cosmic-ray muon studies.

Khanam, Aklima [Syracuse U. (main)] (ORCID:0009000

Latest Three Flavor Neutrino Oscillation Results from the NOvA Experiment.

NOvA, is a two-detector, long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment located at Fermilab, Batavia, IL, USA. It is designed primarily to constrain neutrino oscillation parameters such as the atmospheric mass squared splitting, $\Delta m^2_{32}$, the mixing angle, $\theta_{23}$, neutrino mass hierachy, and the CP-violating phase, $\delta_{CP}$, using $\nu_\mu \ (\bar{\nu}_\mu)$ disappearance and $\nu_e \ (\bar{\nu}_e)$ appearance data. NOvA receives a high purity instense beam of neutrinos and anti-neutrinos from Fermilab's Neutrinos at Main Injector (NuMI) beamline. The NOvA near detector (ND) observes un-oscillated $\nu_\mu \ (\bar{\nu}_\mu)$ and beam $\nu_e \ (\bar{\nu}_e)$ events, while the far detector (FD), which is situated 810 km away from the near detector, records un-oscillated $\nu_\mu \ (\bar{\nu}_\mu)$ and oscillated $\nu_e \ (\bar{\nu}_e)$ events. The best fit values of the oscillation parameters are extracted by performing a joint fit of the far detector predicted events to data from $\nu_\mu \to \nu_\mu$, $\bar{\nu}_\mu \to \bar{\nu}_\mu$, $\nu_\mu \to \nu_e$, and $\bar{\nu}_\mu \to \bar{\nu}_e$ oscillation channels. We present latest joint fit results from NOvA based on a neutrino-beam exposure of $27.24 \times 10^{20}$ POT and an anti-neutrino beam exposure of $12.55\times 10^{20}$ POT and improved simulations.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS

Neutrino oscillation prospects with a dual-baseline beam from BNL to SNOLAB and SURF

The Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) is a next-generation accelerator primarily designed to study the internal structure of nucleons through high-precision electron-hadron collisions. In this work, we explore the feasibility of employing a 1 MW fraction of the EIC proton beam to generate a high-intensity GeV-scale neutrino beam for long-baseline oscillation studies. We have simulated proton-target interactions and optimize the resulting neutrino fluxes for water-based liquid scintillator (WbLS) detectors located at distinct baselines of 900 km and at 2900 km. Oscillation analyses performed with GLoBES show that extended baselines allow access to multiple oscillation maxima, significantly enhancing sensitivity to leptonic CP violation. The study also examines the interplay between matter effects and the intrinsic CP violating phase in shaping observable asymmetries. We note that simplified systematics and no backgrounds are used in this analysis to establish the baseline physics potential. These results suggest that the EIC proton beam could provide a novel and complementary source for precision neutrino physics, extending the scientific reach of the EIC program.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS

Electric dipole moments in 5+3 flavor weak effective theory

A fully generic treatment of electric dipole moments (EDMs) is presented in the CP-violating and flavor-conserving weak effective field theory (WET) with five flavors of quarks and three flavors of leptons. We systematically analyze leading contributions to EDMs originating from QCD and QED renormalization group running between the electroweak scale and low energy scales of about 2 GeV. We include the full one-loop anomalous dimension and a subset of two-loop corrections, as well as threshold corrections at the bottom, charm and τ masses. This allows us to derive master formulae in the space of generic WET for the neutron and proton EDMs, for EDMs of diamagnetic atoms, and for the precession frequencies constrained in molecular EDM experiments, from which bounds on the electron EDM are extracted. In particular, our master formulae capture the contributions of WET CP-violating operators with heavy quark and lepton flavors. As an application, we study EDM constraints on the Yukawa couplings of the Higgs boson, in both the linear and non-linear realizations of electroweak symmetry breaking.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS

EW Studies and CP Sensitivity in ZH Production at FCC-ee

Charge-Parity (CP) violation is a necessary condition to explain the relative abundance of matter in the universe in comparison to anti-matter. Nevertheless, known sources of CP-violation are insufficient to explain this disparity. Planned to commence its operations in 2040, the Future Circular Collider (FCC-ee) will collide electrons and positrons at a center of mass energy of 240 GeV, which optimizes the rate of production of a Higgs Boson in association with an on-shell Z boson: a process known as Higgs-strahlung. The associated Z boson is selected from electronic, muonic, and hadronic final states, while the Higgs is not explicitly reconstructed, but rather inferred from the recoiling four-momentum in each event. A binned, maximum-likelihood fit characterizes the relative contributions of CP-odd interactions at the HZZ-vertex while incorporating reconstructed detector effects from a proposed design to be used at FCC-ee.

Pinto, Nicholas [Johns Hopkins U.]