FastIC: a fast integrated circuit for the readout of high performance detectors

This work presents the 8-channel FastIC ASIC developed in CMOS 65 nm technology suitable for the readout of positive and negative polarity sensors in high energy physics experiments, Cherenkov detectors and time-of-flight systems. The front-end can be configured to perform analog summation of up to 4 single-ended channels before discrimination in view of improving time resolution when segmenting a SiPM. The outputs encode the time-of-arrival information and linear energy measurement which captures the peak amplitude of the input signal in the 5 µA–25 mA input peak current range. Power consumption of the ASIC is 12 mW/ch with default settings. Measurements of single photon time resolution with a red-light laser source and a HPK SiPM S13360-3050CS are ≈140 ps FWHM

Search for the doubly heavy Ξbc0 baryon via decays to D 0 pK −

A search for the doubly heavy Ξ0bc baryon using its decay to the D0pK- final state is performed using proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV collected by the LHCb experiment between 2016 and 2018, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5.4 fb−1. No significant signal is found in the invariant mass range from 6.7 to 7.2 GeV/c2. Upper limits are set at 95% credibility level on the ratio of the Ξ0bc production cross-section times its branching fraction to D0pK− relative to that of the Λ0b→D0pK− decay. The limits are set as a function of the Ξ0bc mass and lifetime hypotheses, in the rapidity range from 2.0 to 4.5 and in the transverse momentum region from 5 to 25 GeV/c. Upper limits range from 1.7 × 10−2 to 3.0 × 10−1 for the considered Ξ0bc mass and lifetime hypotheses

SARS-CoV-2 viral load in nasopharyngeal swabs is not an independent predictor of unfavorable outcome

The aim was to assess the ability of nasopharyngeal SARS-CoV-2 viral load at first patient’s hospital evaluation to predict unfavorable outcomes. We conducted a prospective cohort study including 321 adult patients with confirmed COVID-19 through RT-PCR in nasopharyngeal swabs. Quantitative Synthetic SARS-CoV-2 RNA cycle threshold values were used to calculate the viral load in log10 copies/mL. Disease severity at the end of follow up was categorized into mild, moderate, and severe. Primary endpoint was a composite of intensive care unit (ICU) admission and/or death (n = 85, 26.4%). Univariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed. Nasopharyngeal SARS-CoV-2 viral load over the second quartile (≥ 7.35 log10 copies/mL, p = 0.003) and second tertile (≥ 8.27 log10 copies/mL, p = 0.01) were associated to unfavorable outcome in the unadjusted logistic regression analysis. However, in the final multivariable analysis, viral load was not independently associated with an unfavorable outcome. Five predictors were independently associated with increased odds of ICU admission and/or death: age ≥ 70 years, SpO2, neutrophils > 7.5 × 103/µL, lactate dehydrogenase ≥ 300 U/L, and C-reactive protein ≥ 100 mg/L. In summary, nasopharyngeal SARS-CoV-2 viral load on admission is generally high in patients with COVID-19, regardless of illness severity, but it cannot be used as an independent predictor of unfavorable clinical outcome

Dendritic cell deficiencies persist seven months after SARS-CoV-2 infection

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (SARS-CoV)-2 infection induces an exacerbated inflammation driven by innate immunity components. Dendritic cells (DCs) play a key role in the defense against viral infections, for instance plasmacytoid DCs (pDCs), have the capacity to produce vast amounts of interferon-alpha (IFN-α). In COVID-19 there is a deficit in DC numbers and IFN-α production, which has been associated with disease severity. In this work, we described that in addition to the DC deficiency, several DC activation and homing markers were altered in acute COVID-19 patients, which were associated with multiple inflammatory markers. Remarkably, previously hospitalized and nonhospitalized patients remained with decreased numbers of CD1c+ myeloid DCs and pDCs seven months after SARS-CoV-2 infection. Moreover, the expression of DC markers such as CD86 and CD4 were only restored in previously nonhospitalized patients, while no restoration of integrin β7 and indoleamine 2,3-dyoxigenase (IDO) levels were observed. These findings contribute to a better understanding of the immunological sequelae of COVID-19

Dependence of atmospheric muon flux on seawater depth measured with the first KM3NeT detection units: The KM3NeT Collaboration

KM3NeT is a research infrastructure located in the Mediterranean Sea, that will consist of two deep-sea Cherenkov neutrino detectors. With one detector (ARCA), the KM3NeT Collaboration aims at identifying and studying TeV–PeV astrophysical neutrino sources. With the other detector (ORCA), the neutrino mass ordering will be determined by studying GeV-scale atmospheric neutrino oscillations. The first KM3NeT detection units were deployed at the Italian and French sites between 2015 and 2017. In this paper, a description of the detector is presented, together with a summary of the procedures used to calibrate the detector in-situ. Finally, the measurement of the atmospheric muon flux between 2232–3386 m seawater depth is obtained

The Control Unit of the KM3NeT Data Acquisition System

The KM3NeT Collaboration runs a multi-site neutrino observatory in the Mediterranean Sea. Water Cherenkov particle detectors, deep in the sea and far off the coasts of France and Italy, are already taking data while incremental construction progresses. Data Acquisition Control software is operating off-shore detectors as well as testing and qualification stations for their components. The software, named Control Unit, is highly modular. It can undergo upgrades and reconfiguration with the acquisition running. Interplay with the central database of the Collaboration is obtained in a way that allows for data taking even if Internet links fail. In order to simplify the management of computing resources in the long term, and to cope with possible hardware failures of one or more computers, the KM3NeT Control Unit software features a custom dynamic resource provisioning and failover technology, which is especially important for ensuring continuity in case of rare transient events in multi-messenger astronomy. The software architecture relies on ubiquitous tools and broadly adopted technologies and has been successfully tested on several operating systems

Characterisation of the Hamamatsu photomultipliers for the KM3NeT Neutrino Telescope

[EN] The Hamamatsu R12199-02 3-inch photomultiplier tube is the photodetector chosen for the first phase of the KM3NeT neutrino telescope. About 7000 photomultipliers have been characterised for dark count rate, timing spread and spurious pulses. The quantum eÿciency, the gain and the peak-to-valley ratio have also been measured for a sub-sample in order to determine parameter values needed as input to numerical simulations of the detector.The authors acknowledge the financial support of the funding agencies: Agence Nationale de la Recherche (contract ANR-15-CE31-0020), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Commission Europeenne (FEDER fund and Marie Curie Program), Institut Universitaire de France (IUF), IdEx program and UnivEarthS Labex program at Sorbonne Paris Cite (ANR-10-LABX-0023 and ANR-11-IDEX-0005-02), France; 'Helmholtz Alliance for Astroparticle Physics' funded by the Initiative and Networking Fund of the Helmholtz Association, Germany; The General Secretariat of Research and Technology (GSRT), Greece; Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Ministero dell'Istruzione, dell'Universita e della Ricerca (MIUR), Italy; Agence de l'Oriental and CNRST, Morocco; Nederlandse organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO), the Netherlands; National Authority for Scientific Research (ANCS), Romania; Plan Estatal de Investigacion (refs. FPA2015-65150-C3-1-P, -2-P and -3-P, (MINECO/FEDER)), Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence and MultiDark Consolider (MINECO), and Prometeo and Grisolia programs (Generalitat Valenciana), Spain.Aiello, S.; Akrame, SE.; Ameli, F.; Anassontzis, EG.; Andre, M.; Androulakis, G.; Anghinolfi, M.... (2018). Characterisation of the Hamamatsu photomultipliers for the KM3NeT Neutrino Telescope. Journal of Instrumentation. 13:1-17. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-0221/13/05/P05035S11713Adrián-Martínez, S., Ageron, M., Aharonian, F., Aiello, S., Albert, A., Ameli, F., … Anghinolfi, M. (2016). Letter of intent for KM3NeT 2.0. Journal of Physics G: Nuclear and Particle Physics, 43(8), 084001. doi:10.1088/0954-3899/43/8/084001Adrián-Martínez, S., Ageron, M., Aharonian, F., Aiello, S., Albert, A., Ameli, F., … Anvar, S. (2014). Deep sea tests of a prototype of the KM3NeT digital optical module. The European Physical Journal C, 74(9). doi:10.1140/epjc/s10052-014-3056-3Adrián-Martínez, S., Ageron, M., Aharonian, F., Aiello, S., Albert, A., Ameli, F., … Anton, G. (2016). The prototype detection unit of the KM3NeT detector. The European Physical Journal C, 76(2). doi:10.1140/epjc/s10052-015-3868-9Herold, B., Kalekin, O., & Reubelt, J. (2011). PMT characterisation for the KM3NeT project. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, 639(1), 70-72. doi:10.1016/j.nima.2010.09.018Timmer, P., Heine, E., & Peek, H. (2010). Very low power, high voltage base for a Photo Multiplier Tube for the KM3NeT deep sea neutrino telescope. Journal of Instrumentation, 5(12), C12049-C12049. doi:10.1088/1748-0221/5/12/c12049Mollo, C. M., Bozza, C., Chiarusi, T., Costa, M., Capua, F. D., Kulikovskiy, V., … Vivolo, D. (2016). A new instrument for high statistics measurement of photomultiplier characteristics. Journal of Instrumentation, 11(08), T08002-T08002. doi:10.1088/1748-0221/11/08/t08002Adrián-Martínez, S., Ageron, M., Aiello, S., Albert, A., Ameli, F., Anassontzis, E. G., … Anton, G. (2016). A method to stabilise the performance of negatively fed KM3NeT photomultipliers. Journal of Instrumentation, 11(12), P12014-P12014. doi:10.1088/1748-0221/11/12/p12014Lubsandorzhiev, B. K., Vasiliev, R. V., Vyatchin, Y. E., & Shaibonov, B. A. J. (2006). Photoelectron backscattering in vacuum phototubes. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, 567(1), 12-16. doi:10.1016/j.nima.2006.05.04

Deep-sea deployment of the KM3NeT neutrino telescope detection units by self-unrolling

KM3NeT is a research infrastructure being installed in the deep Mediterranean Sea. It will house a neutrino telescope comprising hundreds of networked moorings — detection units or strings — equipped with optical instrumentation to detect the Cherenkov radiation generated by charged particles from neutrino-induced collisions in its vicinity. In comparison to moorings typically used for oceanography, several key features of the KM3NeT string are different: the instrumentation is contained in transparent and thus unprotected glass spheres; two thin Dyneema® ropes are used as strength members; and a thin delicate backbone tube with fibre-optics and copper wires for data and power transmission, respectively, runs along the full length of the mooring. Also, compared to other neutrino telescopes such as ANTARES in the Mediterranean Sea and GVD in Lake Baikal, the KM3NeT strings are more slender to minimise the amount of material used for support of the optical sensors. Moreover, the rate of deploying a large number of strings in a period of a few years is unprecedented. For all these reasons, for the installation of the KM3NeT strings, a custom-made, fast deployment method was designed. Despite the length of several hundreds of metres, the slim design of the string allows it to be compacted into a small, re-usable spherical launching vehicle instead of deploying the mooring weight down from a surface vessel. After being lowered to the seafloor, the string unfurls to its full length with the buoyant launching vehicle rolling along the two ropes. The design of the vehicle, the loading with a string, and its underwater self-unrolling are detailed in this paper.French National Research Agency (ANR) ANR-15-CE31-0020Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)European Union (EU)Institut Universitaire de France (IUF)LabEx UnivEarthS ANR-10-LABX-0023 ANR-18-IDEX-0001Paris Ile-de-France Region, FranceShota Rustaveli National Science Foundation of Georgia (SRNSFG), Georgia FR-18-1268German Research Foundation (DFG)Greek Ministry of Development-GSRTIstituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Ministero dell'Universita e della Ricerca (MUR), PRIN Italy NAT-NET 2017W4HA7SMinistry of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Professional Training, MoroccoNetherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) Netherlands GovernmentNational Science Center, Poland National Science Centre, Poland 2015/18/E/ST2/00758National Authority for Scientific Research (ANCS), RomaniaMinisterio de Ciencia, Innovación, Investigación y Universidades (MCIU): Programa Estatal de Generación de Conocimiento (MCIU/FEDER) PGC2018-096663-B-C41 PGC2018-096663-B-A-C42 PGC2018-096663-B-BC43 PGC2018-096663-B-B-C44Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence and MultiDark Consolider (MCIU), Junta de Andalucía SOMM17/6104/UGRGeneralitat Valenciana GRISOLIA/2018/119 CIDEGENT/2018/034La Caixa Foundation LCF/BQ/IN17/11620019EU: MSC program, Spain 71367

The KM3NeT potential for the next core-collapse supernova observation with neutrinos

The authors acknowledge the financial support of the funding agencies: Agence Nationale de la Recherche (contract ANR-15-CE31-0020), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Commission Europeenne (FEDER fund and Marie Curie Program), Institut Universitaire de France (IUF), LabEx UnivEarthS (ANR-10-LABX-0023 and ANR-18-IDEX-0001), Paris Ile-de-France Region, France; Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation of Georgia (SRNSFG, FR-18-1268), Georgia; Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), Germany; The General Secretariat of Research and Technology (GSRT), Greece; Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Ministero dell'Universita e della Ricerca (MIUR), PRIN 2017 program (Grant NAT-NET 2017W4HA7S) Italy; Ministry of Higher Education Scientific Research and Professional Training, ICTP through Grant AF-13, Morocco; Nederlandse organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO), the Netherlands; The National Science Centre, Poland (2015/18/E/ST2/00758); National Authority for Scientific Research (ANCS), Romania; Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovacion, Investigacion y Universidades (MCIU): Programa Estatal de Generacion de Conocimiento (refs. PGC2018-096663-B-C41, -A-C42, -B-C43, -B-C44) (MCIU/FEDER), Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence and MultiDark Consolider (MCIU), Junta de Andalucia (ref. SOMM17/6104/UGR), Generalitat Valenciana: Grisolia (ref. GRISO-LIA/2018/119) and GenT (ref. CIDEGENT/2018/034 and CIDE-GENT/2019/043) programs, La Caixa Foundation (ref. LCF/BQ/IN17/11620019), EU: MSC program (ref. 713673), Spain. This work has also received funding from the European Union'sHorizon 2020 research and innovation program under Grant agreement no 739560.The KM3NeT research infrastructure is under construction in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of two water Cherenkov neutrino detectors, ARCA and ORCA, aimed at neutrino astrophysics and oscillation research, respectively. Instrumenting a large volume of sea water with similar to 6200 optical modules comprising a total of similar to 200,000 photomultiplier tubes, KM3NeT will achieve sensitivity to similar to 10 MeV neutrinos from Galactic and near-Galactic core-collapse supernovae through the observation of coincident hits in photomultipliers above the background. In this paper, the sensitivity of KM3NeT to a supernova explosion is estimated from detailed analyses of background data from the first KM3NeT detection units and simulations of the neutrino signal. The KM3NeT observational horizon (for a 5 sigma discovery) covers essentially the Milky-Way and for the most optimistic model, extends to the Small Magellanic Cloud (similar to 60 kpc). Detailed studies of the time profile of the neutrino signal allow assessment of the KM3NeT capability to determine the arrival time of the neutrino burst with a few milliseconds precision for sources up to 5-8 kpc away, and detecting the peculiar signature of the standing accretion shock instability if the core-collapse supernova explosion happens closer than 3-5 kpc, depending on the progenitor mass. KM3NeT's capability to measure the neutrino flux spectral parameters is also presented.French National Research Agency (ANR) ANR-15-CE31-0020Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)Commission Europeenne, FranceInstitut Universitaire de France (IUF), FranceLabEx UnivEarthS, France ANR-10-LABX-0023 ANR-18-IDEX-0001Paris Ile-de-France Region, FranceShota Rustaveli National Science Foundation of Georgia (SRNSFG), Georgia FR-18-1268German Research Foundation (DFG)Greek Ministry of Development-GSRTGreek Ministry of Development-GSRTIstituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN)Ministry of Education, Universities and Research (MIUR)PRIN 2017 program, Italy NAT-NET 2017W4HA7SMinistry of Higher Education Scientific Research and Professional Training, ICTP, Morocco AF-13Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO)Netherlands GovernmentNational Science Centre, Poland 2015/18/E/ST2/00758National Authority for Scientific Research (ANCS), RomaniaMinisterio de Ciencia, Innovacion, Investigacion y Universidades (MCIU): Programa Estatal de Generacion de Conocimiento, Spain PGC2018-096663-B-C41 PGC2018-096663-A-C42 PGC2018-096663-B-C43 PGC2018-096663-B-C44Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence and MultiDark Consolider (MCIU), SpainJunta de Andalucia European Commission SOMM17/6104/UGRGeneralitat Valenciana: Grisolia, Spain GRISO-LIA/2018/119 GenT program, Spain CIDEGENT/2018/034 CIDE-GENT/2019/043La Caixa Foundation LCF/BQ/IN17/11620019 EU: MSC program, Spain 713673European Commission 73956