Impact of cross-section uncertainties on supernova neutrino spectral parameter fitting in the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment

A primary goal of the upcoming Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is to measure the $\mathcal{O}(10)$ MeV neutrinos produced by a Galactic core-collapse supernova if one should occur during the lifetime of the experiment. The liquid-argon-based detectors planned for DUNE are expected to be uniquely sensitive to the $\nu_e$ component of the supernova flux, enabling a wide variety of physics and astrophysics measurements. A key requirement for a correct interpretation of these measurements is a good understanding of the energy-dependent total cross section $\sigma(E_\nu)$ for charged-current $\nu_e$ absorption on argon. In the context of a simulated extraction of supernova $\nu_e$ spectral parameters from a toy analysis, we investigate the impact of $\sigma(E_\nu)$ modeling uncertainties on DUNE's supernova neutrino physics sensitivity for the first time. We find that the currently large theoretical uncertainties on $\sigma(E_\nu)$ must be substantially reduced before the $\nu_e$ flux parameters can be extracted reliably: in the absence of external constraints, a measurement of the integrated neutrino luminosity with less than 10\% bias with DUNE requires $\sigma(E_\nu)$ to be known to about 5%. The neutrino spectral shape parameters can be known to better than 10% for a 20% uncertainty on the cross-section scale, although they will be sensitive to uncertainties on the shape of $\sigma(E_\nu)$. A direct measurement of low-energy $\nu_e$-argon scattering would be invaluable for improving the theoretical precision to the needed level.Comment: 25 pages, 21 figure

ABSOLUTE LINE INTENSITIES OF HONO AND DONO IN THE FAR INFRARED AND REDETERMINATION OF THE ENERGY DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TRANS AND CIS SPECIES OF NITROUS ACID

Author Institution: Laboratoire Interuniversitaire des Systemes Atmospheriques, CNRS et Universites Paris 7 et Paris 12, 61 av. General de Gaulle, 94010, Creteil, France; Institute for Meteorology and Climate Research, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, 76344 Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, GermanyNitrous acid is an important species in the atmosphere of the Earth since it is a significant daytime source of OH radicals, known to play an important role in tropospheric ozone formation. It is also a molecule of interest for molecular dynamics and \emph{ab-initio} calculations. In this work, relative line intensities of \emph{trans-} and \emph{cis-}HONO and ??DONO have been measured using absorption spectra in the far-infrared previously recorded by high-resolution Fourier-transform spectroscopy . These relative line intensities measurements were fitted in a least-squared procedure leading to the determination of the b-component of the permanent dipole moments for those species and their rotational corrections. Scaling those values to the absolute values derived from Stark effect measurements allowed us to re-determine the energy difference between the two isomers ($\Delta E_{HONO}$) to be 107$\pm$26 cm$^{-1}$. This value is in good agreement with previous experimental studies calculations and with recent high-level \emph{ab-initio} calculations

Reinvestigation of the microwave and new high resolution far-infrared spectra of cis-methyl nitrite, CH3ONO: Rotational study of the two first torsional states

International audienceThe first far-infrared high resolution absorption measurement of the cis-methyl nitrite molecule has been recorded in the range 15-400 cm−1 using the synchrotron AILES beamline radiation at SOLEIL with a resolution of 0.0011 cm−1. First assignments for the pure rotational transitions (15-65 cm−1) belonging to the ground νt (=ν15) = 0 and first νt = 1 excited torsional state are based on measurements from previous studies performed in the 13-40 GHz spectral range, as well as on new millimeter-wave measurements performed at Lille in the spectral range 75-465 GHz. A few measurements and remeasurements in the 1.8-13 GHz were also performed using the chirped FT-MW spectrometer located in North Texas. The pure rotational transitions in the far-infrared and in the microwave spectral range belonging to the two first torsional states have been globally fitted using the RAM ("Rho Axis Method") dealing with the rotation-torsion Hamiltonian and implemented in the BELGI code. A total of 708 and 713 microwave transitions (6 ⩽ J ⩽ 40, View the MathML source ⩽ 23) belonging to the ground torsional state νt = 0 and 1 have been fitted with root-mean-square (rms) deviations of 37.4 kHz and 32.3 kHz respectively, and 3170 pure rotational transitions in the far-infrared range (12 ⩽ Jmax ⩽ 65, 0 ⩽ View the MathML source ⩽ 48) belonging to νt = 0 and 1 have been fitted with a rms deviation of 0.00017 cm−1, using 35 parameters. Since in the far-infrared spectral range, the A-E internal rotor splittings have not been observed for the transitions belonging to the torsional ground νt = 0 state of the cis-methyl nitrite species, another fit was performed on those lines, using a Watson type Hamiltonian for comparison

Liver fibrosis staging with contrast-enhanced ultrasonography: prospective multicenter study compared with METAVIR scoring

International audienceWe prospectively assessed contrast-enhanced sonography for evaluating the degree of liver fibrosis as diagnosed via biopsy in 99 patients. The transit time of microbubbles between the portal and hepatic veins was calculated from the difference between the arrival time of the microbubbles in each vein. Liver biopsy was obtained for each patient within 6 months of the contrast-enhanced sonography. Histological fibrosis was categorized into two classes: (1) no or moderate fibrosis (F0, F1, and F2 according to the METAVIR staging) or (2) severe fibrosis (F3 and F4). At a cutoff of 13 s for the transit time, the diagnosis of severe fibrosis was made with a specificity of 78.57%, a sensitivity of 78.95%, a positive predictive value of 78.33%, a negative predictive value of 83.33%, and a performance accuracy of 78.79%. Therefore, contrast-enhanced ultrasound can help with differentiation between moderate and severe fibrosis.</p

Impact of cross-section uncertainties on supernova neutrino spectral parameter fitting in the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment

A primary goal of the upcoming Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is to measure the O(10) MeV neutrinos produced by a Galactic core-collapse supernova if one should occur during the lifetime of the experiment. The liquid-argon-based detectors planned for DUNE are expected to be uniquely sensitive to the νe component of the supernova flux, enabling a wide variety of physics and astrophysics measurements. A key requirement for a correct interpretation of these measurements is a good understanding of the energy-dependent total cross section σ(Eν) for charged-current νe absorption on argon. In the context of a simulated extraction of supernova νe spectral parameters from a toy analysis, we investigate the impact of σ(Eν) modeling uncertainties on DUNE's supernova neutrino physics sensitivity for the first time. We find that the currently large theoretical uncertainties on σ(Eν) must be substantially reduced before the νe flux parameters can be extracted reliably; in the absence of external constraints, a measurement of the integrated neutrino luminosity with less than 10% bias with DUNE requires σ(Eν) to be known to about 5%. The neutrino spectral shape parameters can be known to better than 10% for a 20% uncertainty on the cross-section scale, although they will be sensitive to uncertainties on the shape of σ(Eν). A direct measurement of low-energy νe-argon scattering would be invaluable for improving the theoretical precision to the needed level

Doping Liquid Argon with Xenon in ProtoDUNE Single-Phase: Effects on Scintillation Light

International audienceDoping of liquid argon TPCs (LArTPCs) with a small concentration of xenon is a technique for light-shifting and facilitates the detection of the liquid argon scintillation light. In this paper, we present the results of the first doping test ever performed in a kiloton-scale LArTPC. From February to May 2020, we carried out this special run in the single-phase DUNE Far Detector prototype (ProtoDUNE-SP) at CERN, featuring 770 t of total liquid argon mass with 410 t of fiducial mass. The goal of the run was to measure the light and charge response of the detector to the addition of xenon, up to a concentration of 18.8 ppm. The main purpose was to test the possibility for reduction of non-uniformities in light collection, caused by deployment of photon detectors only within the anode planes. Light collection was analysed as a function of the xenon concentration, by using the pre-existing photon detection system (PDS) of ProtoDUNE-SP and an additional smaller set-up installed specifically for this run. In this paper we first summarize our current understanding of the argon-xenon energy transfer process and the impact of the presence of nitrogen in argon with and without xenon dopant. We then describe the key elements of ProtoDUNE-SP and the injection method deployed. Two dedicated photon detectors were able to collect the light produced by xenon and the total light. The ratio of these components was measured to be about 0.65 as 18.8 ppm of xenon were injected. We performed studies of the collection efficiency as a function of the distance between tracks and light detectors, demonstrating enhanced uniformity of response for the anode-mounted PDS. We also show that xenon doping can substantially recover light losses due to contamination of the liquid argon by nitrogen