Search

11 pags. 3 figs., 1 tab., A hypernucleus, a subatomic bound system with at least one hyperon, is a great test ground to investigate nuclear forces and general baryonic interactions with up, down and strange quarks. Hypernuclei have been extensively studied for almost seven decades in reactions involving cosmic rays and with accelerator beams. In recent years, experimental studies of hypernuclei have entered a new stage using energetic collisions of heavy-ion beams. However, these investigations have revealed two puzzling results related to the lightest three-body hypernuclear system, the so-called hypertriton, and the unexpected existence of a bound state of two neutrons with a Λ hyperon. Solving these puzzles will not only impact our understanding of the fundamental baryonic interactions with strange quarks but also of the nature of the deep interior of neutron stars. In this Perspective, we discuss approaches to solving these puzzles, including experiments with heavy-ion beams and the analysis of nuclear emulsions using state-of-the-art technologies. We summarize ongoing projects and experiments at various facilities worldwide and outline future perspectives., Discussions presented for the WASA-FRS experiment here are based on the experiment S447, which is currently scheduled in 2022 at the FRS at the GSI Helmholtzzentrum fuer Schwerionenforschung, Darmstadt (Germany) in the context of FAIR Phase-0. The authors thank the accelerator departments at GSI and IMP, the FRS department at GSI and the Experiment Electronics department at GSI for the technical support. The authors thank the J-PARC E07 collaboration to provide us the nuclear emulsion data. The authors thank Luise Doersching-Steitz of GSI, Rita Krause of GSI, Yukiko Kurakata of RIKEN, Daniela Press of GSI, Miao Yang of IMP and Xiaohua Yuan of IMP for supporting the projects, including the administrative works. The authors also thank Risa Kobayashi of RIKEN and Yoko Tsuchii of Gifu University for their technical support in mining hypertriton events in the E07 nuclear emulsions. KN, JY, and MY acknowledge support by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Numbers JP23224006, JP16H02180, JP20H00155, and JP20J00682, and MEXT KAKENHI Grant Numbers JP24105002 (Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas 2404), JP18H05403, and JP19H05147 (Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas 6005). SE and CR are supported by the grant 2019-T1/TIC-13194 of the program "Atracción de Talento Investigador" of the Community of Madrid.

Neutron imaging is a nondestructive inspection technique that has a wide range of applications. One of the important aspects of neutron imaging is achieving a micrometer-scale spatial resolution. The development of a high-resolution neutron detector is a challenging task. As one potential solution to this task, we investigate whether neutron detectors based on fine-grained nuclear emulsions are suitable for high-resolution neutron imaging applications. High track density is necessary to improve the quality of neutron imaging. However, the available track analysis methods are difficult to apply under high track density conditions. Simulated images are used to determine the required track density for neutron imaging. A track density of the order of [Formula: see text] tracks per [Formula: see text] is sufficient to utilize neutron detectors for imaging applications. Contrast resolution was also investigated for image datasets with various track densities and neutron transmission rates. Moreover, experiments were performed for the neutron imaging of gadolinium-based gratings with known geometries. The grating structures were successfully resolved. The calculated [Formula: see text] 10%–90% edge response using the grayscale optical images of the grating slit with a periodic structure of 9 [Formula: see text]m was [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text]m.

Fluorescent nuclear track detectors (FNTDs) based on Al${_2}$O${_3}$:C,Mg crystals are luminescent detectors that can be used for dosimetry and detection of charged particles and neutrons. These detectors can be utilised for imaging applications where a reasonably high track density, approximately of the order of 1 $\times$ $10^4$ tracks in an area of 100 $\times$ 100 $\mu$m$^2$, is required. To investigate the reusability of FNTDs for imaging applications, we present an approach to perform optical bleaching under the required track density conditions. The reusability was assessed through seven irradiation-bleaching cycles. For the irradiation, the studied FNTD was exposed to alpha-particles from an $^{241}$Am radioactive source. The optical bleaching was performed by means of ultraviolet laser light with a wavelength of 355 nm. Three dedicated regions on a single FNTD with different accumulated track densities and bleaching conditions were investigated. After every irradiation-bleaching cycle, signal-to-noise ratio was calculated to evaluate FNTD performance. It is concluded that FNTDs can be reused at least seven times for applications where accumulation of a high track density is required.

We propose a novel method for producing very-neutron-rich hypernuclei and corresponding resonance states by employing charge-exchange reactions via pp($^{12}$C, $^{12}$N $K^+$)n$\Lambda$ with single-charge-exchange and ppp($^{9}$Be, $^{9}$C $K^+$)nn$\Lambda$ with double-charge-exchange, both of which produce $\Lambda K^+$ in a target nucleus. The feasibility of producing very-neutron-rich hypernuclei using the proposed method was analysed by applying an ultra-relativistic quantum molecular dynamics model to a $^6$Li+$^{12}$C reaction at 2 $A$ GeV. The yields of very-neutron-rich hypernuclei, signal-to-background ratios, and background contributions were investigated. The proposed method is a powerful tool for studying very-neutron-rich hypernuclei and resonance states with a hyperon for experiments employing the Super-FRS facility at FAIR and HFRS facility at HIAF., Comment: The published version in European Physical Journal A has the following additional three references; Phys. Rev. C 98, 024903 (2018), Phys. Rev. C 100, 034904 (2019) and Nuclear Physics A 488, 187c (1988)

The P ¯ ANDA experiment will be installed at the future facility for antiproton and ion research (FAIR) in Darmstadt, Germany, to study events from the annihilation of protons and antiprotons. The P ¯ ANDA detectors can cover a wide physics program about baryon spectroscopy and nucleon structure as well as the study of hadrons and hypernuclear physics including the study of excited hyperon states. One very specific feature of most hyperon ground states is the long decay length of several centimeters in the forward direction. The central tracking detectors of the P ¯ ANDA setup are not sufficiently optimized for these long decay lengths. Therefore, using a set of the planar GEM-tracking detectors in the forward region of interest can improve the results in the hyperon physics-benchmark channel. The current conceptual designed P ¯ ANDA GEM-tracking stations contribute the measurement of the particles emitted in the polar angles between about 2 to 22 degrees. For this designed detector performance and acceptance, studies have been performed using one of the important hyperonic decay channel p ¯ p → Λ ¯ Λ → p ¯ p π + π − in physics simulations. The simulations were carried out using the PandaRoot software packages based on the FairRoot framework.

The P ¯ ANDA experiment at FAIR will be performed to investigate different aspects of hadron physics using anti-proton beams interacting with a fixed nuclear target. The experimental setup consists of a complex series of detector components covering a large solid angle. A detector with a gaseous active media equipped with gas electron multiplier (GEM) technique will be employed to measure tracks of charged particles at forward direction in order to achieve a high momentum resolution. In this work, a full setup of the GEM tracking detector has been implemented in the P ¯ ANDA Monte Carlo simulation package (PandaRoot) based on the current technical and conceptual design, and the expected performance of the P ¯ ANDA GEM-tracking detector has been investigated. Furthermore, material-budget studies in terms of the radiation length of the P ¯ ANDA GEM-tracking detector have been made in order to investigate the effect of the detector materials and its associated structures to particle measurements.

The lightest hypernucleus, the hypertriton, has been a benchmark in the field of hypernuclear physics. However, some of recent experiments employing energetic heavy-ion beams have revealed that the hypertriton lifetime is significantly shorter than 263 ps which is expected by considering the known weakly binding nature of the hypertriton. The STAR collaboration has also measured the hypertriton binding energy, and the deduced value is contradicting to its formerly known small binding energy. These measurements have indicated that the fundamental physics quantities of the hypertriton such as its lifetime and binding energy have not been understood, therefore, they have to be measured very precisely. Furthermore, an unprecedented Λnn bound state observed by the HypHI collaboration has to be studied in order to draw a conclusion whether or not such a bound state exists. These three-body hypernuclear states are studied by the heavy-ion beam data in theWASA-FRS experiment and by analysing J-PARC E07 nuclear emulsion data with machine learning.

Hypertriton is the lightest hypernucleus and a benchmark in hypernuclear physics. However, it has recently been suggested that its lifetime and binding energy values may differ from the established values. To solve this puzzle, it is necessary to measure both values with a higher precision. For the precise measurement of the binding energy, we are aiming at developing a novel technique to measure the hypertriton binding energy with unprecedented accuracy by combining nuclear emulsion data and machine learning techniques. The analysis will be based on the J-PARC E07 nuclear emulsion data. Furthermore, a machine-learning model is being developed to identify other single and double-strangeness hypernuclei.