Low-energy electronic recoil in xenon detectors by solar neutrinos

Low-energy electronic recoil caused by solar neutrinos in multi-ton xenon detectors is an important subject not only because it is a source of the irreducible background for direct searches of weakly-interacting massive particles (WIMPs), but also because it provides a viable way to measure the solar $pp$ and $^{7}\textrm{Be}$ neutrinos at the precision level of current standard solar model predictions. In this work we perform $\textit{ab initio}$ many-body calculations for the structure, photoionization, and neutrino-ionization of xenon. It is found that the atomic binding effect yields a sizable suppression to the neutrino-electron scattering cross section at low recoil energies. Compared with the previous calculation based on the free electron picture, our calculated event rate of electronic recoil in the same detector configuration is reduced by about $25\%$. We present in this paper the electronic recoil rate spectrum in the energy window of 100 eV - 30 keV with the standard per ton per year normalization for xenon detectors, and discuss its implication for low energy solar neutrino detection (as the signal) and WIMP search (as a source of background).Comment: 12 pages, 3 figure

Fabrication of palladium/graphene oxide composite by plasma reduction at room temperature

Pd nanoparticles were fabricated on graphene oxide (GO) using a deposition-precipitation method with a glow discharge plasma reduction at room temperature. Argon was employed as the plasma-generating gas. The novel plasma method selectively reduces the metal ions. The graphene oxide has no change with this plasma reduction according to the Fourier transform infrared analysis. The Pd nanoparticles on the GO were uniformly distributed with an average diameter of 1.6 nm. The functional groups on the GO not only prevent Pd nanoparticles from further aggregation but also provide a strong hydrophilic property to the Pd/GO composite, which can form stable colloidal dispersions in water

TiO2 Nanofoam–Nanotube Array for Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering

By tuning the anodic voltage and electrochemical reaction time, we have synthesized a series of TiO2 nanofoam–nanotube array structures via a two-step anodic oxidation process. The produced nanofoam–nanotube array demonstrated a remarkable Raman scattering enhancement. The maximum enhancement factors are 2.3 × 105 for methylene blue. Factors such as the nanotube pore size, nanofoam, and solute concentration have been investigated. The Raman scattering enhancement is attributed to the existence of the nanofoam structure, which enables multiple laser scatterings among the periodic voids and allows for the occurrence of Raman scattering. The proposed simple and inexpensive approach can promote the use of TiO2 materials for surface-enhanced Raman scattering applications in chemistry, biology, and nanoscience