119 research outputs found
The millimeter-wave properties of superconducting microstrip lines
We have developed a novel technique for making high quality measurements of the millimeter-wave properties of superconducting thin-film microstrip transmission lines. Our experimental technique currently covers the 75-100 GHz band. The method is based on standing wave resonances in an open ended transmission line. We obtain information on the phase velocity and loss of the microstrip. Our data for Nb/SiO/Nb lines, taken at 4.2 K and 1.6 K, can be explained by a single set of physical parameters. Our preliminary conclusion is that the loss is dominated by the SiO dielectric, with a temperature-independent loss tangent of 5.3 ± 0.5 x 10^(-3) for our samples
Multiplexable Kinetic Inductance Detectors
We are starting to investigate a novel multiplexable readout method that can be applied to a large class of superconducting pair-breaking detectors. This readout method is completely different from those currently used with STJ and TES detectors, and in principle could deliver large pixel counts, high sensitivity, and Fano-limited spectral resolution. The readout is based on the fact that the kinetic surface inductance L_s of a superconductor is a function of the density of quasiparticles n, even at temperatures far below T_c. An efficient way to measure changes in the kinetic inductance is to monitor the transmission phase of a resonant circuit. By working at microwave frequencies and using thin films, the kinetic inductance can be a significant part of the total inductance L, and the volume of the inductor can be made quite small, on the order of 1 µm^3. As is done with other superconducting detectors, trapping could be used to concentrate the quasiparticles into the small volume of the inductor. However, the most intriguing aspect of the concept is that passive frequency multiplexing could be used to read out ~10^3 detectors with a single HEMT amplifier
Anomalous gauge couplings of the Higgs boson at high energy photon colliders
We study the sensitivity of testing the anomalous gauge couplings 's
of the Higgs boson in the formulation of linearly realized gauge symmetry via
the processes and at polarized and
unpolarized photon colliders based on linear colliders of
c.m.~energies 500 GeV, 1 TeV, and 3 TeV. Signals beyond the standard model (SM)
and SM backgrounds are carefully studied. We propose certain kinematic cuts to
suppress the standard model backgrounds. For an integrated luminosity of 1
ab, we show that (a) can provide a test of
to the sensitivity of
TeV at a 500 GeV ILC, and TeV at a 1 TeV ILC and a 3
TeV CLIC, and (b) at a 3 TeV CLIC can test all the
anomalous couplings 's to the sensitivity of
TeV.Comment: 30 pages, 17 figure
Factorization Structure of Gauge Theory Amplitudes and Application to Hard Scattering Processes at the LHC
Previous work on electroweak radiative corrections to high energy scattering
using soft-collinear effective theory (SCET) has been extended to include
external transverse and longitudinal gauge bosons and Higgs bosons. This allows
one to compute radiative corrections to all parton-level hard scattering
amplitudes in the standard model to NLL order, including QCD and electroweak
radiative corrections, mass effects, and Higgs exchange corrections, if the
high-scale matching, which is suppressed by two orders in the log counting, and
contains no large logs, is known. The factorization structure of the effective
theory places strong constraints on the form of gauge theory amplitudes at high
energy for massless and massive gauge theories, which are discussed in detail
in the paper. The radiative corrections can be written as the sum of
process-independent one-particle collinear functions, and a universal soft
function. We give plots for the radiative corrections to q qbar -> W_T W_T, Z_T
Z_T, W_L W_L, and Z_L H, and gg -> W_T W_T to illustrate our results. The
purely electroweak corrections are large, ranging from 12% at 500 GeV to 37% at
2 TeV for transverse W pair production, and increasing rapidly with energy. The
estimated theoretical uncertainty to the partonic (hard) cross-section in most
cases is below one percent, smaller than uncertainties in the parton
distribution functions (PDFs). We discuss the relation between SCET and other
factorization methods, and derive the Magnea-Sterman equations for the Sudakov
form factor using SCET, for massless and massive gauge theories, and for light
and heavy external particles.Comment: 44 pages, 30 figures. Refs added, typos fixed. ZL ZL plots removed
because of a possible subtlet
Superconducting kinetic inductance photon detectors
We are investigating a novel superconducting detector and readout method that could lead to photon counting, energy resolving focal plane arrays. This concept is intrinsically different from STJ and TES detectors, and in principle could deliver large pixel counts, high sensitivity, and Fano-limited spectral resolution in the optical/UV/X-ray bands. The readout uses the monotonic relation between the kinetic surface inductance L_s of a superconductor and the density of quasiparticles n, which holds even at temperatures far below T_c. This allows a sensitive readout of the number of excess quasiparticles in the detector by monitoring the transmission phase of a resonant circuit. The most intriguing aspect of this concept is that passive frequency multiplexing could be used to read out ~10^4 detectors with a single HEMT amplifier. Single x-ray events have been observed in prototype detectors
Leptogenesis with "Fuzzy Mass Shell" for Majorana Neutrinos
We study the mixing of elementary and composite particles. In quantum field
theory the mixing of composite particles originates in the couplings of the
constituent quarks and for neutrinos in self-energy diagrams. In the event that
the incoming and outgoing neutrinos have different masses, the self-energy
diagrams vanish because energy is not conserved but the finite decaying widths
make the mixing possible. We can consider the neutrinos to be "fuzzy" states on
their mass shell and the mixing is understood as the overlap of two
wavefunctions. These considerations restrict the mass difference to be
approximately equal to or smaller than the largest of the two widths: abs(M_i -
M_j) lessorequal max(Gamma_i, Gamma_j).Comment: 11 pages, 1 figur
A semi-empirical model for two-level system noise in superconducting microresonators
We present measurements of the low--temperature excess frequency noise of
four niobium superconducting coplanar waveguide microresonators, with center
strip widths ranging from 3 m to 20 m. For a fixed internal
power, we find that the frequency noise decreases rapidly with increasing
center strip width, scaling as . We show that this geometrical
scaling is readily explained by a simple semi-empirical model which assumes a
surface distribution of independent two-level system fluctuators. These results
allow the resonator geometry to be optimized for minimum noise.Comment: 3 fig
Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detector (MKID) Camera Testing for Submillimeter Astronomy
Developing kilopixel focal planes for incoherent submm- and mm-wave detectors remains challenging due to either the large hardware overhead or the complexity of multiplexing standard detectors. Microwave kinetic inductance detectors (MKIDs) provide a efficient means to produce fully lithographic background-limited kilopixel focal planes. We are constructing an MKID-based camera for the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory with 576 spatial pixels each simultaneously sensitive in 4 bands at 230, 300, 350, and 400 GHz. The novelty of MKIDs has required us to develop new techniques for detector characterization. We have measured quasiparticle lifetimes and resonator Qs for detector bath temperatures between 200 mK and 400 mK. Equivalent lifetime measurements were made by coupling energy into the resonators either optically or by driving the third harmonic of the resonator. To determine optical loading, we use both lifetime and internal Q measurements, which range between 15,000 and 30,000 for our resonators. Spectral bandpass measurements confirm the placement of the 230 and 350 GHz bands. Additionally, beam maps measurements conform to expectations. The same device design has been characterized on both sapphire and silicon substrates, and for different detector geometries. We also report on the incorporation of new shielding to reduce detector sensitivity to local magnetic fields
Superconducting kinetic inductance photon detectors
We are investigating a novel superconducting detector and readout method that could lead to photon counting, energy resolving focal plane arrays. This concept is intrinsically different from STJ and TES detectors, and in principle could deliver large pixel counts, high sensitivity, and Fano-limited spectral resolution in the optical/UV/X-ray bands. The readout uses the monotonic relation between the kinetic surface inductance L_s of a superconductor and the density of quasiparticles n, which holds even at temperatures far below T_c. This allows a sensitive readout of the number of excess quasiparticles in the detector by monitoring the transmission phase of a resonant circuit. The most intriguing aspect of this concept is that passive frequency multiplexing could be used to read out ~10^4 detectors with a single HEMT amplifier. Single x-ray events have been observed in prototype detectors
Strong tree level unitarity violations in the extra dimensional Standard Model with scalars in the bulk
We show how the tree level unitarity violations of compactified extra
dimensional extensions of the Standard Model become much stronger when the
scalar sector is included in the bulk. This effect occurs when the couplings
are not suppressed for larger Kaluza-Klein levels, and could have relevant
consequences for the phenomenology of the next generation of colliders. We also
introduce a simple and generic formalism to obtain unitarity bounds for finite
energies, taking into account coupled channels including the towers of
Kaluza-Klein excitations.Comment: Version to appear in Phys. Rev. D Typos corrected and remarks added
to clarify figure
- …