Carlo Mancini-Terracciano

Bio: Carlo Mancini-Terracciano is an academic researcher from Sapienza University of Rome. The author has contributed to research in topics: Particle therapy & Charged particle. The author has an hindex of 15, co-authored 48 publications receiving 653 citations. Previous affiliations of Carlo Mancini-Terracciano include Roma Tre University & University of Bern.

Neutrino physics with the PTOLEMY project: Active neutrino properties and the light sterile case

Abstract: The PTOLEMY project aims to develop a scalable design for a Cosmic Neutrino Background (CNB) detector, the first of its kind and the only one conceived that can look directly at the image of the Un ...

Report on G4‐Med, a Geant4 benchmarking system for medical physics applications developed by the Geant4 Medical Simulation Benchmarking Group

Abstract: Background: Geant4 is a Monte Carlo code extensively used in medical physics for a wide range of applications, such as dosimetry, micro- and nanodosimetry, imaging, radiation protection, and nuclear medicine. Geant4 is continuously evolving, so it is crucial to have a system that benchmarks this Monte Carlo code for medical physics against reference data and to perform regression testing. Aims: To respond to these needs, we developed G4-Med, a benchmarking and regression testing system of Geant4 for medical physics. Materials and Methods: G4-Med currently includes 18 tests. They range from the benchmarking of fundamental physics quantities to the testing of Monte Carlo simulation setups typical of medical physics applications. Both electromagnetic and hadronic physics processes and models within the prebuilt Geant4 physics lists are tested. The tests included in G4-Med are executed on the CERN computing infrastructure via the use of the geant-val web application, developed at CERN for Geant4 testing. The physical observables can be compared to reference data for benchmarking and to results of previous Geant4 versions for regression testing purposes. Results: This paper describes the tests included in G4-Med and shows the results derived from the benchmarking of Geant4 10.5 against reference data. Discussion: Our results indicate that the Geant4 electromagnetic physics constructor G4EmStandardPhysics_option4 gives a good agreement with the reference data for all the tests. The QGSP_BIC_HP physics list provided an overall adequate description of the physics involved in hadron therapy, including proton and carbon ion therapy. New tests should be included in the next stage of the project to extend the benchmarking to other physical quantities and application scenarios of interest for medical physics. Conclusion: The results presented and discussed in this paper will aid users in tailoring physics lists to their particular application. (Less)

Neutrino physics with the PTOLEMY project: active neutrino properties and the light sterile case

Abstract: The PTOLEMY project aims to develop a scalable design for a Cosmic Neutrino Background (CNB) detector, the first of its kind and the only one conceived that can look directly at the image of the Universe encoded in neutrino background produced in the first second after the Big Bang. The scope of the work for the next three years is to complete the conceptual design of this detector and to validate with direct measurements that the non-neutrino backgrounds are below the expected cosmological signal. In this paper we discuss in details the theoretical aspects of the experiment and its physics goals. In particular, we mainly address three issues. First we discuss the sensitivity of PTOLEMY to the standard neutrino mass scale. We then study the perspectives of the experiment to detect the CNB via neutrino capture on tritium as a function of the neutrino mass scale and the energy resolution of the apparatus. Finally, we consider an extra sterile neutrino with mass in the eV range, coupled to the active states via oscillations, which has been advocated in view of neutrino oscillation anomalies. This extra state would contribute to the tritium decay spectrum, and its properties, mass and mixing angle, could be studied by analyzing the features in the beta decay electron spectrum.

Measurement of the neutrino velocity with the OPERA detector in the CNGS beam using the 2012 dedicated data

Abstract: In spring 2012 CERN provided two weeks of a short bunch proton beam dedicated to the neutrino velocity measurement over a distance of 730 km. The OPERA neutrino experiment at the underground Gran Sasso Laboratory used an upgraded setup compared to the 2011 measurements, improving the measurement time accuracy. An independent timing system based on the Resistive Plate Chambers was exploited providing a time accuracy of $\sim$1 ns. Neutrino and anti-neutrino contributions were separated using the information provided by the OPERA magnetic spectrometers. The new analysis profited from the precision geodesy measurements of the neutrino baseline and of the CNGS/LNGS clock synchronization. The neutrino arrival time with respect to the one computed assuming the speed of light in vacuum is found to be $\delta t_ u \equiv TOF_c - TOF_ u= (0.6 \pm 0.4\ (stat.) \pm 3.0\ (syst.))$ ns and $\delta t_{\bar{ u}} \equiv TOF_c - TOF_{\bar{ u}} = (1.8 \pm 1.4\ (stat.) \pm 3.2\ (syst.))$ ns for $ u_{\mu}$ and $\bar{ u}_{\mu}$, respectively. This corresponds to a limit on the muon neutrino velocity with respect to the speed of light of $-1.8 \times 10^{-6} < (v_{ u}-c)/c < 2.3 \times 10^{-6}$ at 90% C.L. This new measurement confirms with higher accuracy the revised OPERA result.

Search for νμ → νe oscillations with the OPERA experiment in the CNGS beam

Abstract: A first result of the search for umu $\rightarrow$ ue oscillations in the OPERA experiment, located at the Gran Sasso Underground Laboratory, is presented. The experiment looked for the appearance of ue in the CNGS neutrino beam using the data collected in 2008 and 2009. Data are compatible with the non-oscillation hypothesis in the three-flavour mixing model. A further analysis of the same data constrains the non-standard oscillation parameters $\theta_{new}$ and $\Delta m^2_{new}$ suggested by the LSND and MiniBooNE experiments. For large $\Delta m^{2}_{new}$ values ($>$0.1 eV$^{2}$), the OPERA 90% C.L. upper limit on sin$^{2}(2\theta_{new})$ based on a Bayesian statistical method reaches the value $7.2 \times 10^{-3}$.

Neutrino Physics with JUNO

Abstract: The Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO), a 20 kton multi-purpose underground liquid scintillator detector, was proposed with the determination of the neutrino mass hierarchy (MH) as a primary physics goal. The excellent energy resolution and the large fiducial volume anticipated for the JUNO detector offer exciting opportunities for addressing many important topics in neutrino and astro-particle physics. In this document, we present the physics motivations and the anticipated performance of the JUNO detector for various proposed measurements. Following an introduction summarizing the current status and open issues in neutrino physics, we discuss how the detection of antineutrinos generated by a cluster of nuclear power plants allows the determination of the neutrino MH at a 3–4σ significance with six years of running of JUNO. The measurement of antineutrino spectrum with excellent energy resolution will also lead to the precise determination of the neutrino oscillation parameters ${\mathrm{sin}}^{2}{\theta }_{12}$, ${\rm{\Delta }}{m}_{21}^{2}$, and $| {\rm{\Delta }}{m}_{{ee}}^{2}| $ to an accuracy of better than 1%, which will play a crucial role in the future unitarity test of the MNSP matrix. The JUNO detector is capable of observing not only antineutrinos from the power plants, but also neutrinos/antineutrinos from terrestrial and extra-terrestrial sources, including supernova burst neutrinos, diffuse supernova neutrino background, geoneutrinos, atmospheric neutrinos, and solar neutrinos. As a result of JUNO's large size, excellent energy resolution, and vertex reconstruction capability, interesting new data on these topics can be collected. For example, a neutrino burst from a typical core-collapse supernova at a distance of 10 kpc would lead to ∼5000 inverse-beta-decay events and ∼2000 all-flavor neutrino–proton ES events in JUNO, which are of crucial importance for understanding the mechanism of supernova explosion and for exploring novel phenomena such as collective neutrino oscillations. Detection of neutrinos from all past core-collapse supernova explosions in the visible universe with JUNO would further provide valuable information on the cosmic star-formation rate and the average core-collapse neutrino energy spectrum. Antineutrinos originating from the radioactive decay of uranium and thorium in the Earth can be detected in JUNO with a rate of ∼400 events per year, significantly improving the statistics of existing geoneutrino event samples. Atmospheric neutrino events collected in JUNO can provide independent inputs for determining the MH and the octant of the ${\theta }_{23}$ mixing angle. Detection of the (7)Be and (8)B solar neutrino events at JUNO would shed new light on the solar metallicity problem and examine the transition region between the vacuum and matter dominated neutrino oscillations. Regarding light sterile neutrino topics, sterile neutrinos with ${10}^{-5}\,{{\rm{eV}}}^{2}\lt {\rm{\Delta }}{m}_{41}^{2}\lt {10}^{-2}\,{{\rm{eV}}}^{2}$ and a sufficiently large mixing angle ${\theta }_{14}$ could be identified through a precise measurement of the reactor antineutrino energy spectrum. Meanwhile, JUNO can also provide us excellent opportunities to test the eV-scale sterile neutrino hypothesis, using either the radioactive neutrino sources or a cyclotron-produced neutrino beam. The JUNO detector is also sensitive to several other beyondthe-standard-model physics. Examples include the search for proton decay via the $p\to {K}^{+}+\bar{ u }$ decay channel, search for neutrinos resulting from dark-matter annihilation in the Sun, search for violation of Lorentz invariance via the sidereal modulation of the reactor neutrino event rate, and search for the effects of non-standard interactions. The proposed construction of the JUNO detector will provide a unique facility to address many outstanding crucial questions in particle and astrophysics in a timely and cost-effective fashion. It holds the great potential for further advancing our quest to understanding the fundamental properties of neutrinos, one of the building blocks of our Universe.

Sterile neutrino oscillations: the global picture

Abstract: Neutrino oscillations involving eV-scale neutrino mass states are investigated in the context of global neutrino oscillation data including short and long-baseline ac- celerator, reactor, and radioactive source experiments, as well as atmospheric and solar neutrinos. We consider sterile neutrino mass schemes involving one or two mass-squared dierences at the eV 2 scale denoted by 3+1, 3+2, and 1+3+1. We discuss the hints for

Tests of Lorentz invariance: a 2013 update

Abstract: We present an updated review of Lorentz invariance tests in effective field theories (EFTs) in the matter as well as in the gravity sector. After a general discussion of the role of Lorentz invariance and a derivation of its transformations along the so-called von Ignatovski theorem, we present the dynamical frameworks developed within local EFT and the available constraints on the parameters governing the Lorentz breaking effects. In the end, we discuss two specific examples: the OPERA ‘affaire’ and the case of Hořava–Lifshitz gravity. The first case will serve as an example, and a caveat, of the practical application of the general techniques developed for constraining Lorentz invariance violation to a direct observation potentially showing these effects. The second case will show how the application of the same techniques to a specific quantum gravity scenario has far-reaching implications not foreseeable in a purely phenomenological EFT approach.

Updated global analysis of neutrino oscillations in the presence of eV-scale sterile neutrinos

Abstract: We discuss the possibility to explain the anomalies in short-baseline neutrino oscillation experiments in terms of sterile neutrinos. We work in a 3 + 1 framework and pay special attention to recent new data from reactor experiments, IceCube and MINOS+. We find that results from the DANSS and NEOS reactor experiments support the sterile neutrino explanation of the reactor anomaly, based on an analysis that relies solely on the relative comparison of measured reactor spectra. Global data from the νe disappearance channel favour sterile neutrino oscillations at the 3σ level with Δm 41 2 ≈ 1.3 eV2 and |Ue4| ≈ 0.1, even without any assumptions on predicted reactor fluxes. In contrast, the anomalies in the νe appearance channel (dominated by LSND) are in strong tension with improved bounds on νμ disappearance, mostly driven by MINOS+ and IceCube. Under the sterile neutrino oscillation hypothesis, the p-value for those data sets being consistent is less than 2.6 × 10−6. Therefore, an explanation of the LSND anomaly in terms of sterile neutrino oscillations in the 3 + 1 scenario is excluded at the 4.7σ level. This result is robust with respect to variations in the analysis and used data, in particular it depends neither on the theoretically predicted reactor neutrino fluxes, nor on constraints from any single experiment. Irrespective of the anomalies, we provide updated constraints on the allowed mixing strengths |Uα4| (α = e, μ, τ ) of active neutrinos with a fourth neutrino mass state in the eV range.

Updated Global 3+1 Analysis of Short-BaseLine Neutrino Oscillations

Abstract: We present the results of an updated fit of short-baseline neutrino oscillation data in the framework of 3+1 active-sterile neutrino mixing. We first consider ν e and $$ {\overline{ u}}_e $$ disappearance in the light of the Gallium and reactor anomalies. We discuss the implications of the recent measurement of the reactor $$ {\overline{ u}}_e $$ spectrum in the NEOS experiment, which shifts the allowed regions of the parameter space towards smaller values of |U e4|2. The β-decay constraints of the Mainz and Troitsk experiments allow us to limit the oscillation length between about 2 cm and 7 m at 3σ for neutrinos with an energy of 1 MeV. The corresponding oscillations can be discovered in a model-independent way in ongoing reactor and source experiments by measuring ν e and $$ {\overline{ u}}_e $$ disappearance as a function of distance. We then consider the global fit of the data on short-baseline $$ {}_{ u_{\mu}}^{\left(-\right)}{\to}_{ u_e}^{\left(-\right)} $$ transitions in the light of the LSND anomaly, taking into account the constraints from $$ {}_{ u_e}^{\left(-\right)} $$ and $$ {}_{ u_{\mu}}^{\left(-\right)} $$ disappearance experiments, including the recent data of the MINOS and IceCube experiments. The combination of the NEOS constraints on |U e4|2 and the MINOS and IceCube constraints on |U μ4|2 lead to an unacceptable appearance-disappearance tension which becomes tolerable only in a pragmatic fit which neglects the MiniBooNE low-energy anomaly. The minimization of the global χ 2 in the space of the four mixing parameters Δm 41 2 , |U e4|2, |U μ4|2, and |U τ4|2 leads to three allowed regions with narrow Δm 41 2 widths at Δm 41 2 ≈ 1.7 (best-fit), 1.3 (at 2σ), 2.4 (at 3σ) eV2. The effective amplitude of short-baseline $$ {}_{ u_{\mu}}^{\left(-\right)}{\to}_{ u_e}^{\left(-\right)} $$ oscillations is limited by 0.00048 ≲ sin2 2ϑ eμ ≲ 0.0020 at 3σ. The restrictions of the allowed regions of the mixing parameters with respect to our previous global fits are mainly due to the NEOS constraints. We present a comparison of the allowed regions of the mixing parameters with the sensitivities of ongoing experiments, which show that it is likely that these experiments will determine in a definitive way if the reactor, Gallium and LSND anomalies are due to active-sterile neutrino oscillations or not.