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At least 397 records · Page 22

Interplay between charge and spin noise in the near-surface theory of decoherence and relaxation of C 3 v symmetry qutrit spin-1 centers

Decoherence and relaxation of solid-state defect qutrits near a crystal surface, where they are commonly used as quantum sensors, originate from charge and magnetic field noise. A complete theory requires a formalism for decoherence and relaxation that includes all Hamiltonian terms allowed by the defect's point-group symmetry. This formalism, presented here for the C 3 v symmetry of a spin-1 defect in a diamond, silicon carbide, or similar host, relies on a Lindblad dynamical equation and clarifies the relative contributions of charge and spin noise to relaxation and decoherence, along with their dependence on the defect spin's depth and resonant frequencies. The calculations agree with the experimental measurements of Sangtawesin [], and corroborate the importance of charge noise. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Materials Science↗

Continuum model of strong light-matter coupling for molecular polaritons

Strong coupling between light and matter generates hybrid polariton modes. We present a continuum formalism that expresses the polariton modes in terms of light and matter densities of states (DOS). We derive exact expressions for the light and matter DOS for a planar cavity containing a strongly dispersive dielectric.We show that these DOS depend exclusively on the linear response of the cavity components, i.e., the reflectance of the mirrors and the susceptibility of the dielectric. Here, we further show that, within the strong coupling regime, the light and matter DOS are well approximated by coupled mode theory. Altogether, our continuum formalism offers a unified treatment of polaritons that connects the framework of light-matter coupling with that of linear dispersion.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Polarization of Tau in Quasielastic (Anti)Neutrino Scattering: The Role of Spectral Functions

We present a study of the τ polarization in charged-current quasielastic (anti)neutrino-nucleus scattering. The spectral function formalism is used to compute the differential cross section and the polarization components for several kinematical setups, relevant for neutrino-oscillation experiments. The effects of the nuclear corrections in these observables are investigated by comparing the results obtained using two different realistic spectral functions, with those deduced from the relativistic global Fermi gas model, where only statistical correlations are accounted for. We show that the spectral functions, although they play an important role when predicting the differential cross sections, produce much less visible effects on the polarization components of the outgoing τ.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Calculating n-point charge correlations in evolving systems

Background: In dynamic systems such as heavy-ion collisions, charge susceptibilities and local charge correlations change with time. These changes are accompanied by nonlocal correlations, which spread diffusively with time and are constrained by local charge conservation. Such correlations have been measured at the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider (RHIC) and have been linked to the chemical evolution of the matter and possible phase separation or critical phenomena. The evolution of such correlations has been modeled for two-point correlators superimposed onto hydrodynamics, but not for three- or four-point correlators. These higher-order correlators represent an essential basis for calculating the kurtosis and skewness of charge distributions measured at RHIC. For short-range correlations, such as those between charges on the same particle, and the associated charge-balance correlations a theoretical formalism was lacking for handling higher-order correlations. In particular, one needed to understand how higher-order charge fluctuations was split onto lower numbers of particles. For example, correlations of order three have contributions with charge all on one particle, split onto two particle, or split onto three. By assuming local chemical equilibrium of short-range correlations, the sources of the various correlators were found to be uniquely determined. The relevant theoretical foundation is presented here, including a diagrammatic technique to correctly account for all the possible terms to higher-order correlations. Here, we found a consistent theoretical treatment and its applicability, viability, and tractability are discussed. The formalism derived here enables realistic and quantitative modeling of the three- and four-point charge correlations necessary for understanding measurements of the kurtosis and skewness of charge distributions at RHIC. These observables have been promoted as signals of phase transitions or measures of chemical evolution.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Nonfuel antineutrino contributions in the ORNL High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR)

Reactor neutrino experiments have seen major improvements in precision in recent years. With the experimental uncertainties becoming lower than those from theory, carefully considering all sources of $\bar{ν}$ e is important when making theoretical predictions. One source of νe that is often neglected arises from the irradiation of the nonfuel materials in reactors. The $\bar{ν}$ e rates and energies from these sources vary widely based on the reactor type, configuration, and sampling stage during the reactor cycle and have to be carefully considered for each experiment independently. In this article, we present a formalism for selecting the possible $\bar{ν}$ e sources arising from the neutron captures on reactor and target materials. We apply this formalism to the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the $\bar{ν}$ e source for the the Precision Reactor Oscillation and Spectrum Measurement (PROSPECT) experiment. Overall, we observe that the nonfuel $\bar{ν}$ e contributions from HFIR to PROSPECT amount to 1% above the inverse beta decay threshold with a maximum contribution of 9% in the 1.8–2.0 MeV range. Nonfuel contributions can be particularly high for research reactors like HFIR because of the choice of structural and reflector material in addition to the intentional irradiation of target material for isotope production. We show that typical commercial pressurized water reactors fueled with low-enriched uranium will have significantly smaller nonfuel $\bar{ν}$ e contribution.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗

Secondary γ-ray decays from the partial-wave $\textit{T}$ matrix with an $\textit{R}$-matrix application to 15 N($p, α_1γ$) 12 C

The secondary γ rays emitted following a nuclear reaction are frequently relatively straightforward to detect experimentally. Despite the large volume of such data, a practical formalism for describing these γ rays in terms of partial-wave $\textit{T}$-matrix elements has never been given. The partial-wave formalism is applicable when $\textit{R}$-matrix methods are used to describe the reaction in question. This paper supplies the needed framework, and it is demonstrated by the application to the 15 N($p, α_1γ$) 12 C reaction.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Shadow poles in the alternative parametrization of R-matrix theory

In this work, we discover new, hitherto unknown, shadow poles in Brune’s alternative parametrization of R-matrix theory [C. R. Brune, Phys. Rev. C 66, 044611 (2002)]. Where these poles are, and how many, depends on how one continues R-matrix operators to complex wavenumbers (specially the shift S and penetration P functions). This has little consequence for the exact R-matrix formalism (past the last energy threshold), as we show one can still always fully reconstruct the scattering matrix with only the previously known alternative parameters (poles and corresponding resonance widths), for which there were as many poles as the number of levels Nλ. However, we generalize the alternative parametrization to the Reich-Moore formalism, and show that the choice of continuation is now critical as it changes the alternative parameters values (poles and residue widths are now complex). In order to establish nuclear libraries with alternative parameters, the nuclear community will thus have to decide what convention to adopt. We argue in favor of analytical continuation (against the legacy Lane and Thomas approach) in a follow-up article [P. Ducru, Phys. Rev. C, submitted (2020)]. We observe the first evidence of shadow poles in the alternative parametrization of R-matrix theory in isotope xenon 134 Xe spin-parity group J π = 1=2 (–) , and show how they indeed depend on the choice of continuation to complex wavenumbers.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Skyrme pseudopotentials at next-to-next-to-leading order: Construction of local densities and first symmetry-breaking calculations

There is an ongoing quest to improve on the spectroscopic quality of nuclear energy density functionals (EDFs) of the Skyrme type through extensions of its traditional form. One direction for such activities is the inclusion of terms of higher order in gradients in the EDF. We report on exploratory symmetry-breaking calculations performed for an extension of the Skyrme EDF that includes central terms with four gradients at next-to-next-to-leading order (N2LO) and for which the high-quality parametrization SN2LO1 has been constructed recently. Up to now, the investigation of such functionals with higher-order terms was limited to infinite matter and spherically symmetric configurations of singly and doubly magic nuclei. We address here nuclei and phenomena that require us to consider axial and nonaxial deformation, both for reflection-symmetric and also reflection-asymmetric shapes, as well as the breaking of time-reversal invariance. Achieving these calculations demanded a number of formal developments. These all resulted from the formulation of the N2LO EDF requiring the introduction of new local densities with additional gradients that are not present in the EDF at NLO. Their choice is not unique, but can differ in the way the gradients are coupled. While designing a numerical implementation of N2LO EDFs in Cartesian three-dimensional coordinate-space representation, we have developed a novel definition and a new unifying notation for normal and pair densities that contain gradients at arbitrary order. Besides having mnemonic advantages, the new notation allows for the easy identification of redundancies and reducibilities in a given set of local densities, and the new definition makes it straightforward to construct densities that automatically adopt the symmetries of the many-body state they are constructed from. The resulting scheme resolves several issues with some of the choices that have been made for local densities in the past, in particular when breaking time-reversal symmetry. Guided by general practical considerations, we propose an alternative form of the N2LO contribution to the Skyrme EDF that is built from a different set of densities. It has exactly the same physics content, but is much more efficient to handle in formal discussions and, compared to the original formulation, leads to a substantial reduction of computational cost and memory requirements in deformed codes. As representative examples for the performance of SN2LO1, we have chosen the ground states of even-even Kr and Nd isotopes, the fission barrier of 240 Pu as well as the superdeformed rotational band of 194 Hg. Overall, for the nuclei and phenomena studied here, the SN2LO1 parametrization does not yet present a systematic improvement over standard NLO parametrizations. This finding calls for improved fit protocols that better discriminate between NLO and N2LO terms and better exploit the unique features of the additional degrees of freedom offered by the latter.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Electron scattering on A = 3 nuclei from quantum Monte Carlo based approaches

We perform first-principle calculations of electron-nucleus scattering on 3 He and 3 H using the Green's function Monte Carlo method and two approaches based on the factorization of the final hadronic state: the spectral-function formalism and the short-time approximation. These three methods are benchmarked among each other and compared to the experimental data for the longitudinal and transverse electromagnetic response functions of 3 He, and the inclusive cross sections of both 3 He and 3 H. Since these three approaches are based on the same description of nuclear dynamics of the initial target state, comparing their results enables a precise quantification of the uncertainties inherent to factorization schemes. At sufficiently large values of the momentum transfer, we find an excellent agreement of the Green's function Monte Carlo calculation with experimental data and with both the spectral-function formalism and the short-time approximation. Here, we also analyze the relevance of relativistic effects, whose inclusion becomes crucial to explain data at high momentum and energy transfer.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Entanglement and seniority

In quantum mechanics entanglement is the most striking phenomenon which has no counterpart in classical systems. Although, different approaches have already been developed to study correlations in the case of indistinguishable particles, the exploration of the so-called mode entanglement is still in its initial stage in nuclear physics. Study of mode-entanglement in the seniority model, derivation of analytic formulas for the one-body reduced density matrix of states with seniority $ν$ = 0, 1, 2, and $ν$ = 3, and also determination of the particle number dependence of the one-body reduced density matrix for arbitrary seniority. In addition, comparison of the predictions of the seniority model with the results of the shell model to gain insight into the structure and correlations of the ground and lowest yrast states. In the seniority model the analytic results are calculated using the quasi-spin formalism. The numerical shell model calculations are carried out in the standard shell model framework using an inert core. The applied realistic effective interactions are derived earlier using the $G$-matrix formalism. The density matrix renormalization group method is also applied in order to directly calculate the mode entropies. In the seniority model simple analytical expressions are given for the mode entropies. The peculiar behavior of the half-filled shells and the seniority-zero states are revealed. Numerical results are presented for the lightest stable calcium isotopes and for 94 Ru nucleus. For 94 Ru, the seniority model accounts for the 0$g$ 9/2 mode entropies, but seniority mixing is important for certain yrast states. Furthermore, interaction induced quantum fluctuations decrease the occupation of the 0$f$ 5/2 , 1$p$ 3/2 and 1$p$ 1/2 shells, and amount in non-negligible mode entropies on these shells, too, clearly outside the scope of the simple (0$g$ 9/2 ) 4 seniority model. The 0$f$ 7/2 shell-based seniority model is more accurate for the Ca isotopes, but seniority mixing is substantial for some 44 Ca yrast states, too. Mode and one-body entanglement entropies are useful tools to investigate the structure of quantum correlations in nuclei.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Training and projecting: A reduced basis method emulator for many-body physics

Here, we present the reduced basis method as a tool for developing emulators for equations with tun able parameters within the context of the nuclear many-body problem. The method uses a basis expansion informed by a set of solutions for a few values of the model parameters and then projects the equations over a well-chosen low-dimensional subspace. We connect some of the results in the eigenvector continuation literature to the formalism of reduced basis methods and show how these methods can be applied to a broad set of problems. As we illustrate, the possible success of the formalism on such problems can be diagnosed beforehand by a principal component analysis. We apply the reduced basis method to the one-dimensional Gross-Pitaevskii equation with a harmonic trap ping potential and to nuclear density functional theory for 48 Ca, achieving speed-ups of more than x150 and x250, respectively, when compared to traditional solvers. The outstanding performance of the approach, together with its straightforward implementation, show promise for its application to the emulation of computationally demanding calculations, including uncertainty quantification.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Stochastic hydrodynamics and hydro-kinetics: Similarities and differences

The hydro-kinetic formalism has been used as a complementary approach to solving the Stochastic Differential Equations (SDE) corresponding to noisy hydrodynamics. The hydro-kinetic formalism consists of a deterministic set of relaxation type equations that tracks the evolution of 2-point correlation functions of stochastic hydrodynamic quantities. Hence they are comparatively easier to solve than the SDEs, which are computationally intensive and need to deal with arbitrarily large gradients. This work compares the two approaches for the propagation and diffusion of conserved charge fluctuations in the Bjorken hydrodynamic model. For white noise, the two approaches agree. For colored Catteneo noise, which is causal, the two approaches diverge. This is because white noise only induces two-point correlations, while Catteneo noise also induces higher-order correlations. Furthermore, this difference is quantified from the effects of causal evolution and influence from higher-order correlations induced by the Catteneo noise.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Testing deviations from GR at cosmological scales including dynamical dark energy, massive neutrinos, functional or binned parametrizations, and spatial curvature

Here we introduce a new version of the Integrated Software in Testing General Relativity (ISiTGR) which is a patch to the software CAMB and CosmoMC . ISiTGR is intended to test deviations from GR at cosmological scales using cosmological datasets. While doing so, it allows for various extensions to the standard flat Λ cold dark matter model. In this new release, we have support for the following: (1) dynamical dark energy parametrizations with a constant or time-dependant equation of state; (2) a consistent implementation of anisotropic shear to model massive neutrinos throughout the full formalism; (3) multiple commonly used parametrizations of modified growth (MG) parameters; (4) functional, binned and hybrid time and scale dependencies for all MG parameters; (5) spatially flat or curved backgrounds. ISiTGR is designed to allow cosmological analyses to take full advantage of ongoing and future surveys to test simultaneously or separately various extensions to the standard model. We describe here the formalism and its implementation in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) code, the Integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect, and the 3 × 2 point statistics. Next, we apply ISiTGR to current datasets from Planck-2018, Planck-2015, Dark Energy Survey YR1 release, baryonic acoustic oscillations (BAO), redshift space distortions (BAO/RSD) from the BOSS Data Release 12, the 6DF Galaxy Survey and the SDSS Data Release 7 Main Galaxy Sample, and Supernova from the Pantheon compilation, joint SNLS/SDSS data analysis and the Hubble Space Telescope. We derive constraints on MG parameters for various combinations of the five features above and find that general relativity is consistent with current datasets in all cases.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Ultrarelativistic quark-nucleus scattering in a light-front Hamiltonian approach

In this work, we investigate the scattering of a quark on a heavy nucleus at high energies using the time-dependent basis light-front quantization (tBLFQ) formalism, which is the first application of the tBLFQ formalism in QCD. We present the real-time evolution of the quark wave function in a strong classical color field of the relativistic nucleus, described as the color glass condensate. The quark and the nucleus color field are simulated in the QCD SU(3) color space. We calculate the total and the differential cross sections, and the quark distribution in coordinate and color spaces using the tBLFQ approach. We recover the eikonal cross sections in the eikonal limit. We find that the differential cross section from the tBLFQ simulation is in agreement with a perturbative calculation at large $p_⊥$, and it deviates from the perturbative calculation at small $p_⊥$ due to higher-order contributions. In particular, we relax the eikonal limit by letting the quark carry realistic finite longitudinal momenta. We study the sub-eikonal effect on the quark through the transverse coordinate distribution of the quark with different longitudinal momentum, and we find the sub-eikonal effect to be sizable. Our results can significantly reduce the theoretical uncertainties in small $p_⊥$ region which has important implications to the phenomenology of the hadron-nucleus and deep inelastic scattering at high energies.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Quantifying the line-of-sight halo contribution to the dark matter convergence power spectrum from strong gravitational lenses

Galaxy-galaxy strong gravitational lenses have become a popular probe of dark matter (DM) by providing a window into structure formation on the smallest scales. In particular, the convergence power spectrum of subhalos within lensing galaxies has been suggested as a promising observable to study DM. However, the distances involved in strong-lensing systems are vast, and we expect the relevant volume to contain line-of-sight (LOS) halos that are not associated with the main lens. We develop a formalism to calculate the effect of LOS halos as an effective convergence power spectrum. Here, the multilens plane equation couples the angular deflections of consecutive lens planes, but by assuming that the perturbations due to the LOS halos are small, we show that they can be projected onto the main-lens plane as effective subhalos. We test our formalism by simulating lensing systems using the full multiplane lens equation and find excellent agreement. We show how the relative contribution of LOS halos and subhalos depends on the source and lens redshift, as well as the assumed halo and subhalo mass functions. For a fiducial system with fraction of DM halo mass in substructure f sub = 0.4% for subhalo masses [10 5 –10 8 ]M ⊙ , the interloper contribution to the power spectrum is at least several times greater than that of subhalos for source redshifts z s ≳ 0.5. Furthermore, it is likely that for the SLACS and BELLS lenses the interloper contribution dominates: f sub ≳ 2% (4%) is needed for subhalos to dominate in SLACS (BELLS), which is higher than current upper bounds on f sub for our mass range. Since the halo mass function is better understood from first principles, the dominance of interlopers in galaxy-galaxy lenses with high-quality imaging can be seen as a significant advantage when translating this observable into a constraint on DM.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Two-neutrino double-𝛽 decay in pionless effective field theory from a Euclidean finite-volume correlation function

Two-neutrino double-β decay of certain nuclear isotopes is one of the rarest Standard Model processes observed in nature. Its neutrinoless counterpart is an exotic lepton-number nonconserving process that is widely searched to determine if the neutrinos are Majorana fermions. In order to connect the rate of these processes to the Standard Model and beyond the Standard Model interactions, it is essential that the corresponding nuclear matrix elements are constrained reliably from theory. Lattice quantum chromodynamics (LQCD) and low-energy effective field theories (EFTs) are expected to play an essential role in constraining the matrix element of the two-nucleon subprocess, which could in turn provide the input into ab initio nuclear-structure calculations in larger isotopes. Focusing on the two-neutrino process $nn\rightarrow pp(ee\bar{v}_{e}\bar{v}_e)$, the amplitude is constructed in this work in pionless EFT at next-to-leading order, demonstrating the emergence of a renormalization-scale independent amplitude and the absence of any new low-energy constant at this order beyond those present in the single-weak process. Most importantly, it is shown how a LQCD four-point correlation function in Euclidean and finite-volume spacetime can be used to constrain the Minkowski infinite-volume amplitude in the EFT. The same formalism is provided for the related single-weak process, which is an input to the double-β decay formalism. The LQCD-EFT matching procedure outlined for the double-weak amplitude paves the road toward constraining the two-nucleon matrix element entering the neutrinoless double-β decay amplitude with a light Majorana neutrino.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Diagnosis of information scrambling from Hamiltonian evolution under decoherence

We apply a quantum teleportation protocol based on the Hayden-Preskill thought experiment to quantify how scrambling a given quantum evolution is. It has an advantage over the direct measurement of out-of time ordered correlators when used to diagnose the information scrambling in the presence of decoherence effects stemming from a noisy quantum device. We demonstrate the protocol by applying it to two physical systems: Ising spin chain and SU(2) lattice Yang-Mills theory. To this end, we numerically simulate the time evolution of the two theories in the Hamiltonian formalism. The lattice Yang-Mills theory is implemented with a suitable truncation of Hilbert space on the basis of the Kogut-Susskind formalism. On a two-leg ladder geometry and with the lowest nontrivial spin representations, it can be mapped to a spin chain, which we call Yang-Mills-Ising model and is also directly applicable to future digital quantum simulations. Here, we find that the Yang-Mills-Ising model shows the signal of information scrambling at late times.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Gravitational memory and compact extra dimensions

Here we develop a general formalism for treating radiative degrees of freedom near $\mathscr{I}^+$ in theories with an arbitrary Ricci-flat internal space. These radiative modes are encoded in a generalized news tensor which decomposes into gravitational, electromagnetic, and scalar components. We find a preferred gauge which simplifies the asymptotic analysis of the full nonlinear Einstein equations and makes the asymptotic symmetry group transparent. This asymptotic symmetry group extends the Bondi–Metzner–Sachs (BMS) group to include angle-dependent isometries of the internal space. We apply this formalism to study memory effects, which are expected to be observed in future experiments, that arise from bursts of higher-dimensional gravitational radiation. We outline how measurements made by gravitational wave observatories might probe properties of the compact extra dimensions.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗