e+e−e^{+}e^{-} pairs from a nuclear transition signaling an elusive light neutral boson

Electron-positron pairs have been observed in the 10.95-MeV $0^-\to0^+$ decay in $^{16}$O. The branching ratio of the e$^+$e$^-$ pairs compared to the 3.84-MeV $0^-\to2^+$ $\gamma$ decay of the level is deduced to be $20(5)\times10^{-5}$. This magnetic monopole (M0) transition cannot proceed by $\gamma$-ray decay and is, to first order, forbidden for internal pair creation. However, the transition may also proceed by the emission of a light neutral $0^{-}$ or $1^{+}$ boson. Indeed, we do observe a sharp peak in the $e^{+}e^{-}$ angular correlation with all the characteristics belonging to the intermediate emission of such a boson with an invariant mass of 8.5(5) MeV/c$^2$. It may play a role in the current quest for light dark matter in the universe.Comment: 6 page

Investigation of Pygmy Dipole Resonances in the Tin Region

The evolution of the low-energy electromagnetic dipole response with the neutron excess is investigated along the Sn isotopic chain within an approach incorporating Hartree-Fock-Bogoljubov (HFB) and multi-phonon Quasiparticle-Phonon-Model (QPM) theory. General aspects of the relationship of nuclear skins and dipole sum rules are discussed. Neutron and proton transition densities serve to identify the Pygmy Dipole Resonance (PDR) as a generic mode of excitation. The PDR is distinct from the GDR by its own characteristic pattern given by a mixture of isoscalar and isovector components. Results for the $^{100}$Sn-$^{132}$Sn isotopes and the several N=82 isotones are presented. In the heavy Sn-isotopes the PDR excitations are closely related to the thickness of the neutron skin. Approaching $^{100}$Sn a gradual change from a neutron to a proton skin is found and the character of the PDR is changed correspondingly. A delicate balance between Coulomb and strong interaction effects is found. The fragmentation of the PDR strength in $^{124}$Sn is investigated by multi-phonon calculations. Recent measurements of the dipole response in $^{130,132}$Sn are well reproduced.Comment: 41 pages, 10 figures, PR

Signature of Shallow Potentials in Deep Sub-barrier Fusion Reactions

We extend a recent study that explained the steep falloff in the fusion cross section at energies far below the Coulomb barrier for the symmetric dinuclear system 64Ni+64Ni to another symmetric system, 58Ni+58Ni, and the asymmetric system 64Ni+100Mo. In this scheme the very sensitive dependence of the internal part of the nuclear potential on the nuclear equation of state determines a reduction of the classically allowed region for overlapping configurations and consequently a decrease in the fusion cross sections at bombarding energies far below the barrier. Within the coupled-channels method, including couplings to the low-lying 2+ and 3- states in both target and projectile as well as mutual and two-phonon excitations of these states, we calculate and compare with the experimental fusion cross sections, S-factors, and logarithmic derivatives for the above mentioned systems and find good agreement with the data even at the lowest energies. We predict, in particular, a distinct double peaking in the S-factor for the far subbarrier fusion of 58Ni+58Ni which should be tested experimentally.Comment: 34 pages, 10 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Systematically Exploring High-Performance Representations of Vector Fields Through Compile-Time Composition

We present a novel benchmark suite for implementations of vector fields in high-performance computing environments to aid developers in quantifying and ranking their performance. We decompose the design space of such benchmarks into access patterns and storage backends, the latter of which can be further decomposed into components with different functional and non-functional properties. Through compile-time meta-programming, we generate a large number of benchmarks with minimal effort and ensure the extensibility of our suite. Our empirical analysis, based on real-world applications in high-energy physics, demonstrates the feasibility of our approach on CPU and GPU platforms, and highlights that our suite is able to evaluate performance-critical design choices. Finally, we propose that our work towards composing vector fields from elementary components is not only useful for the purposes of benchmarking, but that it naturally gives rise to a novel library for implementing such fields in domain applications

Top trigger strategies in ATLAS

Trigger strategies foir top studies in ATLAS are reviewe