Measuring signatures of strong-field quantum electrodynamics (SF-QED) processes in an intense laser field is an experimental challenge: it requires detectors to be highly sensitive to single electrons and positrons in the presence of the typically very strong x-ray and $gamma$-photon background levels. In this paper, we describe a particle detector capable of diagnosing single leptons from SF-QED interactions and discuss the background level simulations for the upcoming Experiment-320 at FACET-II (SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory). The single particle detection system described here combines pixelated scintillation LYSO screens and a Cherenkov calorimeter. We detail the performance of the system using simulations and a calibration of the Cherenkov detector at the ELBE accelerator. Single 3 GeV leptons are expected to produce approximately 300 detectable photons in a single calorimeter channel. This signal is compared to Monte-Carlo simulations of the experiment. A signal-to-noise ratio of 32 in a single Cherenkov calorimeter detector is expected and a spectral resolution of 2% is achieved using the pixelated LYSO screens.
Through the last three decades, accurate simulation of the interactions of particles with matter and modeling of detector geometries has proven to be of critical importance to the success of the international high-energy physics (HEP) experimental programs. For example, the detailed detector modeling and accurate physics of the Geant4-based simulation software of the CMS and ATLAS particle physics experiments at the European Center of Nuclear Research (CERN) Large Hadron Collider (LHC) was a determinant factor for these collaborations to deliver physics results of outstanding quality faster than any hadron collider experiment ever before. This review article highlights the impact of detector simulation on particle physics collider experiments. It presents numerous examples of the use of simulation, from detector design and optimization, through software and computing development and testing, to cases where the use of simulation samples made a difference in the precision of the physics results and publication turnaround, from data-taking to submission. It also presents estimates of the cost and economic impact of simulation in the CMS experiment. Future experiments will collect orders of magnitude more data with increasingly complex detectors, taxing heavily the performance of simulation and reconstruction software. Consequently, exploring solutions to speed up simulation and reconstruction software to satisfy the growing demand of computing resources in a time of flat budgets is a matter that deserves immediate attention. The article ends with a short discussion on the potential solutions that are being considered, based on leveraging core count growth in multicore machines, using new generation coprocessors, and re-engineering HEP code for concurrency and parallel computing.
A workshop, Probing strong-field QED in electron--photon interactions, was held in DESY, Hamburg in August 2018, gathering together experts from around the world in this area of physics as well as the accelerator, laser and detector technology that underpins any planned experiment. The aim of the workshop was to bring together experts and those interested in measuring QED in the presence of strong fields at and above the Schwinger critical field. The pioneering experiment, E144 at SLAC, measured multi-photon absorption in Compton scattering and $e^+e^-$ pair production in electron--photon interactions but never reached the Schwinger critical field value. With the advances in laser technology, in particular, new experiments are being considered which should be able to measure non-perturbative QED and its transition from the perturbative regime. This workshop reviewed the physics case and current theoretical predictions for QED and even effects beyond the Standard Model in the interaction of a high-intensity electron bunch with the strong field of the photons from a high-intensity laser bunch. The worlds various electron beam facilities were reviewed, along with the challenges of producing and delivering laser beams to the interaction region. Possible facilities and sites that could host such experiments were presented, with a view to experimentally realising the Schwinger critical field in the lab during the 2020s.
Neutrinos are elementary particles in the standard model of particle physics. There are 3 flavors of neutrinos that oscillate among themselves. Their oscillation can be described by a 3$times$3 unitary matrix, containing three mixing angles $theta_{12}$, $theta_{23}$, $theta_{13}$, and one CP phase. Both $theta_{12}$ and $theta_{23}$ are known from previous experiments. $theta_{13}$ was unknown just two years ago. The Daya Bay experiment gave the first definitive non-zero value in 2012. An improved measurement of the oscillation amplitude $sin^{2}2(theta_{13})$ = $0.090^{+0.008}_{-0.009}$ and the first direct measurement of the $bar u_{e}$ mass-squared difference $mid$$Delta m^2_{ee}$$mid$ = $(2.59^{+0.19}_{-0.20})times10^{-3} rm eV^{2}$ were obtained recently. The large value of $theta_{13}$ boosts the next generation of reactor antineutrino experiments designed to determine the neutrino mass hierarchy, such as JUNO and RENO-50 .
For a long time there were 3 main experimental indications in favor of the existence of sterile neutrinos: $bar{ u_e}$ appearance in the $bar{ u_mu}$ beam in the LSND experiment, $bar{ u_e}$ flux deficit in comparison with theoretical expectations in reactor experiments, and $ u_e$ deficit in calibration runs with radioactive sources in the Ga solar neutrino experiments SAGE and GALEX. All three problems can be explained by the existence of sterile neutrinos with the mass square difference in the ballpark of $1~mathrm{eV^2}$. Recently the MiniBooNE collaboration observed electron (anti)neutrino appearance in the muon (anti)neutrino beams. The significance of the effect reaches 6.0$sigma$ level when combined with the LSND result. Even more recently the NEUTRINO-4 collaboration claimed the observation of $bar{ u_e}$ oscillations to sterile neutrinos with a significance slightly higher than 3$sigma$. If these results are confirmed, New Physics beyond the Standard Model would be required. More than 10 experiments are devoted to searches of sterile neutrinos. Six very short baseline reactor experiments are taking data just now. We review the present results and perspectives of these experiments.
Intense terahertz (THz) electromagnetic fields have been utilized to reveal a variety of extremely nonlinear optical effects in many materials through nonperturbative driving of elementary and collective excitations. However, such nonlinear photoresponses have not yet been discovered in light-emitting diodes (LEDs), letting alone employing them as fast, cost effective,compact, and room-temperature-operating THz detectors and cameras. Here we report ubiquitously available LEDs exhibited gigantic and fast photovoltaic signals with excellent signal-to-noise ratios when being illuminated by THz field strengths >50 kV/cm. We also successfully demonstrated THz-LED detectors and camera prototypes. These unorthodox THz detectors exhibited high responsivities (>1 kV/W) with response time shorter than those of pyroelectric detectors by four orders of magnitude. The detection mechanism was attributed to THz-field-induced nonlinear impact ionization and Schottky contact. These findings not only help deepen our understanding of strong THz field-matter interactions but also greatly contribute to the applications of strong-field THz diagnosis.