Physics in Geant4: Particles and Processes
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The Five Common Particles
The Five Common Particles The world around you consists of only three particles: protons, neutrons, and electrons. Protons and neutrons form the nuclei of atoms, and electrons glue everything together and create chemicals and materials. Along with the photon and the neutrino, these particles are essentially the only ones that exist in our solar system, because all the other subatomic particles have half-lives of typically 10-9 second or less, and vanish almost the instant they are created by nuclear reactions in the Sun, etc. Particles interact via the four fundamental forces of nature. Some basic properties of these forces are summarized below. (Other aspects of the fundamental forces are also discussed in the Summary of Particle Physics document on this web site.) Force Range Common Particles It Affects Conserved Quantity gravity infinite neutron, proton, electron, neutrino, photon mass-energy electromagnetic infinite proton, electron, photon charge -14 strong nuclear force ≈ 10 m neutron, proton baryon number -15 weak nuclear force ≈ 10 m neutron, proton, electron, neutrino lepton number Every particle in nature has specific values of all four of the conserved quantities associated with each force. The values for the five common particles are: Particle Rest Mass1 Charge2 Baryon # Lepton # proton 938.3 MeV/c2 +1 e +1 0 neutron 939.6 MeV/c2 0 +1 0 electron 0.511 MeV/c2 -1 e 0 +1 neutrino ≈ 1 eV/c2 0 0 +1 photon 0 eV/c2 0 0 0 1) MeV = mega-electron-volt = 106 eV. It is customary in particle physics to measure the mass of a particle in terms of how much energy it would represent if it were converted via E = mc2. -
Muon Decay 1
Muon Decay 1 LIFETIME OF THE MUON Introduction Muons are unstable particles; otherwise, they are rather like electrons but with much higher masses, approximately 105 MeV. Radioactive nuclear decays do not release enough energy to produce them; however, they are readily available in the laboratory as the dominant component of the cosmic ray flux at the earth’s surface. There are two types of muons, with opposite charge, and they decay into electrons or positrons and two neutrinos according to the rules + + µ → e νe ν¯µ − − µ → e ν¯e νµ . The muon decay is a radioactiveprocess which follows the usual exponential law for the probability of survival for a given time t. Be sure that you understand the basis for this law. The goal of the experiment is to measure the muon lifetime which is roughly 2 µs. With care you can make the measurement with an accuracy of a few percent or better. In order to achieve this goal in a conceptually simple way, we look only at those muons that happen to come to rest inside our detector. That is, we first capture a muon and then measure the elapsed time until it decays. Muons are rather penetrating particles, they can easily go through meters of concrete. Nevertheless, a small fraction of the muons will be slowed down and stopped in the detector. As shown in Figure 1, the apparatus consists of two types of detectors. There is a tank filled with liquid scintillator (a big metal box) viewed by two photomultiplier tubes (Left and Right) and two plastic scintillation counters (flat panels wrapped in black tape), each viewed by a photomul- tiplier tube (Top and Bottom). -
1.1. Introduction the Phenomenon of Positron Annihilation Spectroscopy
PRINCIPLES OF POSITRON ANNIHILATION Chapter-1 __________________________________________________________________________________________ 1.1. Introduction The phenomenon of positron annihilation spectroscopy (PAS) has been utilized as nuclear method to probe a variety of material properties as well as to research problems in solid state physics. The field of solid state investigation with positrons started in the early fifties, when it was recognized that information could be obtained about the properties of solids by studying the annihilation of a positron and an electron as given by Dumond et al. [1] and Bendetti and Roichings [2]. In particular, the discovery of the interaction of positrons with defects in crystal solids by Mckenize et al. [3] has given a strong impetus to a further elaboration of the PAS. Currently, PAS is amongst the best nuclear methods, and its most recent developments are documented in the proceedings of the latest positron annihilation conferences [4-8]. PAS is successfully applied for the investigation of electron characteristics and defect structures present in materials, magnetic structures of solids, plastic deformation at low and high temperature, and phase transformations in alloys, semiconductors, polymers, porous material, etc. Its applications extend from advanced problems of solid state physics and materials science to industrial use. It is also widely used in chemistry, biology, and medicine (e.g. locating tumors). As the process of measurement does not mostly influence the properties of the investigated sample, PAS is a non-destructive testing approach that allows the subsequent study of a sample by other methods. As experimental equipment for many applications, PAS is commercially produced and is relatively cheap, thus, increasingly more research laboratories are using PAS for basic research, diagnostics of machine parts working in hard conditions, and for characterization of high-tech materials. -
1 the LOCALIZED QUANTUM VACUUM FIELD D. Dragoman
1 THE LOCALIZED QUANTUM VACUUM FIELD D. Dragoman – Univ. Bucharest, Physics Dept., P.O. Box MG-11, 077125 Bucharest, Romania, e-mail: [email protected] ABSTRACT A model for the localized quantum vacuum is proposed in which the zero-point energy of the quantum electromagnetic field originates in energy- and momentum-conserving transitions of material systems from their ground state to an unstable state with negative energy. These transitions are accompanied by emissions and re-absorptions of real photons, which generate a localized quantum vacuum in the neighborhood of material systems. The model could help resolve the cosmological paradox associated to the zero-point energy of electromagnetic fields, while reclaiming quantum effects associated with quantum vacuum such as the Casimir effect and the Lamb shift; it also offers a new insight into the Zitterbewegung of material particles. 2 INTRODUCTION The zero-point energy (ZPE) of the quantum electromagnetic field is at the same time an indispensable concept of quantum field theory and a controversial issue (see [1] for an excellent review of the subject). The need of the ZPE has been recognized from the beginning of quantum theory of radiation, since only the inclusion of this term assures no first-order temperature-independent correction to the average energy of an oscillator in thermal equilibrium with blackbody radiation in the classical limit of high temperatures. A more rigorous introduction of the ZPE stems from the treatment of the electromagnetic radiation as an ensemble of harmonic quantum oscillators. Then, the total energy of the quantum electromagnetic field is given by E = åk,s hwk (nks +1/ 2) , where nks is the number of quantum oscillators (photons) in the (k,s) mode that propagate with wavevector k and frequency wk =| k | c = kc , and are characterized by the polarization index s. -
Muon Neutrino Mass Without Oscillations
The Distant Possibility of Using a High-Luminosity Muon Source to Measure the Mass of the Neutrino Independent of Flavor Oscillations By John Michael Williams [email protected] Markanix Co. P. O. Box 2697 Redwood City, CA 94064 2001 February 19 (v. 1.02) Abstract: Short-baseline calculations reveal that if the neutrino were massive, it would show a beautifully structured spectrum in the energy difference between storage ring and detector; however, this spectrum seems beyond current experimental reach. An interval-timing paradigm would not seem feasible in a short-baseline experiment; however, interval timing on an Earth-Moon long baseline experiment might be able to improve current upper limits on the neutrino mass. Introduction After the Kamiokande and IMB proton-decay detectors unexpectedly recorded neutrinos (probably electron antineutrinos) arriving from the 1987A supernova, a plethora of papers issued on how to use this happy event to estimate the mass of the neutrino. Many of the estimates based on these data put an upper limit on the mass of the electron neutrino of perhaps 10 eV c2 [1]. When Super-Kamiokande and other instruments confirmed the apparent deficit in electron neutrinos from the Sun, and when a deficit in atmospheric muon- neutrinos likewise was observed, this prompted the extension of the kaon-oscillation theory to neutrinos, culminating in a flavor-oscillation theory based by analogy on the CKM quark mixing matrix. The oscillation theory was sensitive enough to provide evidence of a neutrino mass, even given the low statistics available at the largest instruments. J. M. Williams Neutrino Mass Without Oscillations (2001-02-19) 2 However, there is reason to doubt that the CKM analysis validly can be applied physically over the long, nonvirtual propagation distances of neutrinos [2]. -
List of Particle Species-1
List of particle species that can be detected by Micro-Channel Plates and similar secondary electron multipliers. A Micro-Channel Plate (MCP) can detected certain particle species with decent quantum efficiency (QE). Commonly MCP are used to detect charged particles at low to intermediate energies and to register photons from VUV to X-ray energies. “Detection” means that a significant charge cloud is created in a channel (pore). Generally, a particle (or photon) can liberate an electron from channel surface atoms into the continuum if it carries sufficient momentum or if it can transfer sufficient potential energy. Therefore, fast-enough neutral atoms can also be detected by MCP and even exited atoms like He* (even when “slow”). At least about 10 eV of energy transfer is required to release an electron from the channel wall to start the avalanche. This number also determines the cut-off energy for photon detection which translates to a photon wave-length of about 200 nm (although there can be non- linear effects at extreme photon fluxes enhancing this cut-off wavelength). Not in all cases when ionization of a channel wall atom is possible, the electron will eventually be released to the continuum: the surface energy barrier has to be overcome and the electron must have the right emission direction. Also, the electron should be born close to surface because it may lose too much energy on its way out due to scattering and will be absorbed in the bulk. These effects reduce the QE at for VUV photons to about 10%. At EUV energies QE cannot improve much: although the primary electron energy increases, the ionization takes place deeper in the bulk on average and the electrons thus can hardly make it to the continuum. -
Phenomenology Lecture 6: Higgs
Phenomenology Lecture 6: Higgs Daniel Maître IPPP, Durham Phenomenology - Daniel Maître The Higgs Mechanism ● Very schematic, you have seen/will see it in SM lectures ● The SM contains spin-1 gauge bosons and spin- 1/2 fermions. ● Massless fields ensure: – gauge invariance under SU(2)L × U(1)Y – renormalisability ● We could introduce mass terms “by hand” but this violates gauge invariance ● We add a complex doublet under SU(2) L Phenomenology - Daniel Maître Higgs Mechanism ● Couple it to the SM ● Add terms allowed by symmetry → potential ● We get a potential with infinitely many minima. ● If we expend around one of them we get – Vev which will give the mass to the fermions and massive gauge bosons – One radial and 3 circular modes – Circular modes become the longitudinal modes of the gauge bosons Phenomenology - Daniel Maître Higgs Mechanism ● From the new terms in the Lagrangian we get ● There are fixed relations between the mass and couplings to the Higgs scalar (the one component of it surviving) Phenomenology - Daniel Maître What if there is no Higgs boson? ● Consider W+W− → W+W− scattering. ● In the high energy limit ● So that we have Phenomenology - Daniel Maître Higgs mechanism ● This violate unitarity, so we need to do something ● If we add a scalar particle with coupling λ to the W ● We get a contribution ● Cancels the bad high energy behaviour if , i.e. the Higgs coupling. ● Repeat the argument for the Z boson and the fermions. Phenomenology - Daniel Maître Higgs mechanism ● Even if there was no Higgs boson we are forced to introduce a scalar interaction that couples to all particles proportional to their mass. -
Photon–Photon and Electron–Photon Colliders with Energies Below a Tev Mayda M
Photon–Photon and Electron–Photon Colliders with Energies Below a TeV Mayda M. Velasco∗ and Michael Schmitt Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60201, USA Gabriela Barenboim and Heather E. Logan Fermilab, PO Box 500, Batavia, IL 60510-0500, USA David Atwood Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011, USA Stephen Godfrey and Pat Kalyniak Ottawa-Carleton Institute for Physics Department of Physics, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada K1S 5B6 Michael A. Doncheski Department of Physics, Pennsylvania State University, Mont Alto, PA 17237 USA Helmut Burkhardt, Albert de Roeck, John Ellis, Daniel Schulte, and Frank Zimmermann CERN, CH-1211 Geneva 23, Switzerland John F. Gunion Davis Institute for High Energy Physics, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA David M. Asner, Jeff B. Gronberg,† Tony S. Hill, and Karl Van Bibber Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA 94550, USA JoAnne L. Hewett, Frank J. Petriello, and Thomas Rizzo Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94309 USA We investigate the potential for detecting and studying Higgs bosons in γγ and eγ collisions at future linear colliders with energies below a TeV. Our study incorporates realistic γγ spectra based on available laser technology, and NLC and CLIC acceleration techniques. Results include detector simulations.√ We study the cases of: a) a SM-like Higgs boson based on a devoted low energy machine with see ≤ 200 GeV; b) the heavy MSSM Higgs bosons; and c) charged Higgs bosons in eγ collisions. 1. Introduction The option of pursuing frontier physics with real photon beams is often overlooked, despite many interesting and informative studies [1]. -
Muons: Particles of the Moment
FEATURES Measurements of the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon provide strong hints that the Standard Model of particle physics might be incomplete Muons: particles of the moment David W Hertzog WHEN asked what the most important strange, bottom and top; and six leptons, issue in particle physics is today, my ABORATORY namely the electron, muon and tau- colleagues offer three burning ques- L lepton plus their associated neutrinos. ATIONAL tions: What is the origin of mass? Why N A different set of particles is respon- is the universe made of matter and not sible for the interactions between these equal parts of matter and antimatter? ROOKHAVEN matter particles in the model. The elec- And is there any physics beyond the B tromagnetic interaction that binds elec- Standard Model? trons to nuclei results from the exchange The first question is being addressed of photons, whereas the strong force by a feverish quest to find the Higgs that binds quarks together inside neut- boson, which is believed to be respon- rons, protons and other hadrons is car- sible for the mass of fundamental par- ried by particles called gluons. The ticles. The Tevatron at Fermilab, which third force in the Standard Model – the is currently running, or the Large Had- weak nuclear interaction, which is re- ron Collider at CERN, which is due sponsible for radioactive decay – is car- to start experiments in 2007, should OWMAN ried by the W and Z bosons. B IPP eventually provide the answer to this R Physicists love the Standard Model, question by detecting the Higgs and but they do not like it. -
The Concept of the Photon—Revisited
The concept of the photon—revisited Ashok Muthukrishnan,1 Marlan O. Scully,1,2 and M. Suhail Zubairy1,3 1Institute for Quantum Studies and Department of Physics, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843 2Departments of Chemistry and Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544 3Department of Electronics, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan The photon concept is one of the most debated issues in the history of physical science. Some thirty years ago, we published an article in Physics Today entitled “The Concept of the Photon,”1 in which we described the “photon” as a classical electromagnetic field plus the fluctuations associated with the vacuum. However, subsequent developments required us to envision the photon as an intrinsically quantum mechanical entity, whose basic physics is much deeper than can be explained by the simple ‘classical wave plus vacuum fluctuations’ picture. These ideas and the extensions of our conceptual understanding are discussed in detail in our recent quantum optics book.2 In this article we revisit the photon concept based on examples from these sources and more. © 2003 Optical Society of America OCIS codes: 270.0270, 260.0260. he “photon” is a quintessentially twentieth-century con- on are vacuum fluctuations (as in our earlier article1), and as- Tcept, intimately tied to the birth of quantum mechanics pects of many-particle correlations (as in our recent book2). and quantum electrodynamics. However, the root of the idea Examples of the first are spontaneous emission, Lamb shift, may be said to be much older, as old as the historical debate and the scattering of atoms off the vacuum field at the en- on the nature of light itself – whether it is a wave or a particle trance to a micromaser. -
Arxiv:1512.01765V2 [Physics.Atom-Ph]
August12,2016 1:27 WSPCProceedings-9.75inx6.5in Antognini˙ICOLS˙3 page 1 1 Muonic atoms and the nuclear structure A. Antognini∗ for the CREMA collaboration Institute for Particle Physics, ETH, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland Laboratory for Particle Physics, Paul Scherrer Institute, 5232 Villigen-PSI, Switzerland ∗E-mail: [email protected] High-precision laser spectroscopy of atomic energy levels enables the measurement of nu- clear properties. Sensitivity to these properties is particularly enhanced in muonic atoms which are bound systems of a muon and a nucleus. Exemplary is the measurement of the proton charge radius from muonic hydrogen performed by the CREMA collaboration which resulted in an order of magnitude more precise charge radius as extracted from other methods but at a variance of 7 standard deviations. Here, we summarize the role of muonic atoms for the extraction of nuclear charge radii, we present the status of the so called “proton charge radius puzzle”, and we sketch how muonic atoms can be used to infer also the magnetic nuclear radii, demonstrating again an interesting interplay between atomic and particle/nuclear physics. Keywords: Proton radius; Muon; Laser spectroscopy, Muonic atoms; Charge and mag- netic radii; Hydrogen; Electron-proton scattering; Hyperfine splitting; Nuclear models. 1. What atomic physics can do for nuclear physics The theory of the energy levels for few electrons systems, which is based on bound- state QED, has an exceptional predictive power that can be systematically improved due to the perturbative nature of the theory itself [1, 2]. On the other side, laser spectroscopy yields spacing between energy levels in these atomic systems so pre- cisely, that even tiny effects related with the nuclear structure already influence several significant digits of these measurements. -
Search for a Higgs Boson Decaying Into a Z and a Photon in Pp
EUROPEAN ORGANIZATION FOR NUCLEAR RESEARCH (CERN) CERN-PH-EP/2013-037 2015/09/07 CMS-HIG-13-006 Search for a Higgs boson decayingp into a Z and a photon in pp collisions at s = 7 and 8 TeV The CMS Collaboration∗ Abstract A search for a Higgs boson decaying into a Z boson and a photon is described. The analysis is performed using proton-proton collision datasets recorded by the CMS de- tector at the LHC. Events were collected at center-of-mass energies of 7 TeV and 8 TeV, corresponding to integrated luminosities of 5.0 fb−1 and 19.6 fb−1, respectively. The selected events are required to have opposite-sign electron or muon pairs. No excess above standard model predictions has been found in the 120–160 GeV mass range and the first limits on the Higgs boson production cross section times the H ! Zg branch- ing fraction at the LHC have been derived. The observed limits are between about 4 and 25 times the standard model cross section times the branching fraction. The ob- served and expected limits for m``g at 125 GeV are within one order of magnitude of the standard model prediction. Models predicting the Higgs boson production cross section times the H ! Zg branching fraction to be larger than one order of magni- tude of the standard model prediction are excluded for most of the 125–157 GeV mass range. arXiv:1307.5515v3 [hep-ex] 4 Sep 2015 Published in Physics Letters B as doi:10.1016/j.physletb.2013.09.057.