Development of a compact muon veto for the nucleus experiment

The Nucleus experiment aims to measure coherent elastic neutrino nucleus scattering of reactor anti-neutrinos using cryogenic calorimeters. Operating at an overburden of 3 meters of water equivalent, muon-induced backgrounds are expected to be one of the dominant background contributions. Besides a high efficiency to identify muon events passing the experimental setup, the Nucleus muon veto has to fulfill tight spatial requirements to fit the constraints given by the experimental site and to minimize the induced detector dead-time. We developed highly efficient and compact muon veto modules based on plastic scintillators equipped with wavelength shifting fibers and silicon photo multipliers to collect and detect the scintillation light. In this paper, we present the full characterization of a prototype module with different light read-out configurations. We conclude that an efficient and compact muon veto system can be built for the Nucleus experiment from a cube assembly of the developed modules. Simulations show that an efficiency for muon identification of >99 % and an associated rate of 325 Hz is achievable, matching the requirements of the Nucleus experiment

Coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering: Terrestrial and astrophysical applications

Coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CE$\nu$NS) is a process inwhich neutrinos scatter on a nucleus which acts as a single particle. Thoughthe total cross section is large by neutrino standards, CE$\nu$NS has longproven difficult to detect, since the deposited energy into the nucleus is$\sim$ keV. In 2017, the COHERENT collaboration announced the detection ofCE$\nu$NS using a stopped-pion source with CsI detectors, followed up thedetection of CE$\nu$NS using an Ar target. The detection of CE$\nu$NS hasspawned a flurry of activities in high-energy physics, inspiring newconstraints on beyond the Standard Model (BSM) physics, and new experimentalmethods. The CE$\nu$NS process has important implications for not onlyhigh-energy physics, but also astrophysics, nuclear physics, and beyond. Thiswhitepaper discusses the scientific importance of CE$\nu$NS, highlighting howpresent experiments such as COHERENT are informing theory, and also how futureexperiments will provide a wealth of information across the aforementionedfields of physics.<br

Coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering: Terrestrial and astrophysical applications

Coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CE$\nu$NS) is a process in which neutrinos scatter on a nucleus which acts as a single particle. Though the total cross section is large by neutrino standards, CE$\nu$NS has long proven difficult to detect, since the deposited energy into the nucleus is $\sim$ keV. In 2017, the COHERENT collaboration announced the detection of CE$\nu$NS using a stopped-pion source with CsI detectors, followed up the detection of CE$\nu$NS using an Ar target. The detection of CE$\nu$NS has spawned a flurry of activities in high-energy physics, inspiring new constraints on beyond the Standard Model (BSM) physics, and new experimental methods. The CE$\nu$NS process has important implications for not only high-energy physics, but also astrophysics, nuclear physics, and beyond. This whitepaper discusses the scientific importance of CE$\nu$NS, highlighting how present experiments such as COHERENT are informing theory, and also how future experiments will provide a wealth of information across the aforementioned fields of physics

Flower proteome: changes in protein spectrum during the advanced stages of rose petal development

Flowering is a unique and highly programmed process, but hardly anything is known about the developmentally regulated proteome changes in petals. Here, we employed proteomic technologies to study petal development in rose ( Rosa hybrida ). Using two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, we generated stage-specific (closed bud, mature flower and flower at anthesis) petal protein maps with ca. 1,000 unique protein spots. Expression analyses of all resolved protein spots revealed that almost 30% of them were stage-specific, with ca. 90 protein spots for each stage. Most of the proteins exhibited differential expression during petal development, whereas only ca. 6% were constitutively expressed. Eighty-two of the resolved proteins were identified by mass spectrometry and annotated. Classification of the annotated proteins into functional groups revealed energy, cell rescue, unknown function (including novel sequences) and metabolism to be the largest classes, together comprising ca. 90% of all identified proteins. Interestingly, a large number of stress-related proteins were identified in developing petals. Analyses of the expression patterns of annotated proteins and their corresponding RNAs confirmed the importance of proteome characterization.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/47485/1/425_2005_Article_1512.pd

MeltDB 2.0 - Advances of the metabolomics software system

Kessler N, Bonte A, Langenkämper G, Niehaus K, Goesmann A, Nattkemper TW. MeltDB 2.0 - Advances of the metabolomics software system. Bioinformatics. 2013;29(19):2452-2459.Motivation: The research area metabolomics achieved tremendous popularity and development in the last couple of years. Due to its unique interdisciplinarity it requires to combine knowledge from various scientific disciplines. Advances in the high-throughput technology and the consequently growing quality and quantity of data put new demands on applied analytical and computational methods. Exploration of finally generated and analyzed datasets furthermore relies on powerful tools for data mining and visualization. Results: To cover and keep up with these requirements, we have created MeltDB 2.0, a next generation web application adressing storage, sharing, standardization, integration and analysis of metabolomics experiments. New features improve both, efficiency and effectivity of the entire processing pipeline of chromatographic raw data from pre-processing to the derivation of new bioloigcal knowledge. Firstly, the generation of high quality metabolic data sets has been vastly simplified. Secondly, the new statistics tool box allows to investigate these data sets according to a wide spectrum of scientific and explorative questions. Availability: The system is publicly available at https://meltdb.cebitec.unibielefeld. de. A login is required but freely available

Calibration of nuclear recoils at the 100 eV scale using neutron capture

The development of low-threshold detectors for the study of coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering and for the search for light dark matter necessitates methods of low-energy calibration. We suggest this can be provided by the nuclear recoils resulting from the γ emission following thermal neutron capture. In particular, several MeV-scale single-γ transitions induce well-defined nuclear recoil peaks in the 100 eV range. Using the FIFRELIN code, complete schemes of γ-cascades for various isotopes can be predicted with high accuracy to determine the continuous background of nuclear recoils below the calibration peaks. We present a comprehensive experimental concept for the calibration of CaWO4 and Ge cryogenic detectors at a research reactor. For CaWO4 the simulations show that two nuclear recoil peaks at 112.5 eV and 160.3 eV should be visible above background simply in the spectrum of the cryogenic detector. Then we discuss how the additional tagging for the associated γ increases the sensitivity of the method and extends its application to a wider energy range and to Ge cryogenic detectors

Exploring CEν\nuNS of reactor neutrinos with the NUCLEUS experiment

International audienceCoherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CEνNS) offers a unique way to study neutrino properties and to search for new physics beyond the Standard Model. The NUCLEUS experiment aims to measure CEνNS of reactor anti-neutrinos down to unprecedented low nuclear recoil energies. The novel gram-scale cryogenic detectors feature an ultra-low energy threshold of ≤20eV$_{nr}$ and a rise time of a few 100 μs which allows the operation above ground. The fiducialization of the detectors provides an effective discrimination of ambient γ- and surface backgrounds. Furthermore, the use of multiple targets promises a high physics potential. The NUCLEUS experiment will be located at a new experimental site at the Chooz nuclear power plant in France, providing a high anti-neutrino flux of . The commissioning of the experimental setup with a comprehensive background measurement is planned for 2022