skip to main content
US FlagAn official website of the United States government
dot gov icon
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
https lock icon
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( lock ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.


Search for: All records

Creators/Authors contains: "Zang, M"

Note: When clicking on a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) number, you will be taken to an external site maintained by the publisher. Some full text articles may not yet be available without a charge during the embargo (administrative interval).
What is a DOI Number?

Some links on this page may take you to non-federal websites. Their policies may differ from this site.

  1. DMRadio- m 3 is an experimental search for dark matter axions. It uses a solenoidal dc magnetic field to convert an axion dark-matter signal to an ac electromagnetic response in a coaxial copper pickup. The current induced by this axion signal is measured by dc SQUIDs. DMRadio- m 3 is designed to be sensitive to Kim-Shifman-Vainshtein-Zakharov (KSVZ) and Dine-Fischler-Srednicki-Zhitnisky (DFSZ) QCD axion models in the 10–200 MHz ( 41 neV / c 2 0.83 μ eV / c 2 ) range, and to axions with g a γ γ = g a γ γ , DFSZ ( 30 MHz ) = 1.87 × 10 17 GeV 1 over 5–30 MHz as an extended goal. In this work, we present the electromagnetic modeling of the response of the experiment to an axion signal over the full frequency range of DMRadio- m 3 , which extends from the low-frequency, lumped-element limit to a regime where the axion Compton wavelength is only a factor of 2 larger than the detector size. With these results, we determine the live time and sensitivity of the experiment. The primary science goal of sensitivity to DFSZ axions across 30–200 MHz can be achieved with a 3 σ live scan time of 2.9 years. 
    more » « less
    Free, publicly-accessible full text available September 1, 2026
  2. null (Ed.)
    We introduce the idea of Citizen Scientist Amplification applying the method to data gathered from the top 10 contributing citizen scientists on the Supernova Hunters project. We take a novel approach to avail of the complementary strengths of deep learning and citizen science achieving results that are competitive with experts. 
    more » « less
  3. Abstract Despite the f0(980) hadron having been discovered half a century ago, the question about its quark content has not been settled: it might be an ordinary quark-antiquark ($${{\rm{q}}}\overline{{{\rm{q}}}}$$ q q ¯ ) meson, a tetraquark ($${{\rm{q}}}\overline{{{\rm{q}}}}{{\rm{q}}}\overline{{{\rm{q}}}}$$ q q ¯ q q ¯ ) exotic state, a kaon-antikaon ($${{\rm{K}}}\overline{{{\rm{K}}}}$$ K K ¯ ) molecule, or a quark-antiquark-gluon ($${{\rm{q}}}\overline{{{\rm{q}}}}{{\rm{g}}}$$ q q ¯ g ) hybrid. This paper reports strong evidence that the f0(980) state is an ordinary$${{\rm{q}}}\overline{{{\rm{q}}}}$$ q q ¯ meson, inferred from the scaling of elliptic anisotropies (v2) with the number of constituent quarks (nq), as empirically established using conventional hadrons in relativistic heavy ion collisions. The f0(980) state is reconstructed via its dominant decay channel f0(980) →π+π, in proton-lead collisions recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC, and itsv2is measured as a function of transverse momentum (pT). It is found that thenq= 2 ($${{\rm{q}}}\overline{{{\rm{q}}}}$$ q q ¯ state) hypothesis is favored overnq= 4 ($${{\rm{q}}}\overline{{{\rm{q}}}}{{\rm{q}}}\overline{{{\rm{q}}}}$$ q q ¯ q q ¯ or$${{\rm{K}}}\overline{{{\rm{K}}}}$$ K K ¯ states) by 7.7, 6.3, or 3.1 standard deviations in thepT< 10, 8, or 6 GeV/cranges, respectively, and overnq= 3 ($${{\rm{q}}}\overline{{{\rm{q}}}}{{\rm{g}}}$$ q q ¯ g hybrid state) by 3.5 standard deviations in thepT< 8 GeV/crange. This result represents the first determination of the quark content of the f0(980) state, made possible by using a novel approach, and paves the way for similar studies of other exotic hadron candidates. 
    more » « less
    Free, publicly-accessible full text available December 1, 2026
  4. null (Ed.)
    In 2017, the Muon Hunter project on the Zooniverse.org citizen science platform successfully gathered more than two million classification labels for nearly 140,000 camera images from VER- ITAS. The aim was to select and parameterize muon events for use in training convolutional neural networks. The success of this project proved that crowdsourcing labels for IACT image analy- sis is a viable avenue for further development of advanced machine-learning algorithms. These algorithms could potentially lend themselves to improving class separation between gamma-ray and hadronic event types. Nonetheless, it took two months to gather these labels from volun- teers, which could be a bottleneck for future applications of this method. Here we present Muon Hunters 2.0: the follow-on project that demonstrates the development of unsupervised clustering techniques to gather muon labels more efficiently from volunteer classifiers. 
    more » « less
  5. Free, publicly-accessible full text available September 1, 2026
  6. A search for flavor-changing neutral current interactions of the top quark ( t ) and the Higgs boson ( H ) is presented. The search is based on proton-proton collision data collected in 2016–2018 at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV with the CMS detector at the LHC, and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb 1 . Events containing a pair of leptons with the same-sign electric charge and at least one jet are considered. The results are used to constrain the branching fraction ( B ) of the top quark decaying to a Higgs boson and an up ( u ) or charm ( c ) quark. No significant excess above the estimated background was found. The observed (expected) upper limits at a 95% confidence level are found to be 0.072% (0.059%) for B ( t H u ) and 0.043% (0.062%) for B ( t H c ) . These results are combined with two other searches performed by the CMS Collaboration for flavor-changing neutral current interactions of top quarks and Higgs bosons in final states where the Higgs boson decays to either a pair of photons or a pair of bottom quarks. The resulting observed (expected) upper limits at the 95% confidence level are 0.019% (0.027%) for B ( t H u ) and 0.037% (0.035%) for B ( t H c )
    more » « less
    Free, publicly-accessible full text available August 1, 2026
  7. Abstract Storm direction modulates a hydrograph's magnitude and duration, thus having a potentially large effect on local flood risk. However, how changes in the preferential storm direction affect the probability distribution of peak flows remains unknown. We address this question with a novel Monte Carlo approach where stochastically transposed storms drive hydrologic simulations over medium and mesoscale watersheds in the Midwestern United States. Systematic rotations of these watersheds are used to emulate changes in the preferential storm direction. We found that the peak flow distribution impacts are scale‐dependent, with larger changes observed in the mesoscale watershed than in the medium‐scale watershed. We attribute this to the high diversity of storm patterns and the storms' scale relative to watershed size. This study highlights the potential of the proposed stochastic framework to address fundamental questions about hydrologic extremes when our ability to observe these events in nature is hindered by technical constraints and short time records. 
    more » « less
  8. A<sc>bstract</sc> Measurements of fiducial and total inclusive cross sections for W and Z boson production are presented in proton-proton collisions at$$ \sqrt{s} $$ s = 5.02 and 13 TeV. Electron and muon decay modes (ℓ= e orμ) are studied in the data collected with the CMS detector in 2017, in dedicated runs with reduced instantaneous luminosity. The data sets correspond to integrated luminosities of 298 ± 6 pb−1at 5.02 TeV and 206 ± 5 pb−1at 13 TeV. Measured values of the products of the total inclusive cross sections and the branching fractions at 5.02 TeV areσ(pp→W + X)$$ \mathcal{B} $$ B (W→ ℓν) = 7300±10 (stat)±60 (syst)±140 (lumi) pb, andσ(pp→Z+X)$$ \mathcal{B} $$ B (Z→ ℓ+) = 669±2 (stat)±6 (syst)±13 (lumi) pb for the dilepton invariant mass in the range of 60–120 GeV. The corresponding results at 13 TeV are 20480±10 (stat)±170 (syst)±470 (lumi) pb and 1952±4 (stat)±18 (syst)±45 (lumi) pb. The measured values agree with cross section calculations at next-to-next-to-leading-order in perturbative quantum chromodynamics. Fiducial and total inclusive cross sections, ratios of cross sections of W+and Wproduction as well as inclusive W and Z boson production, and ratios of these measurements at 5.02 and 13 TeV are reported. 
    more » « less
    Free, publicly-accessible full text available April 1, 2026
  9. A search is presented for fractionally charged particles with charges below 1 e , using their small energy loss in the tracking detector as a key variable to observe a signal. The analyzed dataset corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb 1 of proton-proton collisions collected at s = 13 TeV in 2016–2018 at the CERN LHC. This is the first search at the LHC for new particles with a charge between e / 3 and 0.9 e , including an extension of previous results at a charge of 2 e / 3 . Masses up to 640 GeV and charges as low as e / 3 are excluded at 95% confidence level. These are the most stringent limits to date for the considered Drell-Yan-like production mode. 
    more » « less
    Free, publicly-accessible full text available April 1, 2026
  10. A measurement of the ratio of branching fractions R ( J / ψ ) = B ( B c + J / ψ τ + ν τ ) / B ( B c + J / ψ μ + ν μ ) in the J / ψ μ + μ , τ + μ + ν μ ν ¯ τ decay channel is presented. This measurement uses a sample of proton-proton collision data collected at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV by the CMS experiment in 2018, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 59.7 fb 1 . The measured ratio, R ( J / ψ ) = 0.1 7 0.17 + 0.18 ( stat ) 0.22 + 0.21 ( syst ) 0.18 + 0.19 ( theo ) = 0.17 ± 0.33 , agrees with the value of 0.2582 ± 0.0038 predicted by the standard model, which assumes lepton flavor universality. By testing lepton flavor universality, this measurement is a probe of new physics using B c + mesons, which are currently only produced at the LHC. 
    more » « less
    Free, publicly-accessible full text available March 1, 2026