The MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR Neutrinoless Double-Beta Decay Experiment
The MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR will search for the neutrinoless double-beta decay of the isotope Ge with a mixed array of enriched and natural germanium detectors. The observation of this rare decay would indicate that the neutrino is its own antiparticle, demonstrate that lepton number is not conserved, and provide information on the absolute mass scale of the neutrino. The DEMONSTRATOR is being assembled at the 4850-foot level of the Sanford Underground Research Facility in Lead, South Dakota. The array will be situated in a low-background environment and surrounded by passive and active shielding. Here we describe the science goals of the DEMONSTRATOR and the details of its design.

title: Energy and system-size dependence of two- and four-particle $v_2$ measurements in heavy-ion collisions at RHIC and their implications on flow fluctuations and nonflow
abstract: We present STAR measurements of azimuthal anisotropy by means of the two- and four-particle cumulants $v_2$ ($v_2\{2\}$ and $v_2\{4\}$) for Au+Au and Cu+Cu collisions at center of mass energies $\sqrt{s_{_{\mathrm{NN}}}} = 62.4$ and 200 GeV. The difference between $v_2\{2\}^2$ and $v_2\{4\}^2$ is related to $v_{2}$ fluctuations ($\sigma_{v_2}$) and nonflow $(\delta_{2})$. We present an upper limit to $\sigma_{v_2}/v_{2}$. Following the assumption that eccentricity fluctuations $\sigma_{\epsilon}$ dominate $v_2$ fluctuations $\frac{\sigma_{v_2}}{v_2} \approx \frac{\sigma_{\epsilon}}{\epsilon}$ we deduce the nonflow implied for several models of eccentricity fluctuations that would be required for consistency with $v_2\{2\}$ and $v_2\{4\}$. We also present results on the ratio of $v_2$ to eccentricity.

title: Higher moments of net proton multiplicity distributions at RHIC.
abstract: We report the first measurements of the kurtosis (κ), skewness (S), and variance (σ2) of net-proton multiplicity (Np-Np) distributions at midrapidity for Au+Au collisions at square root of s(NN)=19.6, 62.4, and 200 GeV corresponding to baryon chemical potentials (μB) between 200 and 20 MeV. Our measurements of the products κσ2 and Sσ, which can be related to theoretical calculations sensitive to baryon number susceptibilities and long-range correlations, are constant as functions of collision centrality. We compare these products with results from lattice QCD and various models without a critical point and study the square root of s(NN) dependence of κσ2. From the measurements at the three beam energies, we find no evidence for a critical point in the QCD phase diagram for μB below 200 MeV.

title: Measurements of $D^{0}$ and $D^{*}$ Production in $p$ + $p$ Collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 200 GeV
abstract: We report measurements of charmed-hadron ($D^{0}$, $D^{*}$) production cross sections at mid-rapidity in $p$ + $p$ collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 200 GeV by the STAR experiment. Charmed hadrons were reconstructed via the hadronic decays $D^{0}\rightarrow K^{-}\pi^{+}$, $D^{*+}\rightarrow D^{0}\pi^{+}\rightarrow K^{-}\pi^{+}\pi^{+}$ and their charge conjugates, covering the $p_T$ range of 0.6$-$2.0 GeV/$c$ and 2.0$-$6.0 GeV/$c$ for $D^{0}$ and $D^{*+}$, respectively. From this analysis, the charm-pair production cross section at mid-rapidity is $d\sigma/dy|_{y=0}^{c\bar{c}}$ = 170 $\pm$ 45 (stat.) $^{+38}_{-59}$ (sys.) $\mu$b. The extracted charm-pair cross section is compared to perturbative QCD calculations. The transverse momentum differential cross section is found to be consistent with the upper bound of a Fixed-Order Next-to-Leading Logarithm calculation.

title: An Experimental Exploration of the QCD Phase Diagram: The Search for the Critical Point and the Onset of De-confinement
abstract: The QCD phase diagram lies at the heart of what the RHIC Physics Program is
all about. While RHIC has been operating very successfully at or close to its
maximum energy for almost a decade, it has become clear that this collider can
also be operated at lower energies down to 5 GeV without extensive upgrades. An
exploration of the full region of beam energies available at the RHIC facility
is imperative. The STAR detector, due to its large uniform acceptance and
excellent particle identification capabilities, is uniquely positioned to carry
out this program in depth and detail. The first exploratory beam energy scan
(BES) run at RHIC took place in 2010 (Run 10), since several STAR upgrades,
most importantly a full barrel Time of Flight detector, are now completed which
add new capabilities important for the interesting physics at BES energies. In
this document we discuss current proposed measurements, with estimations of the
accuracy of the measurements given an assumed event count at each beam energy.

title: T-1018 UCLA Spacordion Tungsten Powder Calorimeter
abstract: The present experiments at the BNL-RHIC facility are evolving towards physics goals which require the detection of medium energy electromagnetic particles (photons, electrons, neutral pions, eta mesons, etc.), especially at forward angles. New detectors will place increasing demands on energy resolution, hadron rejection and two-photon resolution and will require large area, high performance electromagnetic calorimeters in a variety of geometries. In the immediate future, either RHIC or JLAB will propose a facility upgrade (Electron-Ion Collider, or EIC) with physics goals such as electron-heavy ion collisions (or p-A collisions) with a wide range of calorimeter requirements. An R and D program based at Brookhaven National Laboratory has awarded the group funding of approximately $110,000 to develop new types of calorimeters for EIC experiments. The UCLA group is developing a method to manufacture very flexible and cost-effective, yet high quality calorimeters based on scintillating fibers and tungsten powder. The design and features of the calorimeter can be briefly stated as follows: an arbitrarily large number of small diameter fibers (< 0.5 mm) are assembled as a matrix and held rigidly in place by a set of precision screens inside an empty container. The container is then back-filled with tungsten powder, compacted onmore » a vibrating table and infused with epoxy under vacuum. The container is then removed. The resulting sub-modules are extremely uniform and achieve roughly the density of pure Lead. The sub-modules are stacked together to achieve a final detector of the desired shape. There is no dead space between sub-modules and the fibers can be in an accordion geometry bent to prevent 'channeling' of the particles due to accidental alignment of their track with the module axis. This technology has the advantage of being modular and inexpensive to the point where the construction work may be divided among groups the size of typical university physics departments. This test run if a proof-of-principle and allows the experiment to improve the design and performance of the final detectors. The experimenters have constructed prototypes of three different designs in order to investigate the characteristics of practical devices such as uniformity, linearity, longitudinal and transverse shower shapes. The first design is an array of 4 x 4 modules intended as a prototype for a practical device to be installed within two years in the STAR experimental hall. The modules are a combination of a spaghetti calorimeter and an accordion (hence 'spacordion'). Each sub-module is 1.44 cm x 1.44 cm x 15 cm and constructed individually. The second design is a prototype of 4 sub-modules constructed in one step, using a different construction technique. The third design is a set of single sub-modules each intended to test variations of the tungsten powder/embedded fiber concept by enhancing the light output/density using liquid scintillator or heavy liquids.« less

title: Test of the prototype of electron detector for LHAASO project using cosmic rays
abstract: LHAASO project is to be built in south-west China, which use an array of 5137 election detectors for the measurement of the incident electrons arriving at the detector plane. For the quality control of the big quantity of electron detectors, a cosmic ray hodoscope with two-dimensional spacial sensitivity and good time resolution has been developed. The ?rst prototype of electron detector is tested with the hodoscope and the performance of the detector is validated to be consistent with the design.

title: NEW HOM COUPLER DESIGN FOR HIGH CURRENT SRF CAVITY
abstract: Damping higher order modes (HOMs) significantly to avoid beam instability is a challenge for the high current Energy Recovery Linac-based eRHIC at BNL. To avoid the overheating effect and high tuning sensitivity, current, a new band-stop HOM coupler is being designed at BNL. The new HOM coupler has a bandwidth of tens of MHz to reject the fundamental mode, which will avoid overheating due to fundamental frequency shifting because of cooling down. In addition, the S21 parameter of the band-pass filter is nearly flat from first higher order mode to 5 times the fundamental frequency. The simulation results showed that the new couplers effectively damp HOMs for the eRHIC cavity with enlarged beam tube diameter and 2 120{sup o} HOM couplers at each side of cavity. This paper presents the design of HOM coupler, HOM damping capacity for eRHIC cavity and prototype test results.

title: HOM identification by bead pulling in the Brookhaven ERL cavity
abstract: Exploratory measurements of the Brookhaven Energy Recovery Linac (ERL) cavity at superconducting temperature produced a long list of high order modes (HOMs). The niobium 5-cell cavity is terminated at each end with HOM ferrite dampers that successfully reduce the Q -factors to levels required to avoid beam break up (BBU) instabilities. However, a number of un-damped resonances with Q ≥10 6 were found at 4 K and their mode identification forms the focus of this paper. The approach taken here consists of bead pulling on a copper (Cu) replica of the ERL cavity with dampers involving various network analyzer measurements. Several different S 21 transmission measurements are used, including those taken from the fundamental input coupler to the pick-up probe across the cavity, others between beam-position monitor probes in the beam tubes, and also between probes placed into the cells. The bead pull technique suitable for HOM identification with a metallic needle or dielectric bead is detailed. This paper presents the results for HOMs in the first two dipole bands, the un-damped modes in the first quadrupole band, and the identification of several high- Q modes beyond.

title: Applying Bayesian Neural Network to determine neutrino incoming direction in reactor neutrino experiments and supernova explosion location by scintillator detectors
abstract: In the paper, it is discussed by using Monte-Carlo simulation that the Bayesian Neural Network (BNN) is applied to determine neutrino incoming direction in reactor neutrino experiments and supernova explosion location by scintillator detectors. As a result, compared to the method in ref. , the uncertainty on the measurement of the neutrino direction using BNN is significantly improved. The uncertainty on the measurement of the reactor neutrino direction is about 1.0° at the 68.3% C.L., and the one in the case of supernova neutrino is about 0.6° at the 68.3% C.L. . Compared to the method in ref. , the uncertainty attainable by using BNN reduces by a factor of about 20. And compared to the Super-Kamiokande experiment (SK), it reduces by a factor of about 8.

title: The “universal property” of horizon entropy sum of black holes in four dimensional asymptotical (anti-)de-Sitter spacetime background
abstract: A bstractWe present a new “universal property” of entropy, that is the “entropy sum” relation of black holes in four dimensional (anti-)de-Sitter asymptotical background. They depend only on the cosmological constant with the necessary effect of the un-physical “virtual” horizon included in the spacetime where only the cosmological constant, mass of black hole, rotation parameter and Maxwell field exist. When there is more extra matter field in the spacetime, one will find the “entropy sum” is also dependent of the strength of these extra matter field. For both cases, we conclude that the “entropy sum” does not depend on the conserved charges M , Q and J , while it does depend on the property of background spacetime. We will mainly test the “entropy sum” relation in static, stationary black hole and some black hole with extra matter source (scalar hair and higher curvature) in the asymptotical (anti-)de-sitter spacetime background. Besides, we point out a newly found counter example of the mass independence of the ”entropy product” relation in the spacetime with extra scalar hair case, while the “entropy sum” relation still holds. These result are indeed suggestive to some underlying microscopic mechanism. Moreover, the cosmological constant and extra matter field dependence of the “entropy sum” of all horizon seems to reveal that “entropy sum” is more general as it is only related to the background field. For the case of asymptotical flat spacetime without any matter source, we give a note for the Kerr black hole case in appendix. One will find only mass dependence of “entropy sum” appears. It makes us believe that, considering the dependence of “entropy sum”, the mass background field may be regarded as the next order of cosmological constant background field and extra matter field. However, fully explaining the relationship between the “entropy sum” relation and background properties still requires further exploration.