Unnuclear physics: Conformal symmetry in nuclear reactions

We investigate a nonrelativistic version of Georgi’s “unparticle physics.” We define the unnucleus as a field in a nonrelativistic conformal field theory. Such a field is characterized by a mass and a conformal dimension. We then consider the formal problem of scatterings to a final state consisting of a particle and an unnucleus and show that the differential cross-section, as a function of the recoil energy received by the particle, has a power-law singularity near the maximal recoil energy, where the power is determined by the conformal dimension of the unnucleus. We argue that unlike the relativistic unparticle, which remains a hypothetical object, the unnucleus is realized, to a good approximation, in nuclear reactions involving emission of a few neutrons, when the energy of the final-state neutrons in their center-of-mass frame lies in the range between about 0.1 MeV and 5 MeV. Combining this observation with the known universal properties of fermions at unitarity in a harmonic trap, we predict a power-law behavior of an inclusive cross-section in this kinematic regime. We verify our predictions with previous effective field theory and model calculations of the 6He(p,pα)2n, 3H(π−,γ)3n, and 3H(μ−,νμ)3n reactions and discuss opportunities to measure unnuclei at radioactive beam facilities.

Nanoradiopharmaceuticals Based on Alpha Emitters: Recent Developments for Medical Applications

The application of nanotechnology in nuclear medicine offers attractive therapeutic opportunities for the treatment of various diseases, including cancer. Indeed, nanoparticles-conjugated targeted alpha-particle therapy (TAT) would be ideal for localized cell killing due to high linear energy transfer and short ranges of alpha emitters. New approaches in radiolabeling are necessary because chemical radiolabeling techniques are rendered sub-optimal due to the presence of recoil energy generated by alpha decay, which causes chemical bonds to break. This review attempts to cover, in a concise fashion, various aspects of physics, radiobiology, and production of alpha emitters, as well as highlight the main problems they present, with possible new approaches to mitigate those problems. Special emphasis is placed on the strategies proposed for managing recoil energy. We will also provide an account of the recent studies in vitro and in vivo preclinical investigations of α-particle therapy delivered by various nanosystems from different materials, including inorganic nanoparticles, liposomes, and polymersomes, and some carbon-based systems are also summarized.

Investigation of the Causes of Violations of the Radioactive Balance between Radionuclides of the Uranium Decay Chain

Throughout the literature, it is mentioned that 15 radionuclides in the uranium decay chain have a constant radioactive equilibrium. Theoretical calculations give the value of the activity of each radionuclide in the uranium decay chain.This article examines various factors that affect the coefficient of radioactive equilibrium between radionuclides in the uranium decay chainThe concept of the coefficient of violations of nuclear equilibrium between radionuclides is adopted to determine the degree of violations in the uranium decay chain.Many nuclear-physical factors influence the radioactive balance between radionuclides. The most important of them is the recoil energy that the daughter nucleus receives when splitting from the mother nucleus.Another critical factor in the violation of the radioactive balance between radionuclides is the technological factor: leaching (acid, mini-reagent, bicarbonate, etc.) when leaching uranium by underground leaching of uranium.In addition, as a theoretical result of the study, the article presents a graphical relationship between the number of nuclear masses and the recoil energy of radionuclides in the uranium decay chain.

New Projections for Dark Matter Searches with Paleo-Detectors

Paleo-detectors are a proposed experimental technique to search for dark matter (DM). In lieu of the conventional approach of operating a tonne-scale real-time detector to search for DM-induced nuclear recoils, paleo-detectors take advantage of small samples of naturally occurring rocks on Earth that have been deep underground (≳5 km), accumulating nuclear damage tracks from recoiling nuclei for O(1)Gyr. Modern microscopy techniques promise the capability to read out nuclear damage tracks with nanometer resolution in macroscopic samples. Thanks to their O(1)Gyr integration times, paleo-detectors could constitute nuclear recoil detectors with keV recoil energy thresholds and 100 kilotonne-yr exposures. This combination would allow paleo-detectors to probe DM-nucleon cross sections orders of magnitude below existing upper limits from conventional direct detection experiments. In this article, we use improved background modeling and a new spectral analysis technique to update the sensitivity forecast for paleo-detectors. We demonstrate the robustness of the sensitivity forecast to the (lack of) ancillary measurements of the age of the samples and the parameters controlling the backgrounds, systematic mismodeling of the spectral shape of the backgrounds, and the radiopurity of the mineral samples. Specifically, we demonstrate that even if the uranium concentration in paleo-detector samples is 10−8 (per weight), many orders of magnitude larger than what we expect in the most radiopure samples obtained from ultra basic rock or marine evaporite deposits, paleo-detectors could still probe DM-nucleon cross sections below current limits. For DM masses ≲ 10 GeV/c2, the sensitivity of paleo-detectors could still reach down all the way to the conventional neutrino floor in a Xe-based direct detection experiment.

Development of ion recoil energy distributions in the Coulomb explosion of argon clusters resolved by charge-state selective ion energy spectroscopy

The laser intensity dependence of the recoil energies from the Coulomb explosion of small argon clusters has been investigated by resolving the contributions of the individual charge states to the ion recoil energy spectra. Between $$10^{14}$$ 10 14 and $$10^{15}$$ 10 15 W/cm$$^2$$ 2 , the high-energy tail of the ion energy spectra changes its shape and develops into the well-known knee feature, which results from the cluster size distribution, laser focal averaging, and ionization saturation. Resolving the contributions of the different charge states to the recoil energies, the experimental data reveal that the basic assumption of an exploding homogeneously charged sphere cannot be maintained in general. In fact, the energy spectra of the high-q show distinct gaps in the yields at low kinetic energies, which hints at more complex radial ion charge distributions developing during the laser pulse impact.

Resolving XENON excess with decaying cold dark matter

We propose a decaying cold dark matter model to explain the excess of electron recoil observed at the XENON1T experiment. In this scenario, the daughter dark matter from the parent dark matter decay easily obtains velocity large enough to saturate the peak of the electron recoil energy around 2.5 keV, and the observed signal rate can be fulfilled by the parent dark matter with a mass of order 10–200 MeV and a lifetime larger than the age of Universe. We verify that this model is consistent with experimental limits from dark matter detections, Cosmic microwave background and large scale structure experiments.

Measurements of Scintillation Light Yield Non-proportionality in NaI(Tl) Detector

The SABRE (Sodium-iodide with Active Background Rejection) experiment consists of 50 kg of ultrapure NaI(Tl) crystal contained within a 10.5 ton liquid scintillator (LS) veto detector, and will search for dark matter interactions in the inner NaI(Tl) detector. The relative scintillation light yield in NaI(Tl) scintillator for different incident particle energies is not constant and is important for characterizing the detector response. The relative scintillation light yield in two different NaI(Tl) scintillators was measured with a 10 µCi 137Cs radioactive source using the Compton coincidence technique (CCT) for scattering angles 30? - 135? using electron energies ranging from 60 to 500 keVee, and these measurements are compared to the previously published results. Light yield was proportional within 3.5% at energies between 60 and 500 keVee, but non-proportionality increases drastically below 60 keVee which might be due to the non-uniform ionization density and multiple Compton scattering background events in the scintillator. An improved experimental setup with ultrapure NaI(Tl) scintillator and proper coincidence timing of radioactive events could allow scintillation light yield measurement at lower electron recoil energy. The obtained light yield non-proportionality results will be useful for the SABRE dark matter detector experiment.

Xenon-1T excess as a possible signal of a sub-GeV hidden sector dark matter

We present a particle physics model to explain the observed enhancement in the Xenon-1T data at an electron recoil energy of 2.5 keV. The model is based on a U(1) extension of the Standard Model where the dark sector consists of two essentially mass degenerate Dirac fermions in the sub-GeV region with a small mass splitting interacting with a dark photon. The dark photon is unstable and decays before the big bang nucleosynthesis, which leads to the dark matter constituted of two essentially mass degenerate Dirac fermions. The Xenon-1T excess is computed via the inelastic exothermic scattering of the heavier dark fermion from a bound electron in xenon to the lighter dark fermion producing the observed excess events in the recoil electron energy. The model can be tested with further data from Xenon-1T and in future experiments such as SuperCDMS.

Exothermic dark matter for XENON1T excess

Motivated by the recent excess in the electron recoil from XENON1T experiment, we consider the possibility of exothermic dark matter, which is composed of two states with mass splitting. The heavier state down-scatters off the electron into the lighter state, making an appropriate recoil energy required for the Xenon excess even for the standard Maxwellian velocity distribution of dark matter. Accordingly, we determine the mass difference between two component states of dark matter to the peak electron recoil energy at about 2.5 keV up to the detector resolution, accounting for the recoil events over ER = 2 − 3 keV, which are most significant. We include the effects of the phase-space enhancement and the atomic excitation factor to calculate the required scattering cross section for the Xenon excess. We discuss the implications of dark matter interactions in the effective theory for exothermic dark matter and a massive Z′ mediator and provide microscopic models realizing the required dark matter and electron couplings to Z′.

Dynamics of nuclear recoil: QM-MD simulations ofmodel systems following β-decay

The kinetic recoil energy received by the daughter nucleus in a nuclear decay is often large enough to affect the structure around the nucleus in chemical systems. The coinciding element change...