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At least 73 records · Page 4

Design and synthesis of aryl-functionalized carbazole-based porous coordination cages

A subset of coordination cages have garnered considerable recent attention for their potential permanent porosity in the solid state. Herein, we report a series of functionalized carbazole-based cages of the structure type M 12 (R-cdc) 12 (M = Cr, Cu, Mo) where the functional groups include a range of aromatic substituents. Single-crystal X-ray structure determinations reveal a variety of intercage interactions in these materials, largely governed by pi–pi stacking. Density functional theory for a subset of these cages was used to confirm that the nature of the increased stability of aryl-functionalized cages is a result of inter-cage ligand interactions.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Why CO bonds side-on at low coverage and both side-on and upright at high coverage on the Cr(110) surface

An atom superposition and electron delocalization molecular orbital study of CO adsorption on the Cr(110) surface shows a high coordinate lying down orientation is favored. This is a result of the large number of empty d-band energy levels in chromium, which allows the antibonding counterparts to sigma and pi donation bonds to the surface to be empty. When lying down, backbonding to CO pi sup * orbitals is enhanced. Repulsive interactions cause additional CO to stand upright at 1/4 monolyer coverage. The results confirm the recent experimental study of Shinn and Madey.

Mehandru, S. P.↗

High-energy neutrinos from a lunar observatory

The detection of high-energy (HE) cosmic and solar-flare neutrions near the lunar surface would be feasible at energies much lower than for a terrestrial observatory. At these lower energies ( 10 to the 9th eV), the neutrino background is drastically reduced below that generated by cosmic rays in the Earth's atmosphere. Because of the short mean free path ( 1m) of the progenitor pi and K mesons against nuclear interactions in lunar rocks, the neutrino background would be quite low. At 1 GeV, less than 1% of the pions would decay; at 10 GeV, 0.1%. Thus, if the neutrino flux to be observed is intense enough, and its spectrum is steep enough, then the signal-to-noise ratio is very favorable. The observation of HE neutrinos from solar flares would be dramatically enhanced, especially at lower energies, since the flare spectra are very steep. Detection of these neutrinos on Earth does not appear to be feasible. A remarkable feature of solar flares as viewed in HE neutrinos from a lunar base is that the entire surface of the Sun would be visible.

Shapiro, M. M.↗

A technique for incorporating the NASA spacelab payload dedicated experiment processor software into the simulation system for the payload crew training complex

The feasibility of some off-the-shelf microprocessors and state-of-art software is assessed (1) as a development system for the principle investigator (pi) in the design of the experiment model, (2) as an example of available technology application for future PI's experiments, (3) as a system capable of being interactive in the PCTC's simulation of the dedicated experiment processor (DEP), preferably by bringing the PI's DEP software directly into the simulation model, (4) as a system having bus compatibility with host VAX simulation computers, (5) as a system readily interfaced with mock-up panels and information displays, and (6) as a functional system for post mission data analysis.

Bremmer, D. A.↗

Theoretical Treatment of the X(sup 1)Sigma(sup +), A(sup 1)Sigma(sup +), and B(sup 1)Pi states of LiH

Ab initio self-consistent-field plus configuration-interaction calculations are reported for the X(sup 1)Sigma(sup +), A(sup 1)Sigma(sup +), and B(sup 1)Pi states of LiH using a 22(sugma)12(pi)7(delta) function Slater basis set. The resulting dissociation energies, with the experimental values in parentheses, are D(sub e)(X(sup 1)Sigma(sup +)) = 19 972 (20288)/ cm, and D(sub e)(A(sup 1)Sigma(sup +)) = 9042 (8682)/ cm, and D(sup e)(B(sup 1)Pi) = 284 (288) /cm. This is the first ab initio treatment to quantitatively account for the binding in the B(sup 1)Pi state. Calculated dipole moments and electronic transition moments for the X(sup 1)Sigma(sup+)-A(sup 1)Sigma(sup +), X(sup 1)Sigma(sup +)-B((sup 1)Pi, and A(sup 1)Sigma(sup +)- B(sup 1)PI band systems are in excellent agreement with existing theoretical and experimental data. Radiative transition probabilities and lifetimes, including both the bound-bound and bound-free contributions, are computed for all vibrational levels of the A(sup 1)Sigma(sup+) and B(sup 1)Pi states. Comparison with previous results using experimentally based potentials provides insight into the sensitivity of the radiative lifetimes to the detailed nature of the uppermost region of the potentials. Our calculated lifetimes for the lower vibrational levels of the A(sup 1)Sigma(sup +) state are within the experimental uncertainty. Our calculated lifetimes for the three vibrational levels of the B(sup 1)Pi state are in excellent agreement with those of Zemke and Stwalley (values in parentheses), increasing with (upsilon)' from 11.3 (11.3) nsec at (upsilon)' = 0, to 17.0 (17.0) nsec at (upsilon)' = 1, and then to 23.5 (24.0) nsec at (upsilon)' = 2.

Partridge, Harry↗

Search for Exotic Hadrons in eta (') pi at GlueX

The theoretical description of the strong interaction between quarks and gluons that form hadrons is provided by Quantum Chromodynamics. However, the impact of gluonic excitations on the characteristics of hadrons and their role in hadronic structure is yet to be determined. Recent discoveries of several possibly exotic hadrons highlight the significance of spectroscopic measurements in comprehending the nature of the strong interaction. These proceedings focus on the status of the hunt for exotic contributions in photoproduction data obtained with the GlueX experiment at Jefferson Lab in ?(?)? systems. Specifically, we discuss the investigation of the a2(1320) meson production in these key channels, which is an initial step towards identifying exotic quantum number hybrid mesons. Furthermore, the discussion will cover the application of an amplitude analysis that exploits the polarization of the photon beam available to the GlueX experiment and its implications for identifying the lightest hybrid meson.

Albrecht, Malte↗

{phi} Meson Photoproduction on the Nucleon and 4He Targets

We study the reaction mechanism of phi-meson photoproduction on the nucleon and He-4 targets by using a dynamical model based on a Hamiltonian. In addition to the dominant contribution of the Pomeron exchange, various meson exchanges are considered in the t channel to describe the CLAS data in the low energy region root s =(1.97-2.84) GeV. The direct phi radiations are taken into account in the s- and u-channels. The backward structures at root s approximate to 2.1 and 2.3 GeV are well reproduced by the inclusion of the s-channel N(2000,5/2(+)) and N(2300,1/2(+))resonances, respectively. We also consider the final phi N interactions by the gluon exchange, the direct phi N interactions, and the box diagrams arising from the couplings with the pi N, rho N, K Lambda, and K Sigma channels. The effects of the final state interactions are found to be very weak. Then the resulting Hamiltonian is used to study the coherent gamma He-4 -> phi He-4 reaction within the distorted-weave impulse approximation. The calculated differential cross sections account for the LEPS data quite well.

Kim, Sang-Ho↗

Measurement of $\nu_{\mu}$CC1$\pi^0$ cross-section on heavy nuclei in MINERvA

MINERvA is a neutrino-nucleus scattering experiment that investigates the effects of the nuclear medium on neutrino interactions on different targets in the energy range of the few-GeV. One of the motivations of those measurements is to provide a solid understanding of cross-sections in that energy regime that can be useful for the physics program of the current and future neutrino oscillation experiments. Because of the different interaction types in the few-GeV regime, MINERvA specializes in studying interactions with several final state production channels. Previous measurements of single-$\pi^0$ production on hydrocarbon using a neutrino beam with a mean energy of 3 GeV have shown remarkable discrepancies between the predicted and the observed cross-sections in the low-$Q^2$ regime. Such results were consistent with similar measurements from the MiniBooNE and MINOS experiments, both made of carbon-based detectors. This thesis will describe the results of the novel analysis of neu trino-induced single-$\pi^0$ production on lead and iron using a neutrino beam with a mean energy of 6 GeV. This thesis work aims to investigate similar suppression effects at low momentum transfer and offer a glance at those effects in a heavy nuclei medium.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

First Extraction of Single Differential Cross-Sections on Argon for CC1$\mu$2p0$\pi$ Event Topologies in the MicroBooNE Detector

The precise measurement of cross-sections for a variety of interactions is critical to the success of forthcoming flagship neutrino experiments. Of special interest are neutrino interactions that leave the nucleus in a 2-particle 2-hole state (2p2h). This note will present the first cross-section measurement for the production of 2p2h states on argon. Using MicroBooNE data collected from the first three years of operation, we select events corresponding to a charged-current $ν_µ$ interaction that left the argon nucleus in a 2p2h state. These interactions produce a topology with one muon and two protons in the final state (CC1$\mu$2p0$\pi$). This analysis targets a single differential cross-section measurement for CC1$\mu$2p0$\pi$ event topologies in a variety of kinematic variables. Comparisons are made to a set of theoretical models that explore different cross-section modeling configurations.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

First Search for Dark-Trident Processes Using the MicroBooNE Detector

This thesis presents a first search for dark-trident scattering in a neutrino beam using a data set corresponding to $7.2 \times 10^{20}$ protons on target taken with the MicroBooNE detector at Fermilab. Proton interactions in the neutrino target at the Main Injector produce $\pi^0$ and $\eta$ mesons, which could decay into dark matter (DM) particles via a dark photon $A^{\prime}$. A convolutional neural network is trained to identify interactions of the DM particles in the liquid-argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) exploiting its image-like reconstruction capability. In the absence of a DM signal, limits at the $90\%$ confidence level on the squared kinematic mixing parameter $\varepsilon^2$ as a function of the dark-photon mass in the range $10\le M_{A^\prime}\le 400$~MeV are provided. The limits cover previously unconstrained parameter space for the production of fermion or scalar DM particles $\chi$ for two benchmark models with mass ratios $M_{\chi}/M_{A^\prime}=0.6$ and $2$ and for dark fine-structure constants $0.1\le\alpha_D\le 1$.Date of Award1 Aug 2024Original languageEnglishAwarding InstitutionThe University of ManchesterSupervisorStefan Soldner-Rembold (Supervisor) & Justin Evans (Supervisor)

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

In situ monitoring of the stopped muon flux at Mu2e

The specific object of Mu2e search is the neutrino-less coherent $\mu^-\rightarrow e^-$ conversion in the field of an aluminum nucleus and the signal is a monoenergetic electron of energy $ \approx 104.97$ MeV. This process is forbidden in the Standard Model but allowed in many of its extensions: with minimal changes to include neutrino masses and oscillation, the Branching Ratio of this process, or the similarly interesting $\mu\rightarrow e \gamma$ decay, is expected to be of the order of $\mathcal{O}(10^{-54})$. Values like these are below any currently achievable experimental sensitivity, and the observation of a signal would be unambiguous evidence of New Physics. The upper limit on the muon conversion was set by SINDRUM II at $7\times10^{-13}$ (90\% C.L.) and the goal of the Mu2e collaboration is an improvement of 4 order of magnitudes.\\ The Mu2e experiment can be conceptually divided into three stages: interaction of the primary proton pulse with the tungsten target a nd production of $\pi$ and $\mu$; collection and transport of the produced particles down to the aluminum stopping target; interaction with the stopping target and measurement of the output particles. The measurement of the stopped muon flux is of cardinal importance for the normalization of the Mu2e results. The baseline design includes two detectors developed to measure this flux, counting $\gamma$ emitted by the muonic atoms: HPGe and LaBr$_3$(Ce). The studies performed by the Mu2e Collaboration show that these two systems can be reliably used to determine the overall normalization.\\ The number of stopped muons is proportional to the number of protons on target, which itself depends on the extraction system for the proton beam. The Mu2e beam delivery system will use a resonant extraction to create the proton pulses and this method is characterized by intensity fluctuations on the time scale of milliseconds. These fluctuations, aside from the proportional fluctuation of t he number of muons, have a non-trivial impact on the overall! performance of the apparatus. For example, higher intensity proton bunches translate into higher veto rates by the Cosmic Rays Veto system, which is triggered by secondary particles generated by the proton interaction. Another example is the effect of the instantaneous luminosity on the reconstruction efficiency: higher intensity translates into higher detector occupancy, which in turn reduces the reconstruction efficiency.\\ The two cited detectors encounter limitations when trying to monitor the flux at the millisecond timescales: HPGe is by construction a slow detector while the rate of emission of the $\gamma (1809\textrm{ keV})$ the LaBr$_3$(Ce) will measure is too low. As of today, no system allows to monitor these fluctuations and the goal of this Thesis is to try filling this gap. The method we developed to monitor the fluctuations of the stopped muon flux, and by extension, the fluctuation in the proton pulses intensity is based on counting the number of muons capt ured in the stopping target by counting the number of protons produced in the process of the nuclear muon capture. This is one of the possible processes a stopped muon can undergo and it can lead to the ejection of charged particles.\\ The reconstruction algorithms were developed by the Mu2e collaboration with the explicit (and sometimes implicit) aim to reconstruct tracks of electrons in an energy range of a conversion electron. The protons we are interested in behave quite differently from these electrons and the cardinal task of this study has been to tailor the reconstruction routines to these particles. This has been done by analyzing simulated events consisting of a single proton to optimize the procedure and understand the features of these tracks. A major difference with respect to the electrons is the non-relativistic nature of $100\div300$ MeV$/c$ protons: accounting for the low velocity is both a challenge and a unique signature of the tracks.\\ The use of a pulse d beam and the need to allow produced $\pi$ to decay and $\m! u$ to int! eract in the stopping target forces the definition of a Mu2e \textit{event}: an event is comprised by everything which happens in a $1.7\ \mu$s window between the incidence two consecutive proton pulses. This means that the reconstruction will be performed in an environment crowded by many different particles. The next step of this study has been to estimate the performance of the method in a fully-fledged Mu2e simulated event and to study what kind of selections would improve it.\\ Our results are satisfactory since the number of reconstructed protons is significant (few per event), and show that a monitor on the timescale of milliseconds is indeed possible.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Muon Neutrino Charged Current Single Pion Production on Various Targets in the MINERvA Detector

Measurements of neutrino oscillation parameters at accelerator-based experiments require precise knowledge of neutrino interaction cross sections. A significant fraction of neutrino interactions observed in these experiments produce single charged pions. While single charged pion production has been measured on hydrocarbon and water, few precise measurements exist for heavier targets, and there are no high statistics measurements that directly compare pion production on different targets. This thesis measures differential cross sections of muon neutrino charged current single charged pion production with no other mesons in the final state in a neutrino beam with a mean energy of $\approx 6$ GeV. The pion production is studied on targets of scintillator, carbon, water, iron, and lead at MINERvA, a neutrino cross section experiment located in the NuMI beamline at Fermilab. These measured cross sections are differential in $\mu^-$ and $\pi^+$ kinematics. A strong suppression of low $Q^2 $ and an enhancement of low $T_\pi$ are observed relative to commonly used neutrino interaction models in both the light and heavy nuclear targets. Incorporation of these observed effects in future neutrino oscillation experiments will improve their ability to measure energy of neutrino interactions, and therefore measure the parameters governing neutrino oscillations.

Bercellie, Aaron↗

Thermodynamic consequences of Tyr to Trp mutations in the cation–π-mediated binding of trimethyllysine by the HP1 chromodomain

Evolution has converged on cation–p interactions for recognition of quaternary alkyl ammonium groups such as trimethyllysine (Kme3). While computational modelling indicates that Trp provides the strongest cation–p interaction of the native aromatic amino acids, there is limited corroborative data from measurements within proteins. Herein we investigate a Tyr to Trp mutation in the binding pocket of the HP1 chromodomain, a reader protein that recognizes Kme3. Binding studies demonstrate that the Trpmediated cation–p interaction is about -5 kcal mol -1 stronger, and the Y24W crystal structure shows that the mutation is not perturbing. Quantum mechanical calculations indicate that greater enthalpic binding is predominantly due to increased cation–π interactions. NMR studies indicate that differences in the unbound state of the Y24W mutation lead to enthalpy–entropy compensation. These results provide direct experimental quantification of Trp versus Tyr in a cation–π interaction and afford insight into the conservation of aromatic cage residues in Kme3 reader domains.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

The $$\pi f_0(500)$$ decay of the $$a_1(1260)$$

Abstract We evaluate the $$a_1(1260) \rightarrow \pi \sigma (f_0(500))$$ a 1 ( 1260 ) → π σ ( f 0 ( 500 ) ) decay width from the perspective that the $$a_1(1260)$$ a 1 ( 1260 ) resonance is dynamically generated from the pseudoscalar–vector interaction and the $$\sigma $$ σ arises from the pseudoscalar–pseudoscalar interaction. A triangle mechanism with $$a_1(1260) \rightarrow \rho \pi $$ a 1 ( 1260 ) → ρ π followed by $$\rho \rightarrow \pi \pi $$ ρ → π π and a fusion of two pions within the loop to produce the $$\sigma $$ σ provides the mechanism for this decay under these assumptions for the nature of the two resonances. We obtain widths of the order of 13–22 MeV. Present experimental results differ substantially from each other, suggesting that extra efforts should be devoted to the precise extraction of this important partial decay width, which should provide valuable information on the nature of the axial vector and scalar meson resonances and help clarify the role of the $$\pi \sigma $$ π σ channel in recent lattice QCD calculations of the $$a_1$$ a 1 .

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Pairwise connected tensor network representation of path integrals

It has been recently shown how the tensorial nature of real-time path integrals (PIs) involving the Feynman-Vernon influence functional can be utilized with matrix product states, taking advantage of the finite length of the bath-induced memory. Tensor networks (TNs) promise to provide a unified language to express the structure of a PI. A generalized TN specifically incorporating the pairwise interaction structure of the influence functional and its invariance with respect to the average forward-backward position or the sojourn value in the form of the blip representation is derived and implemented. This pairwise connected TNPI (PC-TNPI) is illustrated through applications to typical spin-boson problems and explorations of the differences caused by the exact form of the spectral density. The storage and performance scalings are reported, showing the compactness of the representation and the efficiency of the contraction process. Finally, taking advantage of the compressed representation, the viability of using PC-TNPI for simulating multistate problems is demonstrated. The PC-TNPI structure can be shown to yield other TN algorithms currently in use. Consequently, it should be possible to use it as a starting point for deriving other optimized procedures.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Commissioning the DIRC Detector and Searching for Axion-like Particles at GlueX

This thesis centers around problems in the study of the strong nuclear force. The GlueX DIRC, a Cherenkov radiation-based detector, was proposed to upgrade the particle identification capability of the GlueX experiment, which aims to perform quantitative tests of Quantum Chromodynamics in the nonperturbative regime by searching for and studying hybrid mesons. This thesis describes the construction, commissioning, reconstruction, and calibration of the GlueX DIRC detector. Originally proposed to solve the strong CP problem, axions and axion-like particles are hypothetical pseudoscalar particles found in many proposed extensions to the Standard Model of particle physics. This thesis presents a search for photoproduction of axion-like particles using data in photon-proton interactions collected by the GlueX experiment at Jefferson Laboratory in the $\gamma\gamma$ and $\pi^+\pi^-\pi^0$ final states of the axion-like particles. In addition, the Monte Carlo modeling of the strong interaction at low energies leads to challenges known as the event generator tuning problem. This thesis presents a novel approach to the Monte Carlo event generator tuning problem using Bayesian optimization.

Yang, Yunjie↗

Enhanced Raman spectroscopic study of the coordination chemistry of malononitrile on copper surfaces - Removal of nu(C=N) degeneracy through pi-coordination

Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy has been used to study the molecular interactions of malononitrile with copper electrode surfaces. The doubly degenerate CN stretching frequency at 2263/cm is removed when malononitrile adsorbs on copper. Two nu(CN) bands are observed at 2096 and 2204/cm at -0.6 V(SCE). The result shows that only one CN group is pi-coordinated with Cu, which contributes to the observed large shift (-167/cm) in nu(CN). The other CN group is not coordinated to the metal surface.

Loo, B. H.↗