Refine
Year of publication
- 2021 (378) (remove)
Document Type
- Article (186)
- Preprint (146)
- Doctoral Thesis (27)
- Conference Proceeding (9)
- Contribution to a Periodical (5)
- Bachelor Thesis (3)
- Master's Thesis (2)
Has Fulltext
- yes (378)
Keywords
- BESIII (6)
- Branching fraction (3)
- Cryoelectron microscopy (3)
- Lattice QCD (3)
- Particle decays (3)
- Quantum chromodynamics (3)
- Quantum field theory (3)
- Relativistic heavy-ion collisions (3)
- e+-e− Experiments (3)
- AdS-CFT Correspondence (2)
Institute
- Physik (378) (remove)
In this paper, we present an experimental and theoretical study of excitation processes for the heaviest stable helium-like ion, that is, He-like uranium occurring in relativistic collisions with hydrogen and argon targets. In particular, we concentrate on angular distributions of the characteristic Kα radiation following the K → L excitation of He-like uranium. We pay special attention to the magnetic sub-level population of the excited 1s2lj states, which is directly related to the angular distribution of the characteristic Kα radiation. We show that the experimental data can be well described by calculations taking into account the excitation by the target nucleus as well as by the target electrons. Moreover, we demonstrate for the first time an important influence of the electron-impact excitation process on the angular distributions of the Kα radiation produced by excitation of He-like uranium in collisions with different targets.
Charts are used to measure relative success for a large variety of cultural items. Traditional music charts have been shown to follow self-organizing principles with regard to the distribution of item lifetimes, the on-chart residence times. Here we examine if this observation holds also for (a) music streaming charts (b) book best-seller lists and (c) for social network activity charts, such as Twitter hashtags and the number of comments Reddit postings receive. We find that charts based on the active production of items, like commenting, are more likely to be influenced by external factors, in particular by the 24 h day–night cycle. External factors are less important for consumption-based charts (sales, downloads), which can be explained by a generic theory of decision-making. In this view, humans aim to optimize the information content of the internal representation of the outside world, which is logarithmically compressed. Further support for information maximization is argued to arise from the comparison of hourly, daily and weekly charts, which allow to gauge the importance of decision times with respect to the chart compilation period.
The long-awaited detection of a gravitational wave from the merger of a binary neutron star in August 2017 (GW170817) marked the beginning of the new field of multi-messenger gravitational wave astronomy. By exploiting the extracted tidal deformations of the two neutron stars from the late inspiral phase of GW170817, it was possible to constrain several global properties of the equation of state of neutron star matter. By means of fully general-relativistic hydrodynamic simulations, it is possible to get an insight into the hydrodynamic evolution of matter and into the structure of the space–time deformation caused by the remnant of binary neutron star merger. Neutron star mergers represent an optimal astrophysical laboratory to investigate the phase transition from confined hadronic matter to deconfined quark matter. With future gravitational wave detectors, it will most likely be possible in the near future to investigate the hadron-quark phase transition by analyzing the spectrum of the post-merger gravitational wave of the differentially rotating hypermassive hybrid star. In contrast to hypermassive neutron stars, these highly differentially rotating objects contain deconfined strange quark matter in their slowly rotating inner region.
High-energy astrophysics plays an increasingly important role in the understanding of our universe. On one hand, this is due to ground-breaking observations, like the gravitational-wave detections of the LIGO and Virgo network or the black-hole shadow observations of the EHT collaboration. On the other hand, the field of numerical relativity has reached a level of sophistication that allows for realistic simulations that include all four fundamental forces of nature. A prime example of how observations and theory complement each other can be seen in the studies following GW170817, the first detection of gravitational waves from a binary neutron-star merger. The same detection is also the chronological starting point of this Thesis. The plethora of information and constraints on nuclear physics derived from GW170817 in conjunction with theoretical computations will be presented in the first part of this Thesis. The second part goes beyond this detection and prepares for future observations when also the high-frequency postmerger signal will become detectable. Specifically, signatures of a quark-hadron phase transition are discussed and the specific case of a delayed phase transition is analyzed in detail. Finally, the third part of this Thesis focuses on the inclusion of radiative transport in numerical astrophysics. In the context of binary neutron-star mergers, radiation in the form of neutrinos is crucial for realistic long-term simulations. Two methods are introduced for treating radiation: the approximate state-of-the-art two-moment method (M1) and the recently developed radiative Lattice-Boltzmann method. The latter promises
to be more accurate than M1 at a comparable computational cost. Given that most methods for radiative transport or either inaccurate or unfeasible, the derivation of this new method represents a novel and possibly paradigm-changing contribution to an accurate inclusion of radiation in numerical astrophysics.
Radon adsorption in charcoal
(2021)
Radon is pervasive in our environment and the second leading cause of lung cancer induction after smoking. Therefore, the measurement of radon activity concentrations in homes is important. The use of charcoal is an easy and cost-efficient method for this purpose, as radon can bind to charcoal via Van der Waals interaction. Admittedly, there are potential influencing factors during exposure that can distort the results and need to be investigated. Consequently, charcoal was exposed in a radon chamber at different parameters. Afterward, the activity of the radon decay products 214Pb and 214Bi was measured and extrapolated to the initial radon activity in the sample. After an exposure of 1 h, around 94% of the maximum value was attained and used as a limit for the subsequent exposure time. Charcoal was exposed at differing humidity ranging from 5 to 94%, but no influence on radon adsorption could be detected. If the samples were not sealed after exposure, radon desorbed with an effective half-life of around 31 h. There is also a strong dependence of radon uptake on the chemical structure of the recipient material, which is interesting for biological materials or diffusion barriers as this determines accumulation and transport.
Chiral symmetry represents a fundamental concept lying at the core of particle and nuclear physics. Its spontaneous breaking in vacuum can be exploited to distinguish chiral hadronic partners, whose masses differ. In fact, the features of this breaking serve as guiding principles for the construction of effective approaches of QCD at low energies, e.g., the chiral perturbation theory, the linear sigma model, the (Polyakov)–Nambu–Jona-Lasinio model, etc. At high temperatures/densities chiral symmetry can be restored bringing the chiral partners to be nearly degenerated in mass. At vanishing baryochemical potential, such restoration follows a smooth transition, and the chiral companions reach this degeneration above the transition temperature. In this work I review how different realizations of chiral partner degeneracy arise in different effective theories/models of QCD. I distinguish the cases where the chiral states are either fundamental degrees of freedom or (dynamically-generated) composed states. In particular, I discuss the intriguing case in which chiral symmetry restoration involves more than two chiral partners, recently addressed in the literature.
This thesis explores the phase diagrams of the Nambu--Jona-Lasinio (NJL) and quark-meson (QM) model in the mean-field approximation and beyond. The focus lies in the investigation of the interplay between inhomogeneous chiral condensates and two-flavor color superconductivity.
In the first part of this thesis, we study the NJL model with 2SC diquarks in the mean-field approximation and determine the dispersion relations for quasiparticle excitations for generic spatial modulations of the chiral condensate in the presence of a homogeneous 2SC-diquark condensate, provided that the dispersion relations in the absence of color superconductivity are known. We then compare two different Ansätze for the chiral order parameter, the chiral density wave (CDW) and the real-kink crystal (RKC). For both Ansätze we find for specific diquark couplings a so-called coexistence phase where both the inhomogeneous chiral condensate and the diquark condensate coexist. Increasing the diquark coupling disfavors the coexistence phase in favor of a pure diquark phase.
On the other hand, decreasing the diquark coupling favors the inhomogeneous phase over the coexistence phase.
In the second part of this thesis the functional renormalization group is employed to study the phase diagram of the quark-meson-diquark model. We observe that the region of the phase diagram found in previous studies, where the entropy density takes on unphysical negative values, vanishes when including diquark degrees of freedom. Furthermore, we perform a stability analysis of the homogeneous phase and compare the results with those of previous studies. We find that an increasing diquark coupling leads to a smaller region of instability as the 2SC phase extends to a smaller chemical potential. We also find a region where simultaneously an instability occurs and a non-vanishing diquark condensate forms, which is an indication of the existence of a coexistence phase in accordance with the results of the first part of this work.
Bohmian mechanics as formulated originally in 1952, has been useful in the implementation of numerical methods applied to quantum mechanics. The scientific community though has had ever since a critical thought about it. Therefore, there are still points to be clarified and rectified. The two main problems are basically: Bohmian mechanics gives a privilege role to the position representation. Secondly, the current interpretation of Bohmian trajectories has been recently proven wrong.
In this context, in Chapter 2, new complex Bohmian quantities are defined; so that they allow the capacity to formulate Bohmian mechanics in any arbitrary continuous representation, for instance, the momentum representation. This Chapter is fully based on two articles, regarding the proposed complex Bohmian formulation and its extension into momentum space.
Chapter 3 deals with a redefinition and reinterpretation of the Bohmian trajectories from the handling of the continuity equation, this is done without any need of additional postulates or interpretations. Also, it is proved that Bohmian mechanics is actually more than a projective aspect of the Wigner function.
As a third point, Chapter 4 presents a sytematic treatment of the hydrodynamic scheme of Bohmian mechanics. Then, a brief summary of the transport equations in Bohmian mechanics is done. Next, a unified hydrodynamic treatment is found for the Bohmian mechanics. This treatment is useful to sketch, a Bohmian treatment to efficiently find the steady value of the transmission integral.
In Chapter 5 conclusions of this thesis are drawn.
It is conjectured that in cosmological applications the particle current is not modified but finite heat or energy flow. Therefore, comoving Eckart frame is a suitable choice, as it merely ceases the charge and particle diffusion and conserves charges and particles. The cosmic evolution of viscous hadron and parton epochs in casual and non-casual Eckart frame is analyzed. By proposing equations of state deduced from recent lattice QCD simulations including pressure p, energy density ρ, and temperature T, the Friedmann equations are solved. We introduce expressions for the temporal evolution of the Hubble parameter H˙, the cosmic energy density ρ˙, and the share η˙ and the bulk viscous coefficient ζ˙. We also suggest how the bulk viscous pressure Π could be related to H. We conclude that the relativistic theory of fluids, the Eckart frame, and the finite viscous coefficients play essential roles in the cosmic evolution, especially in the hadron and parton epochs
s-processing in asymptotic giant branch stars in the light of revised neutron-capture cross sections
(2021)
Current AGB stellar models provide an adequate description of the s-process nucleosynthesis that occurs. Nonetheless, they still suffer from many uncertainties related to the modeling of the 13C pocket formation and the adopted nuclear reaction rates. For many important s-process isotopes, a best set of neutron-capture cross sections was recently re-evaluated. Using stellar models prescribing that the 13C pocket is a by-product of magnetic-buoyancy-induced mixing phenomena, s-process calculations were carried out with this database. Significant effects are found for a few s-only and branching point isotopes, pointing out the need for improved neutron-capture cross section measurements at low energy.
Cortical pyramidal neurons have a complex dendritic anatomy, whose function is an active research field. In particular, the segregation between its soma and the apical dendritic tree is believed to play an active role in processing feed-forward sensory information and top-down or feedback signals. In this work, we use a simple two-compartment model accounting for the nonlinear interactions between basal and apical input streams and show that standard unsupervised Hebbian learning rules in the basal compartment allow the neuron to align the feed-forward basal input with the top-down target signal received by the apical compartment. We show that this learning process, termed coincidence detection, is robust against strong distractions in the basal input space and demonstrate its effectiveness in a linear classification task.
The realization of a fast and robust closed orbit feedback (COFB) system for the on-ramp orbit correction at SIS18 synchrotron of FAIR project is reported in this thesis. SIS18 has some peculiar behaviors including on-ramp optics variation, very short lengths of the ramps (200 ms to 1 s) and a cycle-to-cycle variation of beam parameters. The realized fast COFB system being robust against above mentioned features of SIS18 is a first of its kind and the course to its realization led to some novel contributions in the field of closed orbit correction. A new method relying on the discrete Fourier transform (DFT)-based decomposition of the orbit response matrix (ORM) has been introduced, exploiting the symmetry in the arrangement of beam position monitors (BPMs) and the corrector magnets in the synchrotrons. A nearest-circulant approximation has also been introduced for synchrotrons having slight deviation from the symmetry, making the method applicable to a vast majority of synchrotrons. Moreover, the performance and the stability analysis of COFB systems in the presence of ORM mismatch between the synchrotron and the feedback controller is presented. The COFB systems are divided into slow and fast regimes and a new stability criterion consistent with measurements, is introduced. The practicality of the criterion is verified experimentally at COSY Jülich and is used for the analysis of various sources of ORM mismatch at SIS18. The commissioning of the SIS18 COFB system is also reported in detail which relies on Libera Hadron as the main hardware resource for the controller implementation. The on-ramp orbit correction is demonstrated for the horizontal plane of SIS18, for the disturbance rejection up to 600 Hz.
Predicting the cumulative medical load of COVID-19 outbreaks after the peak in daily fatalities
(2021)
The distinct ways the COVID-19 pandemic has been unfolding in different countries and regions suggest that local societal and governmental structures play an important role not only for the baseline infection rate, but also for short and long-term reactions to the outbreak. We propose to investigate the question of how societies as a whole, and governments in particular, modulate the dynamics of a novel epidemic using a generalization of the SIR model, the reactive SIR (short-term and long-term reaction) model. We posit that containment measures are equivalent to a feedback between the status of the outbreak and the reproduction factor. Short-term reaction to an outbreak corresponds in this framework to the reaction of governments and individuals to daily cases and fatalities. The reaction to the cumulative number of cases or deaths, and not to daily numbers, is captured in contrast by long-term reaction. We present the exact phase space solution of the controlled SIR model and use it to quantify containment policies for a large number of countries in terms of short and long-term control parameters. We find increased contributions of long-term control for countries and regions in which the outbreak was suppressed substantially together with a strong correlation between the strength of societal and governmental policies and the time needed to contain COVID-19 outbreaks. Furthermore, for numerous countries and regions we identified a predictive relation between the number of fatalities within a fixed period before and after the peak of daily fatality counts, which allows to gauge the cumulative medical load of COVID-19 outbreaks that should be expected after the peak. These results suggest that the proposed model is applicable not only for understanding the outbreak dynamics, but also for predicting future cases and fatalities once the effectiveness of outbreak suppression policies is established with sufficient certainty. Finally, we provide a web app (https://itp.uni-frankfurt.de/covid-19/) with tools for visualising the phase space representation of real-world COVID-19 data and for exporting the preprocessed data for further analysis.
Based on recent perturbative and non-perturbative lattice calculations with almost quark flavors and the thermal contributions from photons, neutrinos, leptons, electroweak particles, and scalar Higgs bosons, various thermodynamic quantities, at vanishing net-baryon densities, such as pressure, energy density, bulk viscosity, relaxation time, and temperature have been calculated up to the TeV-scale, i.e., covering hadron, QGP, and electroweak (EW) phases in the early Universe. This remarkable progress motivated the present study to determine the possible influence of the bulk viscosity in the early Universe and to understand how this would vary from epoch to epoch. We have taken into consideration first- (Eckart) and second-order (Israel–Stewart) theories for the relativistic cosmic fluid and integrated viscous equations of state in Friedmann equations. Nonlinear nonhomogeneous differential equations are obtained as analytical solutions. For Israel–Stewart, the differential equations are very sophisticated to be solved. They are outlined here as road-maps for future studies. For Eckart theory, the only possible solution is the functionality, H(a(t)), where H(t) is the Hubble parameter and a(t) is the scale factor, but none of them so far could to be directly expressed in terms of either proper or cosmic time t. For Eckart-type viscous background, especially at finite cosmological constant, non-singular H(t) and a(t) are obtained, where H(t) diverges for QCD/EW and asymptotic EoS. For non-viscous background, the dependence of H(a(t)) is monotonic. The same conclusion can be drawn for an ideal EoS. We also conclude that the rate of decreasing H(a(t)) with increasing a(t) varies from epoch to epoch, at vanishing and finite cosmological constant. These results obviously help in improving our understanding of the nucleosynthesis and the cosmological large-scale structure.
Recurrent cortical networks provide reservoirs of states that are thought to play a crucial role for sequential information processing in the brain. However, classical reservoir computing requires manual adjustments of global network parameters, particularly of the spectral radius of the recurrent synaptic weight matrix. It is hence not clear if the spectral radius is accessible to biological neural networks. Using random matrix theory, we show that the spectral radius is related to local properties of the neuronal dynamics whenever the overall dynamical state is only weakly correlated. This result allows us to introduce two local homeostatic synaptic scaling mechanisms, termed flow control and variance control, that implicitly drive the spectral radius toward the desired value. For both mechanisms the spectral radius is autonomously adapted while the network receives and processes inputs under working conditions. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the two adaptation mechanisms under different external input protocols. Moreover, we evaluated the network performance after adaptation by training the network to perform a time-delayed XOR operation on binary sequences. As our main result, we found that flow control reliably regulates the spectral radius for different types of input statistics. Precise tuning is however negatively affected when interneural correlations are substantial. Furthermore, we found a consistent task performance over a wide range of input strengths/variances. Variance control did however not yield the desired spectral radii with the same precision, being less consistent across different input strengths. Given the effectiveness and remarkably simple mathematical form of flow control, we conclude that self-consistent local control of the spectral radius via an implicit adaptation scheme is an interesting and biological plausible alternative to conventional methods using set point homeostatic feedback controls of neural firing.
During RUN3 (2021-2023) of the Large Hadron Collider, the Time Projection Chamber (TPC) of ALICE will be operated with quadruple stacks of Gas Electron Multipliers (GEMs). This technology will allow to overcome the rate limitation due to the gated operation of the Multi-Wire Proportional Chambers (MWPCs) used in RUN1 (2009-2013) and RUN2 (2015-2018).
As part of the Upgrade project, long-term irradiation tests, so called "ageing tests", have been carried out. A test setup with a detector using a quadruple stack of 10x10cm2 GEMs was built and operated in Ar-CO2 and Ne-CO2-N2 gas mixtures. The detector performance such as gas gain and energy resolution were monitored continuously. In addition, outgassing tests of materials used for the assembly process of the upgraded TPC were performed. To reach the expected dose of the GEM-based TPC, the detector was operated at much higher gains than the TPC. It was found, that the GEMs could keep their performance within the projected lifetime of the TPC. Most of the tested materials showed no negative impact on the detector. For the tested epoxy adhesive no certain conclusion could be drawn.
At much higher doses than expected for the upgraded TPC, a new phenomenon was observed, which changed the hole geometry of the GEMs and led to a degradation of the energy resolution. Even though its occurrence is not expected during the lifetime of the GEM-based TPC, simulations were carried out to study this effect more systematically. The simulations confirmed, that a change of the hole geometries of the GEMs, lead to an increase of the local gain variation, which results in a decrease of the energy resolution.
Furthermore the effect of methane as quench gas on GEMs was studied, even though this gas is not foreseen to be used in the TPC. From ageing tests with single-wire proportional counters it is well known that hydrocarbons are produced in the plasma of the avalanches, which cover the electrodes and lead to a degradation of the detector performance. Even though GEMs have a quite different geometry, the ageing tests showed, that also this technology tends to methane-induced ageing. A loss of gas gain as well as a degradation of the energy resolution due to deposits on the electrodes was monitored. A qualitative and quantitative comparison between ageing in GEMs and proportional counters was performed.
[Nachruf] Klaus Weltner
(2021)
In this talk we presented a novel technique, based on Deep Learning, to determine the impact parameter of nuclear collisions at the CBM experiment. PointNet based Deep Learning models are trained on UrQMD followed by CBMRoot simulations of Au+Au collisions at 10 AGeV to reconstruct the impact parameter of collisions from raw experimental data such as hits of the particles in the detector planes, tracks reconstructed from the hits or their combinations. The PointNet models can perform fast, accurate, event-by-event impact parameter determination in heavy ion collision experiments. They are shown to outperform a simple model which maps the track multiplicity to the impact parameter. While conventional methods for centrality classification merely provide an expected impact parameter distribution for a given centrality class, the PointNet models predict the impact parameter from 2–14 fm on an event-by-event basis with a mean error of −0.33 to 0.22 fm.
Scanning Hall probe microscopy is attractive for minimally invasive characterization of magnetic thin films and nanostructures by measurement of the emanating magnetic stray field. Established sensor probes operating at room temperature employ highly miniaturized spin-valve elements or semimetals, such as Bi. As the sensor layer structures are fabricated by patterning of planar thin films, their adaption to custom-made sensor probe geometries is highly challenging or impossible. Here we show how nanogranular ferromagnetic Hall devices fabricated by the direct-write method of focused electron beam induced deposition (FEBID) can be tailor-made for any given probe geometry. Furthermore, we demonstrate how the magnetic stray field sensitivity can be optimized in situ directly after direct-write nanofabrication of the sensor element. First proof-of-principle results on the use of this novel scanning Hall sensor are shown.
Human societies are characterized by three constituent features, besides others. (A) Options, as for jobs and societal positions, differ with respect to their associated monetary and non-monetary payoffs. (B) Competition leads to reduced payoffs when individuals compete for the same option as others. (C) People care about how they are doing relatively to others. The latter trait –the propensity to compare one’s own success with that of others– expresses itself as envy. It is shown that the combination of (A)–(C) leads to spontaneous class stratification. Societies of agents split endogenously into two social classes, an upper and a lower class, when envy becomes relevant. A comprehensive analysis of the Nash equilibria characterizing a basic reference game is presented. Class separation is due to the condensation of the strategies of lower-class agents, which play an identical mixed strategy. Upper-class agents do not condense, following individualist pure strategies. The model and results are size-consistent, holding for arbitrary large numbers of agents and options. Analytic results are confirmed by extensive numerical simulations. An analogy to interacting confined classical particles is discussed.
We report first results on elliptic flow of identified particles at midrapidity in Au+Au collisions at sqrt[sNN] = 130 GeV using the STAR TPC at RHIC. The elliptic flow as a function of transverse momentum and centrality differs significantly for particles of different masses. This dependence can be accounted for in hydrodynamic models, indicating that the system created shows a behavior consistent with collective hydrodynamical flow. The fit to the data with a simple model gives information on the temperature and flow velocities at freeze-out.