Water-based Liquid Scintillator Detector as a New Technology Testbed for Neutrino Studies in Turkey

This study investigates the deployment of a medium-scale neutrino detector near Turkey's first nuclear power plant, the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant. The aim of this detector is to become a modular testbed for new technologies in the fields of new detection media and innovative photosensors. Such technologies include Water-based Liquid Scintillator (WbLS), Large Area Picosecond Photo-Detectors (LAPPDs), dichroic Winston cones, and large area silicon photomultiplier modules. The detector could be used for instantaneous monitoring of the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant via its antineutrino flux. In addition to its physics and technological goals, it would be an invaluable opportunity for the nuclear and particle physics community in Turkey to play a role in the development of next generation of particle detectors in the field of neutrino physics.Comment: V2, updated version with additional reference

Commissioning of CMS Forward Hadron Calorimeters with Upgraded Multi-anode PMTs and {\mu}TCA Readout

The high flux of charged particles interacting with the CMS Forward Hadron Calorimeter PMT windows introduced a significant background for the trigger and offline data analysis. During Long Shutdown 1, all of the original PMTs were replaced with multi-anode, thin window photomultiplier tubes. At the same time, the back-end electronic readout system was upgraded to {\mu}TCA readout. The experience with commissioning and calibration of the Forward Hadron Calorimeter is described as well as the {\mu}TCA system. The upgrade was successful and provided quality data for Run 2 data-analysis at 13 TeV

SSLG4: A Novel Scintillator Simulation Library for Geant4

This study introduces a new Scintillator Simulation Library called SSLG4 for the Geant4 Monte Carlo simulation package. With SSLG4, we aim to enhance efficiency and accelerate progress in optical simulations within the Geant4 framework by simplifying scintillator handling and providing a rich repository of scintillators. The SSLG4 enables users to quickly include predefined scintillator materials in their simulations without requiring manual definition. The library initially contains 68 scintillators, consisting of 58 organic and 10 inorganic types. Most of these scintillators are selected from the catalogs of several scintillator manufacturers, notably Eljen and Luxium. Other scintillators are included based on their widespread use across various physics domains. The library stores optical data of scintillators in ASCII files with .mac and .txt extensions, enabling users to add, remove, or modify properties of scintillators at runtime of their applications. In addition, we made all the scintillator data available in the library on a dedicated page of our website to ensure convenient access for all users.Comment: 9 pages,2 figures, 2 Listings and 1 table

High Order QCD Predictions for Inclusive Production of W

Predictions of fiducial cross sections, differential cross sections, and lepton charge asymmetry are presented for the production of W± bosons with leptonic decay up to next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) in perturbative QCD. Differential cross sections of W± bosons and W boson lepton charge asymmetry are computed as a function of lepton pseudorapidity for a defined fiducial region in pp collisions at s=13 TeV. Numerical results of fiducial W± cross section predictions are presented with the latest modern PDF models at next-to-leading order (NLO) and NNLO. It is found that the CT14 and NNPDF 3.0 predictions with NNLO QCD corrections are about 4% higher than the NLO CT14 and NNPDF 3.0 predictions while MMHT 2014 predictions with NLO QCD corrections are smaller than its NNLO QCD predictions by approximately 6%. In addition, the NNLO QCD corrections reduce the scale variation uncertainty on the cross section by a factor of 3.5. The prediction of central values and considered uncertainties are obtained using FEWZ 3.1 program

Search for multimessenger signals in NOvA coincident with LIGO/Virgo detections

Using the NOvA neutrino detectors, a broad search has been performed for any signal coincident with 28 gravitational wave events detected by the LIGO/Virgo Collaboration between September 2015 and July 2019. For all of these events, NOvA is sensitive to possible arrival of neutrinos and cosmic rays of GeV and higher energies. For five (seven) events in the NOvA Far (Near) Detector, timely public alerts from the LIGO/Virgo Collaboration allowed recording of MeV-scale events. No signal candidates were found