The role of the lateral occipital cortex in aesthetic appreciation of representational and abstract paintings: a TMS study.

Neuroimaging studies of aesthetic appreciation have shown that activity in the lateral occipital area (LO)—a key node in the object recognition pathway—is modulated by the extent to which visual artworks are liked or found beautiful. However, the available evidence is only correlational. Here we used transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to investigate the putative causal role of LO in the aesthetic appreciation of paintings. In our first experiment, we found that interfering with LO activity during aesthetic appreciation selectively reduced evaluation of representational paintings, leaving appreciation of abstract paintings unaffected. A second experiment demonstrated that, although the perceived clearness of the images overall positively correlated with liking, the detrimental effect of LO TMS on aesthetic appreciation does not owe to TMS reducing perceived clearness. Taken together, our findings suggest that object-recognition mechanisms mediated by LO play a causal role in aesthetic appreciation of representational art

Study on cosmogenic activation above ground for the DarkSide-20k project

International audienceThe activation of materials due to the exposure to cosmic rays may become an important background source for experiments investigating rare event phenomena. DarkSide-20k is a direct detection experiment for galactic dark matter particles, using a two-phase liquid argon time projection chamber filled with 49.7 tonnes (active mass) of Underground Argon (UAr) depleted in 39Ar. Here, the cosmogenic activity of relevant long-lived radioisotopes induced in the argon and other massive components of the set-up has been estimated; production of 120 t of radiopure UAr is foreseen. The expected exposure above ground and production rates, either measured or calculated, have been considered. From the simulated counting rates in the detector due to cosmogenic isotopes, it is concluded that activation in copper and stainless steel is not problematic. Activation of titanium, considered in early designs but not used in the final design, is discussed. The activity of 39Ar induced during extraction, purification and transport on surface, in baseline conditions, is evaluated to be 2.8% of the activity measured in UAr from the same source, and thus considered acceptable. Other products in the UAr such as 37Ar and 3H are shown to not be relevant due to short half-life and assumed purification methods

Study on cosmogenic activation above ground for the DarkSide-20k project

International audienceThe activation of materials due to the exposure to cosmic rays may become an important background source for experiments investigating rare event phenomena. DarkSide-20k is a direct detection experiment for galactic dark matter particles, using a two-phase liquid argon time projection chamber filled with 49.7 tonnes (active mass) of Underground Argon (UAr) depleted in 39Ar. Here, the cosmogenic activity of relevant long-lived radioisotopes induced in the argon and other massive components of the set-up has been estimated; production of 120 t of radiopure UAr is foreseen. The expected exposure above ground and production rates, either measured or calculated, have been considered. From the simulated counting rates in the detector due to cosmogenic isotopes, it is concluded that activation in copper and stainless steel is not problematic. Activation of titanium, considered in early designs but not used in the final design, is discussed. The activity of 39Ar induced during extraction, purification and transport on surface, in baseline conditions, is evaluated to be 2.8% of the activity measured in UAr from the same source, and thus considered acceptable. Other products in the UAr such as 37Ar and 3H are shown to not be relevant due to short half-life and assumed purification methods

Measurement of isotopic separation of argon with the prototype of the cryogenic distillation plant Aria for dark matter searches

International audienceThe Aria cryogenic distillation plant, located in Sardinia, Italy, is a key component of the DarkSide-20k experimental program for WIMP dark matter searches at the INFN Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, Italy. Aria is designed to purify the argon, extracted from underground wells in Colorado, USA, and used as the DarkSide-20k target material, to detector-grade quality. In this paper, we report the first measurement of argon isotopic separation by distillation with the 26 m tall Aria prototype. We discuss the measurement of the operating parameters of the column and the observation of the simultaneous separation of the three stable argon isotopes: Ar$^{36}$, Ar$^{38}$, and Ar$^{40}$. We also provide a detailed comparison of the experimental results with commercial process simulation software. This measurement of isotopic separation of argon is a significant achievement for the project, building on the success of the initial demonstration of isotopic separation of nitrogen using the same equipment in 2019

Measurement of isotopic separation of argon with the prototype of the cryogenic distillation plant Aria for dark matter searches

International audienceThe Aria cryogenic distillation plant, located in Sardinia, Italy, is a key component of the DarkSide-20k experimental program for WIMP dark matter searches at the INFN Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, Italy. Aria is designed to purify the argon, extracted from underground wells in Colorado, USA, and used as the DarkSide-20k target material, to detector-grade quality. In this paper, we report the first measurement of argon isotopic separation by distillation with the 26 m tall Aria prototype. We discuss the measurement of the operating parameters of the column and the observation of the simultaneous separation of the three stable argon isotopes: Ar$^{36}$, Ar$^{38}$, and Ar$^{40}$. We also provide a detailed comparison of the experimental results with commercial process simulation software. This measurement of isotopic separation of argon is a significant achievement for the project, building on the success of the initial demonstration of isotopic separation of nitrogen using the same equipment in 2019

Directionality of nuclear recoils in a liquid argon time projection chamber

International audienceThe direct search for dark matter in the form of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMP) is performed by detecting nuclear recoils (NR) produced in a target material from the WIMP elastic scattering. A promising experimental strategy for direct dark matter search employs argon dual-phase time projection chambers (TPC). One of the advantages of the TPC is the capability to detect both the scintillation and charge signals produced by NRs. Furthermore, the existence of a drift electric field in the TPC breaks the rotational symmetry: the angle between the drift field and the momentum of the recoiling nucleus can potentially affect the charge recombination probability in liquid argon and then the relative balance between the two signal channels. This fact could make the detector sensitive to the directionality of the WIMP-induced signal, enabling unmistakable annual and daily modulation signatures for future searches aiming for discovery. The Recoil Directionality (ReD) experiment was designed to probe for such directional sensitivity. The TPC of ReD was irradiated with neutrons at the INFN Laboratori Nazionali del Sud, and data were taken with 72 keV NRs of known recoil directions. The direction-dependent liquid argon charge recombination model by Cataudella et al. was adopted and a likelihood statistical analysis was performed, which gave no indications of significant dependence of the detector response to the recoil direction. The aspect ratio R of the initial ionization cloud is estimated to be 1.037 +/- 0.027 and the upper limit is R < 1.072 with 90% confidence leve