Small Momentum Research Articles

The second-level preheating

This paper proposes two levels of preheating for the inflaton that is non-minimally coupled with gravity. The first level, later named by the quadratic regime, corresponds to the matter-dominated era and is responsible for draining the inflaton's energy density. The second level, which we will call the quartic regime, corresponds to the radiation-dominated era and is responsible for the reheating of the universe. We investigate the behavior of non-renormalizable higher dimension operators in both the quadratic and quartic regimes. In the quadratic regime, the preheating is also efficient, even though it is less than the lower dimension. On the other hand, the non-renormalizable higher dimension operators in the quartic regime are extremely inefficient. In our work, we also introduce a simple mechanism controlled by the characteristic momentum α to suppress the particle production during preheating. Additionally, we emphasized the significance of the small momentum of the particles produced during preheating for the abundance of primordial black holes. This result supports the efficient preheating in the quadratic regime. Finally, we evaluate two modes of the reheating temperature, which differ based on the preheating efficiency during the quadratic regime.

Inelastic Scattering in Weak Localization for Single‐Layer Graphene

Chemical‐vapor‐deposited graphene is used extensively to fabricate devices. However, the charge‐neutral point (CNP) of this material appears at a relatively high back‐gate voltage (VG) because of molecular adsorption and impurities on the graphene surface. In this study, a Ti‐cleaning process is used to remove contaminants from the transferred graphene. Two contributions to the magnetoresistance are investigated: weak localization (WL) and inhomogeneous charge transport near the Dirac point. One of the most important parameters for clarifying the quantum transport properties is the inelastic scattering time. Fitting of the experimental results with a theoretical WL expression is performed to investigate the temperature and VG dependence of the inelastic scattering and intervalley scattering rates. Small momentum transfer due to Nyquist scattering is dominant in the CNP region, while large momentum transfer processes of direct electron–electron interaction dominate the electron and hole‐transport regions.

Modeling of warm dense hydrogen via explicit real-time electron dynamics: Dynamic structure factors.

We present two methods for computing the dynamic structure factor for warm dense hydrogen without invoking either the Born-Oppenheimer approximation or the Chihara decomposition, by employing a wave-packet description that resolves the electron dynamics during ion evolution. First, a semiclassical method is discussed, which is corrected based on known quantum constraints, and second, a direct computation of the density response function within the molecular dynamics. The wave-packet models are compared to PIMC and DFT-MD for the static and low-frequency behavior. For the high-frequency behavior the models recover the expected behavior in the limits of small and large momentum transfers and show the characteristic flattening of the plasmon dispersion for intermediate momentum transfers due to interactions, in agreement with commonly used models for x-ray Thomson scattering. By modeling the electrons and ions on an equal footing, both the ion and free electron part of the spectrum can now be treated within a single framework where we simultaneously resolve the ion-acoustic and plasmon mode, with a self-consistent description of collisions and screening.

Some remarks on Coulombic effects in pp and p¯p scattering and the determination of ρ

We point out a very simple method for calculating the mixed Coulomb-nuclear corrections to the pp and p¯p scattering amplitudes that has been missed in the extensive past work on this problem. The method expresses the correction in terms of a rapidly convergent integral involving the inverse Fourier-Bessel transform of the nuclear amplitude and a known factor containing the Coulomb phase shift with form-factor corrections. The transform can be calculated analytically for the exponential-type model nuclear amplitudes commonly used in fits to the high-energy data at small momentum transfers, and gives very accurate results for the corrections. We examine the possible effects of the Martin zero in the real part of the nuclear amplitude, and the accuracy of the Bethe-West-Yennie phase approximation for the Coulomb-nuclear corrections. We then apply the method to a redetermination of the ratio ρ of the real to the imaginary parts of the forward scattering amplitude in fits to high-energy Intersecting Storage Rings data previously analyzed using the approximate West-Yennie version of the correction. The only significant changes relative the accuracy of those fits are at 52.8 GeV. Our method is applicable more generally, and can be used also at lower energies and for proton-nucleus scattering. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Large radial shift experiments in RHIC and their implications for EIC design

The Hadron Storage Ring (HSR) in the future Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) (EIC collaboration, 2020; Montag et al., 2022; Liu et al., 2022) must operate over a broad range of design circumferences. In 2018 preliminary beam studies on the circumference adjustment capabilities of the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) (Accelerator Division, 2006) were performed by applying a small momentum offset to the circulating bunches without adjusting any bending magnets (Robert-Demolaize et al., 2019). The off-momentum linear optics were corrected back to on-momentum conditions. Applying a similarly small deviation to the dipole fields of a select set of bending magnets provides a large radial shift over much of the RHIC (or HSR) circumference while leaving the design trajectory unchanged in the insertion regions.This paper presents the design of the different lattice configurations foreseen as the most viable options for the required HSR circumference changes, and highlights the modifications necessary for regular operations and to allow for testing these new settings in RHIC. Experimental results from 2021 and 2022 are reviewed and compared to model predictions obtained from both MAD-X and Bmad (MAD, 2002; Bmad, 2006). The implications of these results for HSR design are discussed.

Particle-Hole Asymmetric Ferromagnetism and Spin Textures in the Triangular Hubbard-Hofstadter Model

In a lattice model subject to a perpendicular magnetic field, when the lattice constant is comparable to the magnetic length, one enters the “Hofstadter regime,” where continuum Landau levels become fractal magnetic Bloch bands. Strong mixing between bands alters the nature of the resulting quantum phases compared to the continuum limit; lattice potential, magnetic field, and Coulomb interaction must be treated on equal footing. Using determinant quantum Monte Carlo and density matrix renormalization group techniques, we study this regime numerically in the context of the Hubbard-Hofstadter model on a triangular lattice. In the field-filling phase diagram, we find a broad wedge-shaped region of ferromagnetic ground states for filling factor ν≤1, bounded below by filling factor ν=1 and bounded above by half filling the lowest Hofstadter subband. We observe signatures of SU(2) quantum Hall ferromagnetism at filling factors ν=1 and ν=3. The phases near ν=1 are particle-hole asymmetric, and we observe a rapid decrease in ground-state spin polarization consistent with the formation of skyrmions only on the electron doped side. At large fields, above the ferromagnetic wedge, we observe a low-spin metallic region with spin correlations peaked at small momenta. We argue that the phenomenology of this region likely results from exchange interaction mixing fractal Hofstadter subbands. The phase diagram derived beyond the continuum limit points to a rich landscape to explore interaction effects in magnetic Bloch bands. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Exclusive photoproduction of ηcγ pairs with large invariant mass

In this manuscript, we analyze the exclusive photoproduction of ηcγ pairs in the collinear factorization framework and evaluate its cross section in leading order in the strong coupling αs. We found that this channel is mostly sensitive to the behavior of the unpolarized gluon generalized parton distributions Hg in the Efremov-Radyushkin-Brodsky-Lepage kinematics. We estimated numerically the cross section and the expected counting rates in the kinematics of middle-energy photoproduction experiments, which can be realized at the future Electron-Ion Collider or in the ultraperipheral collisions at LHC. We found that the cross section is sufficiently large for dedicated experimental study. We also estimated the role of this process as a potential background to ηc photoproduction, which is considered as one of the possible gateways for studies of t-channel odderons. We found that the contribution of ηcγ (with undetected photon) is on par with expected contributions of odderons in the kinematics of small momentum transfer |t|≲0.5 GeV2, though decreases rapidly at larger |t|. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Entanglement islands and the Page curve of Hawking radiation for rotating Kerr black holes

We initiate the study of the information paradox of rotating Kerr black holes by employing the recently proposed island rule. It is known that the scalar field theory near the Kerr black hole horizon can be reduced to the two-dimensional effective theory. Working within the framework of the two-dimensional effective theory and assuming the small angular momentum limit, we demonstrate that the entanglement entropy of Hawking radiation from the nonextremal Kerr black hole follows the Page curve and saturates the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy at late times. In addition, we also discuss the effect of the black hole rotation on the Page time and scrambling time. For the extreme Kerr black hole, the entanglement entropy at late times also approximates the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy of the extreme Kerr black hole. These results imply that entanglement islands can provide a semiclassical resolution of the information paradox for rotating Kerr black holes. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

The proton charge radius from dimuon photoproduction off the proton

We investigate the feasibility of measuring the proton charge radius through dimuon photoproduction off a proton target. Our findings indicate that the Bethe-Heitler mechanism, which dominates at small momentum transfers, allows for an extraction of the proton electromagnetic form factors in the extremely low Q2 region below 10−3 GeV2 in the spacelike region, when the incident photon beam energy exceeds several hundred MeV. The optimal kinematical region and a sensitivity study of the proton charge radius from dimuon photoproduction are presented. Such a measurement is expected to provide an alternative to the elastic muon-proton scattering measurements such as MUSE at PSI and AMBER at CERN.

Spin asymmetries for C -even quarkonium production as a probe of gluon distributions

Within the framework of transverse momentum dependent factorization in combination with nonrelativistic quantum chromodynamics (QCD), we study charmonium and bottomonium production in hadronic collisions. We focus on quarkonium states with even charge conjugation, for which the color-singlet production mechanism is expected to be also dominant in the small transverse momentum region, qT2≪4Mc,b2. It is shown that the distributions of linearly polarized gluons inside unpolarized, longitudinally, and transversely polarized protons contribute to the cross sections for scalar and pseudoscalar quarkonia in a very distinctive, parity-dependent way, whereas their effects on higher angular momentum states are strongly suppressed. We derive analytical expressions for single and double spin asymmetries, which would allow for the direct extraction of the gluon transverse momentum dependent distributions, mirroring the phenomenological studies of the Drell-Yan processes aimed at the extraction of their quark counterparts. By adopting Gaussian models for the gluon transverse momentum dependent distributions, which fulfill without saturating everywhere their positivity bounds, we provide numerical predictions for the transverse single-spin asymmetries. These observables could be measured at LHCSpin, the fixed target experiment planned at the LHC. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Gaussian quantum steering for continuous variables sharing in an expanding universe

Realistic quantum systems are affected by the expanding universe in their preparation and quantum information processing. In this paper, we study the relationship between the Gaussian quantum steering distribution and the parameters of the expanding universe. The expansion process of the universe can be described as a channel acting on a two-mode squeezed Gaussian state, with the evolution of quantum steering from the asymptotic past to the asymptotic future resulting in new distributions parameterized by cosmic parameters. We find that Gaussian quantum steering is more sensitive to the volume change of the expanding universe than the expansion rate, and the Gaussian quantum steering generated by particles with suitable mass and small momentum is more affected by the expanding universe.

Bending rigidity exponent of a two-dimensional crystalline membrane with arbitrary number of flexural phonon modes.

We investigate the elastic behavior of two-dimensional crystalline membrane embedded into real space taking into account the presence an arbitrary number of flexural phonon modes d_{c} (the number of out-of-plane deformation field components). The bending rigidity exponent η is extracted by numerical simulation via Fourier Monte Carlo technique of the system behavior in the universal regime. This universal quantity governs the correlation function of out-of-plane deformations at long wavelengths and defines the behavior of renormalized bending rigidity at small momentum ϰ∼1/q^{η}. The resulting numerical estimates of the exponent for various d_{c} are compared with the numbers obtained from the approximate analytical techniques.

Jet quenching parameter in QCD kinetic theory

We study the jet quenching parameter q^ in a nonequilibrium plasma using the QCD effective kinetic theory. We discuss subleading terms at large jet momentum p, show that our expression for q^ reproduces thermal results at small and large transverse momentum cutoffs for infinite p, and construct an interpolation between these limits to be used in phenomenological applications. Using simple nonequilibrium distributions that model pertinent features of the bottom-up thermalization scenario, we analytically assess how anisotropy, underoccupation, or overoccupation affect the jet quenching parameter. Our work provides more details on the q^ formula used in our preceding work [ ] and sets the stage for further numerical studies of jet momentum broadening in the initial stages of heavy-ion collisions from QCD kinetic theory. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

COVID-19 and social sustainability: the case of Mauritius

ABSTRACT Social sustainability, alongside environmental and economic sustainability, is one of the three key dimensions of sustainability. Unlike environmental and economic sustainability, social sustainability is often missing from research and practice related to sustainability efforts and policies. Using in-depth qualitative interviews and official document review this article studies the COVID-19 pandemic response of the small island developing state, Mauritius. Using the Opp, Susan M. [2017. “The forgotten pillar: a definition for the measurement of social sustainability in American cities.” Local Environment 22 (3): 286–305] framework for social sustainability, this research finds that Mauritius had both successes and failures in maintaining and promoting social sustainability on the island nation and are at a crossroads with respect to the future of social sustainability on the island. Although the island nation holds an impressive record in engaging in social sustainability efforts, longstanding inequalities were exacerbated during the pandemic and the changed economic outlook may jeopardize the small island's momentum towards their 2030 sustainability goals.

Moments of the Charge Distribution Observed through Electron Scattering in 3H and 3He

Abstract The moments of the charge distributions obtained by the sum-of-Gaussians (SOG) analysis of electron-scattering data are examined in $^3$H and $^3$He, together with those obtained by the Fourier–Bessel (FB) analysis. The SOG and FB methods reproduce well the experimental form factors available at present, but provide different charge distributions from each other. As a result, they do not yield the same values of the moments of the charge distribution, although their analyses are called “model-independent.” The moments are sensitive to the tail of the charge distribution. The present experimental data are not enough for SOG and FB analyses to determine with reasonable accuracy the shape of the tails, in a quantum mechanical point of view. New, accurate experimental data at small momentum transfer squared less than 0.1 fm$^{-2}$ are desired.

Is infrared-collinear safe information all you need for jet classification?

Machine learning-based jet classifiers are able to achieve impressive tagging performance in a variety of applications in high-energy and nuclear physics. However, it remains unclear in many cases which aspects of jets give rise to this discriminating power, and whether jet observables that are tractable in perturbative QCD such as those obeying infrared-collinear (IRC) safety serve as sufficient inputs. In this article, we introduce a new classifier, Jet Flow Networks (JFNs), in an effort to address the question of whether IRC unsafe information provides additional discriminating power in jet classification. JFNs are permutation-invariant neural networks (deep sets) that take as input the kinematic information of reconstructed subjets. The subjet radius and a cut on the subjet’s transverse momenta serve as tunable hyperparameters enabling a controllable sensitivity to soft emissions and nonperturbative effects. We demonstrate the performance of JFNs for quark vs. gluon and Z vs. QCD jet tagging. For small subjet radii and transverse momentum cuts, the performance of JFNs is equivalent to the IRC-unsafe Particle Flow Networks (PFNs), demonstrating that infrared-collinear unsafe information is not necessary to achieve strong discrimination for both cases. As the subjet radius is increased, the performance of the JFNs remains essentially unchanged until physical thresholds that we identify are crossed. For relatively large subjet radii, we show that the JFNs may offer an increased model independence with a modest tradeoff in performance compared to classifiers that use the full particle information of the jet. These results shed new light on how machines learn patterns in high-energy physics data.

Design of a large energy acceptance beamline using fixed field accelerator optics

Large energy acceptance arcs have been proposed for applications such as cancer therapy, muon accelerators, and recirculating linacs. The efficacy of hadron therapy can be improved by reducing the energy layer switching time, however this is currently limited by the small momentum acceptance of the beam delivery system (<±1%). A “closed-dispersion arc” with a large momentum acceptance has the potential to remove this bottleneck, however such a beamline has not yet been constructed. We have developed a design methodology for large momentum acceptance arcs with Fixed Field Accelerator optics, applying it to a demonstrator beam delivery system for protons at 0.5–3.0 MeV (±42% momentum acceptance) as part of the Technology for Ultra-Rapid Beam Operation project at the University of Melbourne. Using realistic magnetic fields, a beamline has been designed with zero dispersion at either end. An algorithm has been devised for the construction of permanent magnet Halbach arrays for this beamline with multipole error below one part in 104, using commercially available magnets. The sensitivity to errors has been investigated, finding that the delivered beam is robust in realistic conditions. This study demonstrates that a closed-dispersion arc with fixed fields can achieve a large momentum acceptance, and we outline future work required to develop these ideas into a complete proof-of-principle beam delivery system that can be scaled up for a medical facility. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Development of a muon linac for the J-PARC Muon g − 2/EDM experiment

At Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC), a muon linac is being developed for future muon g−2/Electric Dipole Moment (EDM) experiments. The muon linac starts with an ultra-slow muon (USM) source that generates muons with an extremely small momentum of 3 keV/c (kinetic energy W=25 meV) by laser ionization of thermal muonium. The generated USMs are accelerated to 5.6 keV by an electrostatic field and injected into a radio frequency quadrupole (RFQ). The injected muons are accelerated to 0.34 MeV by the 324-MHz RFQ. Then, the energy of the muon beam is boosted to 4.5 MeV with a 324-MHz interdigital H-type drift tube linac (IH-DTL). Following the IH-DTL, 1296-MHz disk-and-washer (DAW) structures accelerate the muon up to 40 MeV. Finally, the muons are accelerated from 40 MeV to 212 MeV using a 2592-MHz disk-loaded traveling wave structure (DLS). In this paper, details of the linac design and the recent progress toward the realization of the world's first muon linac will be discussed.

Momentum accelerates evolutionary dynamics

We combine momentum from machine learning with evolutionary dynamics, where momentum can be viewed as a simple mechanism of intergenerational memory similar to epigenetic mechanisms. Using information divergences as Lyapunov functions, we show that momentum accelerates the convergence of evolutionary dynamics including the continuous and discrete replicator equations and Euclidean gradient descent on populations. When evolutionarily stable states are present, these methods prove convergence for small learning rates or small momentum, and yield an analytic determination of the relative decrease in time to converge that agrees well with computations. The main results apply even when the evolutionary dynamic is not a gradient flow. We also show that momentum can alter the convergence properties of these dynamics, for example by breaking the cycling associated to the rock–paper–scissors landscape, leading to either convergence to the ordinarily non-absorbing equilibrium, or divergence, depending on the value and mechanism of momentum.

Proton PDFs with nonlinear corrections from gluon recombination

We present numerical studies of the leading nonlinear corrections to the Dokshitzer-Gribov-Lipatov-Altarelli-Parisi evolution equations of parton distribution functions (PDFs) resulting from gluon recombination. The effect of these corrections is to reduce the pace of evolution at small momentum fractions x while slightly increasing it at intermediate x. By implementing the nonlinear evolution in the framework, we have carried out fits of proton PDFs using data on lepton-proton deep inelastic scattering from HERA, BCDMS, and NMC. While we find no evidence for the presence of nonlinearities, they cannot be entirely excluded either, and we are able to set limits for their strength. In terms of the recombination scale Qr, which plays a similar role as the saturation scale in the dipole picture of the proton, we find that Qr≲2.5 GeV. We also quantify the impact of the nonlinear terms for the longitudinal structure function at the Electron-Ion Collider and the Large Hadron Electron Collider and find that these measurements could provide stronger constraints on the projected effects. Published by the American Physical Society 2024