DANSSino: a pilot version of the DANSS neutrino detector

DANSSino is a reduced pilot version of a solid-state detector of reactor antineutrinos (to be created within the DANSS project and installed under the industrial 3 GW(th) reactor of the Kalinin Nuclear Power Plant -- KNPP). Numerous tests performed at a distance of 11 m from the reactor core demonstrate operability of the chosen design and reveal the main sources of the background. In spite of its small size (20x20x100 ccm), the pilot detector turned out to be quite sensitive to reactor antineutrinos, detecting about 70 IBD events per day with the signal-to-background ratio about unity.Comment: 16 pages, 11 figures, 3 tables. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1304.369

Search for sterile neutrinos at the DANSS experiment

DANSS is a highly segmented 1~m${}^3$ plastic scintillator detector. Its 2500 one meter long scintillator strips have a Gd-loaded reflective cover. The DANSS detector is placed under an industrial 3.1~$\mathrm{GW_{th}}$ reactor of the Kalinin Nuclear Power Plant 350~km NW from Moscow. The distance to the core is varied on-line from 10.7~m to 12.7~m. The reactor building provides about 50~m water-equivalent shielding against the cosmic background. DANSS detects almost 5000 $\widetilde\nu_e$ per day at the closest position with the cosmic background less than 3$\%$. The inverse beta decay process is used to detect $\widetilde\nu_e$. Sterile neutrinos are searched for assuming the $4\nu$ model (3 active and 1 sterile $\nu$). The exclusion area in the $\Delta m_{14}^2,\sin^22\theta_{14}$ plane is obtained using a ratio of positron energy spectra collected at different distances. Therefore results do not depend on the shape and normalization of the reactor $\widetilde\nu_e$ spectrum, as well as on the detector efficiency. Results are based on 966 thousand antineutrino events collected at 3 distances from the reactor core. The excluded area covers a wide range of the sterile neutrino parameters up to $\sin^22\theta_{14}<0.01$ in the most sensitive region.Comment: 10 pages, 13 figures, version accepted for publicatio

Asymptotic normalization coefficients from the 14C(d,p)15C reaction

The {sup 14}C(n, {gamma}){sup 15}C reaction plays an important role in inhomogeneous big bang models. In Timofeyuk et al.[Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 162501 (2006)] it was shown that the {sup 14}C(n, {gamma}){sup 15}C radiative capture at astrophysically relevant energies is a peripheral reaction, i.e., the overall normalization of its cross section is determined by the asymptotic normalization coefficient (ANC) for {sup 15}C{yields}{sup 14}C+n. Here we present new measurements of the {sup 14}C(d, p){sup 15}C differential cross sections at deuteron incident energy of 17.06 MeV and the analysis to determine the ANCs for neutron removal from the ground and first excited states of {sup 15}C. The results are compared with previous estimations

The astrophysical S-factor of the direct 18O(p, γ)19F capture by the ANC method

We attempted to determine the astrophysical S-factor of the direct part of the 18 O(p, γ ) 19 F capture by the indirect method of asymptotic normalization coefficients (ANC). We measured the differential cross section of the transfer reaction 18 O( 3 He, d) 19 F at a 3 He energy of 24.6 MeV. The measurement was realized on the cyclotron of the NPI in Řež, Czech Republic, with the gas target consisting of the high purity 18 O (99.9 %). The reaction products were measured by eight ∆E-E telescopes composed from thin and thick silicon surface-barrier detectors. The parameters of the optical model for the input channel were deduced by means of the code ECIS and the analysis of transfer reactions to 12 levels of the 19 F nucleus up to 8.014 MeV was made by the code FRESCO. The deduced ANCs were then used to specify the direct contribution to the 18 O(p, γ ) 19 F capture process and were compared with the mutually different results of two works

The astrophysical S-factor of the direct 18

We attempted to determine the astrophysical S-factor of the direct part of the 18O(p, γ)19F capture by the indirect method of asymptotic normalization coefficients (ANC). We measured the differential cross section of the transfer reaction 18O(3He, d)19F at a 3He energy of 24.6 MeV. The measurement was realized on the cyclotron of the NPI in Řež, Czech Republic, with the gas target consisting of the high purity 18O (99.9 %). The reaction products were measured by eight ∆E-E telescopes composed from thin and thick silicon surface-barrier detectors. The parameters of the optical model for the input channel were deduced by means of the code ECIS and the analysis of transfer reactions to 12 levels of the 19F nucleus up to 8.014 MeV was made by the code FRESCO. The deduced ANCs were then used to specify the direct contribution to the 18O(p, γ)19F capture process and were compared with the mutually different results of two works

First πK\pi K atom lifetime and πK\pi K scattering length measurements

The results of a search for hydrogen-like atoms consisting of $\pi^{\mp}K^{\pm}$ mesons are presented. Evidence for $\pi K$ atom production by 24 GeV/c protons from CERN PS interacting with a nickel target has been seen in terms of characteristic $\pi K$ pairs from their breakup in the same target ($178 \pm 49$) and from Coulomb final state interaction ($653 \pm 42$). Using these results the analysis yields a first value for the $\pi K$ atom lifetime of $\tau=(2.5_{-1.8}^{+3.0})$ fs and a first model-independent measurement of the S-wave isospin-odd $\pi K$ scattering length $\left|a_0^-\right|=\frac{1}{3}\left|a_{1/2}-a_{3/2}\right|= \left(0.11_{-0.04}^{+0.09} \right)M_{\pi}^{-1}$ ($a_I$ for isospin $I$).Comment: 14 pages, 8 figure

Determination of ππ\pi\pi scattering lengths from measurement of π+π−\pi^+\pi^- atom lifetime

The DIRAC experiment at CERN has achieved a sizeable production of $\pi^+\pi^-$ atoms and has significantly improved the precision on its lifetime determination. From a sample of 21227 atomic pairs, a 4% measurement of the S-wave $\pi\pi$ scattering length difference $|a_0-a_2| = (.0.2533^{+0.0080}_{-0.0078}|_\mathrm{stat}.{}^{+0.0078}_{-0.0073}|_\mathrm{syst})M_{\pi^+}^{-1}$ has been attained, providing an important test of Chiral Perturbation Theory.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure

Measurement of the 10 keV resonance in the 10^{10}B(p,α0p, \alpha_0)7^7Be reaction via the Trojan Horse Method

The $^{10}$B(p,$\alpha_0$)$^7$Be bare nucleus astrophysical S(E)-factor has been measured for the first time at energies from about 100 keV down to about 5 keV by means of the Trojan Horse Method (THM). In this energy region, the S(E)-factor is strongly dominated by the 8.699 MeV $^{11}$C level (J$^{\pi}$=$\frac{5}{2}$$^+$), producing an s-wave resonance centered at about 10 keV in the entrance channel. Up to now, only the high energy tail of this resonant has been measured, while the low-energy trend is extrapolated from the available direct data. The THM has been applied to the quasi-free $^2$H($^{10}$B,$\alpha_0$$^7$Be)n reaction induced at a boron-beam energy of 24.5 MeV. An accurate analysis brings to the determination of the $^{10}$B(p,$\alpha_0$)$^7$Be S(E)-factor and of the corresponding electron screening potential $U_e$, thus giving for the first time an independent evaluation of it.Comment: Authors thank the (anonymous) referee for detailed comments and suggestions. The paper is already submitted to Physical Review

New astrophysical S factor for the (15)N(p,gamma)(16)O reaction via the asymptotic normalization coefficient (ANC) method

Journals published by the American Physical Society can be found at http://publish.aps.org/The (15)N(p,gamma)(16)O reaction provides a path from the CN cycle to the CNO bi-cycle and CNO tri-cycle. The measured astrophysical factor for this reaction is dominated by resonant capture through two strong J(pi) = 1(-) resonances at E(R) = 312 and 962 keV and direct capture to the ground state. Asymptotic normalization coefficients (ANCs) for the ground and seven excited states in (16)O were extracted from the comparison of experimental differential cross sections for the (15)N((3)He,d)(16)O reaction with distorted-wave Born approximation calculations. Using these ANCs and proton and alpha resonance widths determined from an R-matrix fit to the data from the (15)N(p,alpha)(12)C reaction, we carried out an R-matrix calculation to obtain the astrophysical factor for the (15)N(p,gamma)(16)O reaction. The results indicate that the direct capture contribution was previously overestimated. We find the astrophysical factor to be S(0) = 36.0 +/- 6.0 keV b, which is about a factor of 2 lower than the presently accepted value. We conclude that for every 2200 +/- 300 cycles of the main CN cycle one CN catalyst is lost due to this reaction