Expectations for a new calorimetric neutrino mass experiment

A large calorimetric neutrino mass experiment using thermal detectors is expected to play a crucial role in the challenge for directly assessing the neutrino mass. We discuss and compare here two approaches to the estimation of the experimental sensitivity of such an experiment. The first method uses an analytic formulation and allows to readily obtain a sensible estimate over a wide range of experimental configurations. The second method is based on a frequentist Montecarlo technique and is more precise and reliable. The Montecarlo approach is then exploited to study the main sources of systematic uncertainties peculiar to calorimetric experiments. Finally, the tools are applied to investigate the optimal experimental configuration for a calorimetric experiment with Rhenium based thermal detectors.Comment: 25 pagers, 16 figure

Neutrino mass experiments with Ho

Abstract Neutrino oscillation experiments have proven that neutrinos are massive particles, nevertheless the assessment of their absolute mass scale is still an outstanding challenge in nowadays particle physics and cosmology. The experiments dedicated to the effective electron-neutrino mass determination are the ones based on the study of nuclear processes involving neutrino, like single beta decay and electron capture decay. The end-point measurement of 163 Ho Electron Capture (EC) is an appealing alternative respect to the single beta decay because fewer nuclei are needed and it is a self-calibrating measurement. Although the calorimetric measurement of the energy released in the EC decay of 163 Ho was proposed in 1982 by A. Rujula and M. Lusignoli, only recent detector technological progresses have allowed to design a sensitive experiment. Nowadays the two experiments dedicated to this delicate measurement are ECHO and HOLMES. This contribution gives an outlook for both experiments underling their technical challenges and perspectives

The MARE experiment: “Microcalorimeter Array for a Rhenium Experiment”

The experiments dedicated to effective electron-neutrino mass determination are the kinematic ones from single β-decay. In this context an international collaboration is growing around the project of Microcalorimeter Arrays for a Rhenium Experiment (MARE) for a direct calorimetric measurement of the neutrino mass with sub-electronvolt sensitivity. MARE is divided in two phases. The first phase consists of two independent experiments using the presently available detector technology to reach a sensitivity of the order of 1 eV, and to improve the understanding of the systematic uncertainties specific of the microcalorimetric technique. The two experiments are: MARE-1 in Milan, in collaboration with NASA/GSFG and the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and MARE-1 in Genoa. The goal of the second phase (MARE-2) is to achieve a sub-electronvolt sensitivity on the neutrino mass. The Milan MARE-1 arrays are based on semiconductor thermistors and dielectric Silver Perrhenate absorbers, AgReO4

Advancements in Biomonitoring and Remediation Treatments of Pollutants in Aquatic Environments, 2nd Edition

Worldwide anthropogenic activities continuously produce and release hundreds of potentially toxic chemicals that contaminate ecosystems, leaving devastating effects on the environment and living beings, humans included. Water pollution has received more and more concern because of the increasing contemporary requests for clean and safe drinking water and the general awareness of the severe conditions of water sources. Freshwater contaminants include industrial effluents containing metals, dyes, pharmaceuticals, other organic compounds, wastewater treatment plant effluents, a complex mixture of municipal, hospital, runoff agrochemicals, and mining activity residues [1,2,3,4]. Additional environmental stressors are eutrophication, overfishing, excess exploitation, and land-use changes. The microbiological contamination is a different but equally serious threat to ecosystem stability and human health [5,6]. Seawater is particularly affected by antifouling agents, paints, petrol additives, ship maintenance activities, and existing river contaminants. Moreover, water bodies and their inhabitants are now facing the threats of this century via contamination with nanomaterials, notably plastic debris [7,8,9,10,11]. The requested global efforts to face these problems can probably find significant help in the new tools developed in the research of biomonitoring and remediation technologies. To design proper remediation strategies, both the origin and impacts of the threats must be accurately diagnosed using chemical, biological, spatial, and temporal integrated data [12,13,14]. Accordingly, biomonitoring is a transdisciplinary activity that evaluates the type, source, and extent of pollution and its consequences on a single species, the ecosystems’ structure, and the food chain

Investigation of peak shapes in the MIBETA experiment calibrations

In calorimetric neutrino mass experiments, where the shape of a beta decay spectrum has to be precisely measured, the understanding of the detector response function is a fundamental issue. In the MIBETA neutrino mass experiment, the X-ray lines measured with external sources did not have Gaussian shapes, but exhibited a pronounced shoulder towards lower energies. If this shoulder were a general feature of the detector response function, it would distort the beta decay spectrum and thus mimic a non-zero neutrino mass. An investigation was performed to understand the origin of the shoulder and its potential influence on the beta spectrum. First, the peaks were fitted with an analytic function in order to determine quantitatively the amount of events contributing to the shoulder, also depending on the energy of the calibration X-rays. In a second step, Montecarlo simulations were performed to reproduce the experimental spectrum and to understand the origin of its shape. We conclude that at least part of the observed shoulder can be attributed to a surface effect

A Rational Expectations Model for Simulation and Policy Evaluation of the Spanish Economy

This paper describes a Rational Expectations Model of the Spanish economy, REMS, which is in the tradition of small open economy dynamic general equilibrium models, with a strongly microfounded system of equations. The model is built on standard elements, but incorporates some distinctive features to provide an accurate description of the Spanish economy. We contribute to the existing models of the Spanish economy by adding search and matching rigidities to a small open economy framework. Our model also incorporates habits in consumption and rule-of-thumb households. As Spain is a member of EMU, we model the interaction between a small open economy and monetary policy in a monetary union. The model is primarily constructed to serve as a simulation tool at the Spanish Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance. As such, it provides a great deal of information regarding the transmission of policy shocks to economic outcomes. The paper describes the structure of the model in detail, as well as the estimation and calibration technique and some examples of simulations.general equilibrium, rigidities, policy simulations

Enhancement of laser-driven ion acceleration in non-periodic nanostructured targets

Using particle-in-cell simulations, we demonstrate an improvement of the target normal sheath acceleration (TNSA) of protons in non-periodically nanostructured targets with micron-scale thickness. Compared to standard flat foils, an increase in the proton cutoff energy by up to a factor of two is observed in foils coated with nanocones or perforated with nanoholes. The latter nano-perforated foils yield the highest enhancement, which we show to be robust over a broad range of foil thicknesses and hole diameters. The improvement of TNSA performance results from more efficient hot-electron generation, caused by a more complex laser-electron interaction geometry and increased effective interaction area and duration. We show that TNSA is optimized for a nanohole distribution of relatively low areal density and that is not required to be periodic, thus relaxing the manufacturing constraints.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figure

The REMSDB Macroeconomic Database of The Spanish Economy

This paper presents a new macroeconomic database for the Spanish economy, REMSDB. The construction of this database has been oriented to conducting medium-term simulations for policy evaluation with the REMS model, a large Rational Expectations macroeconomic Model for Spain. The paper provides a detailed description of the data and documents its main statistical properties. The database is thought to be of major interest to related applications,whether strictly associated with the REMS model or, rather, with empirical macroeconomic studies.Spanish Data, Growth Data, Business Cycle Data, REMS

Experimental evidence of high-resolution ghost imaging and ghost diffraction with classical thermal light

High-resolution ghost image and ghost diffraction experiments are performed by using a single source of thermal-like speckle light divided by a beam splitter. Passing from the image to the diffraction result solely relies on changing the optical setup in the reference arm, while leaving untouched the object arm. The product of spatial resolutions of the ghost image and ghost diffraction experiments is shown to overcome a limit which was formerly thought to be achievable only with entangled photons.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure