30481535
A compact apparatus for muon lifetime measurement and time dilation demonstration in the undergraduate laboratory
We describe a compact apparatus for measuring the charge-averaged lifetime of atmospheric muons in plastic scintillator using low-cost, low-power electronics. We present measurements of the stopping rate of atmospheric muons as a function of altitude to demonstrate relativistic time dilation. The apparatus is designed for the advanced undergraduate physics laboratory and is suitable for field measurements.
15092713
A serializer ASIC for high speed data transmission in cryogenic and HiRel environment
A high speed 16:1 serializer ASIC has been developed using a commercial 0.25 μm silicon-on-sapphire CMOS technology. At room temperature the ASIC operates from 4.0 to 5.7 Gbps with power consumption of 463 mW. The total jitter is 62 ps at the bit error rate of 10−12 at 5 Gbps. A 200-MeV proton beam test indicates that the ASIC is suitable for high energy physics applications. A liquid nitrogen temperature test indicates that the ASIC may be used at cryogenic temperature applications. The reliability of the serializer at liquid nitrogen temperature is to be studied. A 6-lane serializer array with 10 Gbps/lane with redundancy capability is under development.
121725222
Optical links for ATLAS liquid argon calorimeter front-end electronics readout
We present the optical data links for the ATLAS liquid argon calorimeter. The current status of the vertical cavity surface emitting laser failures, the up-to-date results in searching for the failure cause, experiences gained in the searching process, possible backup plans for the optical transmitters and the lessons learned are also discussed.
122670904
The design of 8-Gbps VCSEL drivers for ATLAS liquid Argon calorimeter upgrade
We present designs and preliminary test results of LOCld1 and LOCld4, VCSEL drivers in a commercial 0.25-mu m m Silicon-on-Sapphire (SoS) CMOS process for ATLAS liquid Argon calorimeter upgrade. Active shunt peaking, multiple-stage amplification and higher voltage supply are used to achieve the data rate of 8 Gbps. LOCld1 is a single channel VCSEL driver with a differential output, while LOCld4 has four channels with single-ended open-drain outputs. Both drivers have tunable modulation and peaking strength. Bias current for VCSEL is also embedded.
6496614
Response of a 0.25 μm thin-film silicon-on-sapphire CMOS technology to total ionizing dose
The radiation response of a 0.25 μm silicon-on-sapphire CMOS technology is characterized at the transistor and circuit levels utilizing both standard and enclosed layout devices. The threshold-voltage shift is less than 170 mV and the leakage-current increase is less than 1 nA for individual standard-layout nMOSFET and pMOSFET devices at a total dose of 100 krad(SiO2). The increase in power supply current at the circuit level was less than 5%, consistent with the small change in off-state transistor leakage current. The technology exhibits good characteristics for use in the electronics of the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider.
110567078
ASIC developments for high speed serial data transmission in particle physics experiments
Abstract We report R&D results on two integrated circuit designs: a 5 Gbps 16:1 serializer and a 5 GHz LC phase-locked-loop (PLL). The prototypes were fabricated with a commercial thin-film silicon-on-sapphire 0.25 μm CMOS technology. Both the serializer and the PLL have been evaluated to meet design goals and tested against operation conditions in the environment of a particle physics detector front-end for the proposed HL-LHC upgrade.
118634638
Flavor transition mechanisms of propagating astrophysical neutrinos: A model independent parametrization
One of the important goals for future neutrino telescopes is to identify the flavors of astrophysical neutrinos and therefore determine the flavor ratio. The flavor ratio of astrophysical neutrinos observed on the Earth depends on both the initial flavor ratio at the source and flavor transitions taking place during propagations of these neutrinos. We propose a model independent parametrization for describing the above flavor transitions. A few flavor transition models are employed to test our parametrization. The observational test for flavor transition mechanisms through our parametrization is discussed.
122901102
LABORATORY ASTROPHYSICS IN TAIWAN
We report the development of laboratory astrophysics program in Taiwan. We begin with outlining Taiwan's participation in the FLASH collaboration for measuring the fluorescence yield using SLAC 28.5 GeV electron beam. We then report the domestic effort of studying cosmic ray shower properties using NSRRC 1.5 GeV electron beam.
119074364
Post-ACME2013 CP-violation in Higgs Physics and Electroweak Baryogenesis
We present a class of cancellation mechanisms to suppress the total contributions of Barr-Zee diagrams to the electron electric dipole moment (eEDM). This class of mechanisms are of particular significance after the new eEDM upper limit, which strongly constrains the allowed magnitude of CP-violation in Higgs couplings and hence the feasibility of electroweak baryogenesis (EWBG), were released by the ACME collaboration in 2013. We point out: if both the CP-odd Higgs-photonphoton (Z boson) and the CP-odd Higgs-electron-positron couplings are turned on, a cancellation may occur either between the contributions of a CP-mixing Higgs boson, with the other Higgs bosons being decoupled, or between the contributions of a CP-even and a CP-odd Higgs bosons. With the assistance of the cancellation mechanisms, a large CP-phase in Higgs couplings with viable electroweak baryogenesis (EWBG) is still allowed. The reopened parameter regions would be probed by the future neutron, mercury EDM measurements, and direct measurements of Higgs CP-properties at the LHC and future colliders.
13116555
Simulation of the cosmic ray tau neutrino telescope (CRTNT) experiment
A τ lepton can be produced in a charged current interaction by a cosmic ray tau neutrino with material inside a mountain. If it escapes from the mountain, it will decay and initiate a shower in the air, which can be detected by an air shower fluorescence/Cherenkov light detector. Designed according to such a principle, the cosmic ray tau neutrino telescope (CRTNT) experiment, located at the foothill of Mt Balikun in Xinjiang, China, will search for very high-energy cosmic τ neutrinos from energetic astrophysical sources by detecting those showers. This paper describes a Monte Carlo simulation for a detection of τ events by the CRTNT experiment. Ultra-high-energy cosmic ray events are also simulated to estimate the potential contamination. With the CRTNT experiment composed of four detector stations, each covering 64 ◦ × 14 ◦ field of view, the expected event rates are 28.6, 21.9 and 4.7 per year assuming an AGN neutrino flux according to Semikoz and Sigl (2004 J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. JCAP 04(2004)003), Mannheim–Protheroe–Rachen (MPR) active galactic nucleus (AGN) jet model and Stecker–Done–Salamon–Sommers (SDSS) AGN core model, respectively. Null detection of such a τ event by the CRTNT experiment in 1 year could set a 90% C.L. upper limit on 19.9 (eV cm −2 s −1 sr −1 ) for an E −2 neutrino spectrum.
118652336
Determination of the neutrino flavor ratio at the astrophysical source
We discuss the reconstruction of neutrino flavor ratios at astrophysical sources through the future neutrino-telescope measurements. Taking the ranges of neutrino mixing parameters ${\ensuremath{\theta}}_{ij}$ as those given by the current global fit, we demonstrate by a statistical method that the accuracies in the measurements of energy-independent ratios $R\ensuremath{\equiv}\ensuremath{\phi}({\ensuremath{\nu}}_{\ensuremath{\mu}})/(\ensuremath{\phi}({\ensuremath{\nu}}_{e})+\ensuremath{\phi}({\ensuremath{\nu}}_{\ensuremath{\tau}}))$ and $S\ensuremath{\equiv}\ensuremath{\phi}({\ensuremath{\nu}}_{e})/\ensuremath{\phi}({\ensuremath{\nu}}_{\ensuremath{\tau}})$ among integrated neutrino flux should both be better than 10% in order to distinguish between the pion source and the muon-damped source at the $3\ensuremath{\sigma}$ level. The 10% accuracy needed for measuring $R$ and $S$ requires an improved understanding of the background atmospheric neutrino flux to a better than 10% level in the future. We discuss the applicability of our analysis to practical situations that the diffuse astrophysical neutrino flux arises from different types of sources and each point source has a neutrino flavor ratio varying with energies. We also discuss the effect of the leptonic $CP$ phase on the flavor-ratio reconstruction.