13 research outputs found
Antineutrino Detectors Remain Impractical for Nuclear Explosion Monitoring
Fission explosions produce large numbers of antineutrinos. It is occasionally
asked whether this distinctive, unshieldable emission could help reveal
clandestine nuclear weapon explosions. The practical challenge encountered is
that detectors large enough for this application are cost prohibitive, likely
on the multi-billion-dollar scale. In this paper, we review several
hypothetical use cases for antineutrino detectors as supplements to the
seismic, infrasound, hydroacoustic, and airborne radionuclide sensors of the
Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization's International Monitoring
System. In each case, if an anti-neutrino detector could be constructed that
would compete with existing capabilities, we conclude that the cost would
considerably outstrip the value it might add to the existing monitoring
network, compared to the significantly lower costs for the same or superior
capability.Comment: 16 pages, 3 figure
Performance of the Ultra-High Rate Germanium (UHRGe) System
Performance of the Ultra-High Rate Germanium (UHRGe) System client repor
Impact of ionizing radiation on superconducting qubit coherence
The practical viability of any qubit technology stands on long coherence
times and high-fidelity operations, with the superconducting qubit modality
being a leading example. However, superconducting qubit coherence is impacted
by broken Cooper pairs, referred to as quasiparticles, with a density that is
empirically observed to be orders of magnitude greater than the value predicted
for thermal equilibrium by the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) theory of
superconductivity. Previous work has shown that infrared photons significantly
increase the quasiparticle density, yet even in the best isolated systems, it
still remains higher than expected, suggesting that another generation
mechanism exists. In this Letter, we provide evidence that ionizing radiation
from environmental radioactive materials and cosmic rays contributes to this
observed difference, leading to an elevated quasiparticle density that would
ultimately limit superconducting qubits of the type measured here to coherence
times in the millisecond regime. We further demonstrate that introducing
radiation shielding reduces the flux of ionizing radiation and positively
correlates with increased coherence time. Albeit a small effect for today's
qubits, reducing or otherwise mitigating the impact of ionizing radiation will
be critical for realizing fault-tolerant superconducting quantum computers.Comment: 16 pages, 12 figure
Distributed Computing for the Project 8 Experiment
The Project 8 collaboration aims to measure the absolute neutrino mass or improve on the current limit by measuring the tritium beta decay electron spectrum. We present the current distributed computing model for the Project 8 experiment. Project 8 is in its second phase of data taking with a near continuous data rate of 1Gbps. The current computing model uses DIRAC (Distributed Infrastructure with Remote Agent Control) for its workflow and data management. A detailed meta-data assignment using the DIRAC File Catalog is used to automate raw data transfers and subsequent stages of data processing. The DIRAC system is deployed on containers managed using a Kubernetes cluster to provide a scalable infrastructure. A modified DIRAC Site Director provides the ability to submit jobs using Singularity on opportunistic High-Performance Computing (HPC) sites
Distributed Computing for the Project 8 Experiment
The Project 8 collaboration aims to measure the absolute neutrino mass or improve on the current limit by measuring the tritium beta decay electron spectrum. We present the current distributed computing model for the Project 8 experiment. Project 8 is in its second phase of data taking with a near continuous data rate of 1Gbps. The current computing model uses DIRAC (Distributed Infrastructure with Remote Agent Control) for its workflow and data management. A detailed meta-data assignment using the DIRAC File Catalog is used to automate raw data transfers and subsequent stages of data processing. The DIRAC system is deployed on containers managed using a Kubernetes cluster to provide a scalable infrastructure. A modified DIRAC Site Director provides the ability to submit jobs using Singularity on opportunistic High-Performance Computing (HPC) sites
Analog Readout and Analysis Software for the Ultra-High Rate Germanium (UHRGe) Project
High-resolution high-purity germanium (HPGe) spectrometers are needed for Safeguards applications such as spent fuel assay and uranium hexafluoride cylinder verification. In addition, these spectrometers would be applicable to other high-rate applications such as non-destructive assay of nuclear materials using nuclear resonance fluorescence. Count-rate limitations of today's HPGe technologies, however, lead to concessions in their use and reduction in their efficacy. Large-volume, very high-rate HPGe spectrometers are needed to enable a new generation of nondestructive assay systems. The Ultra-High Rate Germanium (UHRGe) project is developing HPGe spectrometer systems capable of operating at unprecedented rates, 10 to 100 times those available today. This report documents current status of developments in the analog electronics and analysis software
Determining the neutrino mass with cyclotron radiation emission spectroscopy—Project 8
The most sensitive direct method to establish the absolute neutrino mass is observation of the endpoint of the tritium beta-decay spectrum. Cyclotron radiation emission spectroscopy (CRES) is a precision spectrographic technique that can probe much of the unexplored neutrino mass range with O(eV) resolution. A lower bound of m(νe) ≳ 9(0.1) meV is set by observations of neutrino oscillations, while the KATRIN experiment-the current-generation tritium beta-decay experiment that is based on magnetic adiabatic collimation with an electrostatic (MAC-E) filter-will achieve a sensitivity of m(νe) ≲ 0.2 eV. The CRES technique aims to avoid the difficulties in scaling up a MAC-E filter-based experiment to achieve a lower mass sensitivity. In this paper we review the current status of the CRES technique and describe Project 8, a phased absolute neutrino mass experiment that has the potential to reach sensitivities down to m(νe) ≲ 40 meV using an atomic tritium source.United States. Department of Energy (Grant DE-SC0011091