The search for the neutrinoless double beta (0nbb) decay is one of the most active fields in modern particle physics. This process is not allowed within the Standard Model and its observation would imply lepton number violation and would lead to the Majorana nature of neutrinos. The experimentally observed quantity is the half-life of the decay, which can be connected to the effective Majorana neutrino mass via nuclear matrix elements. The latter can only be determined theoretically and are currently affected by large uncertainties. To reduce these uncertainties one can investigate the well established two-neutrino double beta (2nbb) decay into the ground and excited states of the daughter isotope. These similar processes are allowed within the Standard Model. In this dissertation, the search for 2nbb decays into excited states is performed in Pd-110, Pd-102 and Ge-76. Three gamma spectroscopy setups at the Felsenkeller (Germany), HADES (Belgium) and LNGS (Italy) underground laboratories are used to search for the transitions in Pd-110 and Pd-102. No signal is observed leading to lower half-live bounds (90% C.I.) of 2.9e20 yr, 3.9e20 yr and 2.9e20 yr for the 0/2nbb 2p1, 0p1 and 2p2 transitions in Pd-110 and 7.9e18 yr, 9.2e18 yr and 1.5e19 yr for the 0/2nbb 2p1, 0p1 and 2p2 transitions in Pd-102, respectively. This is a factor of 1.3 to 3 improvement compared to previous limits. The data of Phase I (Nov 2011 - May 2013) of the 0nbb decay experiment GERDA at LNGS is used to search for excited state transitions in Ge-76. The analysis is based on coincidences between two detectors and finds no signal. Lower half-life limits (90 % C.L.) of 1.6e23 yr, 3.7e23 yr and 2.3e23 yr are obtained for the 2nbb 2p1, 0p1 and 2p2 transitions, respectively. These limits are more than two orders of magnitude larger than previous ones and could exclude many old matrix element calculations. In addition to the excited state searches, important measurements and improvements for GERDA Phase II upgrades are performed within this dissertation. 30 new BEGe detectors are characterized for their surface and active volume properties which is an essential ingredient for all future physics analyses in GERDA. These precision measurements reduce the systematic uncertainty of the active volume to a subdominant level. In extension to this, a new model for simulating pulse shapes of n+ electrode surface events is developed. With this model it is demonstrated that the dominant background of K-42 on the detector surfaces can be suppressed by a factor of 145 with an A/E pulse shape cut in Phase II. A further suppression of background is obtained by a liquid argon scintillation light veto. With newly developed Monte Carlo simulations, including the optical scintillation photons, it is demonstrated that Tl-208 in the detectors holders can be suppressed by a factor of 134. K-42 homogeneously distributed in the LAr can be suppressed with this veto in combination with pulse shape cuts by a factor of 170 for BEGe detectors. The characterization measurements and the developed simulation tools presented within this dissertation will help to enhance the sensitivity for all 0/2nbb decay modes and will allow to construct an improved background model in GERDA Phase II. / Die Suche nach dem neutrinolosen Doppelbetazerfall (0nbb) ist eines der aktivsten Felder der modernen Teilchenphysik. Der Zerfall setzt die Verletzung der Leptonenzahl voraus und hätte die Majorananatur des Neutrinos zur Folge. Die durch eine Beobachtung bestimmbare Halbwertszeit des Zerfalls ermöglicht, über ein nukleares Matrixelement, Zugang zur effektiven Majorananeutrinomasse. Die größten Unsicherheiten gehen dabei auf das Matrixelement zurück, welches nur durch verschiedene, teilweise stark voneinander abweichende theoretische Modelle zugänglich ist. Eine Möglichkeit diese Unsicherheiten zu reduzieren bieten genaue Studien des im Standardmodel erlaubten neutrinobegleiteten Doppelbetazerfalls (2nbb) in angeregte Zustände des Tochterkerns. In dieser Dissertation wird der 2nbb-Zerfall der Nuklide Pd-110, Pd-102 und Ge-76 in angeregte Zustände untersucht. Die Untersuchungen von Pd-110 und Pd-102 wurden in drei umfangreichen Gammaspektroskopie-Experimenten in den Untergrundlaboren Felsenkeller (Deutschland), HADES (Belgien) und LNGS (Italien) durchgefürt. Es wurde kein Signal beobachtet und damit die weltweit besten unteren Grenzen für die Halbwertszeit dieser Zerfälle festgesetzt: 2,9e20 yr, 3,9e20 yr und 2,9e20 yr für die 0/2nbb 2p1, 0p1 und 2p2 Übergänge in Pd-110 and 7,9e18 yr, 9,2e18 yr und 1,5e19 yr für die 0/2nbb 2p1, 0p1 und 2p2 Übergänge in Pd-102 (90% C.I.). Dies ist eine 1,3 bis 3-fache Verbesserung gegenüber den vorher bekannten Grenzen. Die Untersuchung des 2nbb-Zerfalls in Ge-76 basiert auf Daten aus Phase I (Nov. 2011 - Mai 2013) des 0nbb-Zerfall Experiments GERDA. Mit der auf koinzidenten Ereignissen basierten Analyse konnte kein Signal beobachtet werden und folgende untere Grenzen für die Halbwertszeit der 2nbb 2p1, 0p1 und 2p2 Übergänge wurden festgelegt: 1,6e23 yr, 3,7e23 yr und 2,3e23 (90% C.L.). Diese 100-fache Verbesserung gegenüber den bisher bekannten Grenzen widerlegt eine Vielzahl älterer, zur Verfügung stehender Matrixelemente. Zusätzlich wurden im Rahmen dieser Dissertation für die Erweiterungen des GERDA Experiments zur Phase II wichtige Messungen durchgeführt und Verbesserungen entwickelt. 30 neu produzierte BEGe Detektoren wurden hinsichtlich ihrer Oberflächeneigenschaften sowie ihrer aktiven Volumina charakterisiert. Diese Präzisisionsmessungen sind für alle zukünftigen Analysen in GERDA notwendig und erlauben die entsprechenden systematischen Unsicherheiten auf ein subdominantes Niveau zu reduzieren. Erweiternd wurde ein neues Model zur Beschreibung der n+ Elektrode entwickelt, welches erstmals erlaubt die Pulsform von Oberflächeninteraktionen zu simulieren. Mithilfe dieses Models konnte demonstriert werden, dass der in Oberflächeninteraktionen begründete und in GERDA dominante Messuntergrund von K-42 auf der Detektoroberfläche durch Pulsformanalyse um das 145-fache unterdrückt werden kann. Eine weitere Untergrundreduzierung wird durch ein Flüssigargon Szintillationsveto erreicht. Im Rahmen dieser Arbeit wurden vorhandene Monte Carlo Simulationen um den Transport von optischen Photonen erweitert und die 134-fache Unterdrückung des Tl-208 Untergrundes demonstriert. Die Ergebnisse dieser Arbeit helfen eine deutliche Sensitivitätsverbesserung für die zuküntige Suche nach dem 0/2nbb-Zerfall zu erzielen und erlauben die Erstellung eines präziseren Untergrundmodels in GERDA Phase II.

The vast majority of all experimental results in particle physics can be described by the Standard Model (SM) of particle physics. However, neither the existence of neutrino masses nor the mixing in the leptonic sector, which have been observed, can be described within this model. In fact, the model only describes a fraction of the known energy in the Universe. Thus, we know there must exist a theory beyond the SM. There is a plethora of possible candidates for such a model, such as supersymmetry, extra dimensional theories, and string theory. So far, there are no evidence in favor of these models. These theories often reside at high energies, and will therefore be manifest as effective theories at the low energies experienced here on Earth. A first example in extra-dimensional theories. From our four-dimensional point of view, particles which propagate through the extra dimensions will effectivel be perceived as towers of heavy particles. In this thesis we consider an extra-dimensional model with universal extra dimensions, where all SM particles are allowed to propagate through the extra dimensions. Especially, we place a bound on the range of validity for this model. We study the renormalization group running of the leptonic parameters as well as the Higgs self-coupling in this model with the neutrino masses generated by a Weinberg operator. Grand unified theories, where the gauge couplings of the SM are unified into a single oe at some high energy scale, are motivated by the electroweak unification. The unification must necessarily take place at energies many orders of magnitude greater than those that ever can be achieved on Earth. In order to make sense of the theoru, ehich is given at the grand unified scale, at the electroweak scale, the symmetry at the grand unified scale is broken down to the SM symmetry. Within these models the SM is considered as an effective field theory. We study renormalization group running of the leptonic parameters in a non-supersymmetric SO(10) model which is broken in two steps via the Pati-Salam group. Finally, the discovery of the new boson at the LHC provides a new opportunity to search for physics beyond the SM. We consider an effective model where the magnitudes of the couplings in the Higgs sector are scaled by so-called coupling scale factors. We perform Bayesian parameter inference based on the LHC data. Furthermore, we perform Bayesian model comparison, comparing models where one or several of the Higgs couplings are allowed, to the SM, where the couplings are fixed. / <p>QC 20141020</p>

[pt] Embora sua detecção seja difícil, neutrinos são considerados como boa ferramenta na astrofísica para obtermos informações das Supernovas, Explosão de Raios Gama e do interior de objetos celestes como o Sol e Núcleos Ativos de Galáxias, porque não é possível explorá-los por meios ópticos. Por interagir muito fracamente com a matéria usual, neutrinos são capazes de percorrer grandes distâncias e atravessar astros e galáxias sem perder energia e, ao serem detectados na Terra, eles trazem informações sobre a fonte emissora, mecanismos de produção destes neutrinos energéticos e, nos permitem estudar as propriedades ainda não completamente conhecidas dos neutrinos, como massas e ângulos de misturas. Um excelente exemplo é o telescópio de neutrinos IceCube que, recentemente, registrou eventos de neutrinos de altas energias, na faixa de TeV e PeV, cujas origens são extragalácticas. Tal pioneirismo abre uma nova janela para estudarmos o Universo. Nessa dissertação, através do fenômeno de oscilação de neutrinos, estudaremos como ocorre a mudança dos sabores leptônicos dos fluxos dos neutrinos de altas energias de origem extragaláctica ao longo de seu caminho, desde a sua criação até a Terra. Analisaremos também o comportamento da razão de sabor dos fluxos de neutrinos em função da fase de violação CP e do ângulo de mistura de sabor leptônico entre segunda e terceira gerações. / [en] Depite that it is difficult to detect neutrinos, they are an interesting tool in astrophysics to obtain information about astronomical objects and events such as the Sun, Supernovae, Active Galactic Nuclei and Gamma Ray Bursts because it is impossible to explore them by optic ways. Due to their very weak interaction with ordinary matter, neutrinos are able to propagate very large distances and pass through stars and galaxies with no energy loss. By detecting neutrinos at Earth, we can get information about neutrino sources as well as the production mechanism and we are also able to study neutrino properties which are not well understood yet, such as mass hierarchy and mixing angles. A great exemple is a neutrino telescope called IceCube which recently recorded, for the first time, high energy neutrino events in the range of TeV and PeV whose source is extragalactic. These events have opened a new window to study the universe. In this dissertation we use neutrino oscillation to study how is the change in the leptonic flavors of high energy neutrino fluxes from their extragalactic sources to the Earth. We also analyse the flavor ratio behavior of neutrino fluxes as a function of CP-violating phase and the mixing angle between second and third generation.

Une revue générale est faite de la situation expérimentale concernant la mesure des masses, du mélange et des oscillations de neutrinos, ainsi que de la phénoménologie sous-jacente. Mes contributions à travers le programme expérimental du CERN, CHARM-II, CHORUS et OPERA, font l'objet d'un développement particulier. Le dernier chapitre tente de mettre en perspective le programme expérimental à moyen et long terme.<p><p>The experimental situation concerning the measurements of neutrinos masses, mixing and oscillation is reviewed, as well as of the underlying phenomenology. A particular attention is given to the CERN experimental program to which I took or take part, CHARM-II, CHORUS and OPERA. In the last chapter, I try to put into perspective the medium and long term experimental programme. <p> / Agrégation de l'enseignement supérieur, Orientation sciences / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

L’expérience Tokai-to-Kamioka (T2K), située au Japon, étudie les oscillations des neutrinos et anti-neutrinos muoniques. Elle se donne pour objectif de mesurer les paramètres de la matrice de mélange, en particulier l’angle de mélange θ13 et la phase de violation de la symétrie CP. L’incertitude principale sur ces mesures provient de la méconnaissance des interactions des neutrinos avec les noyaux des divers matériaux composant les détecteurs. Afin de réduire ces erreurs systématiques, le détecteur WAGASCI, composé d’un réseau de barres de scintillateurs dans une cuve d’eau, a été construit et installé en 2016 sur le site de J-PARC à Tokai.Nous présentons dans cette thèse le phénomène d’oscillation des neutrinos et les effets nucléaires qui permettent de décrire les interactions entre neutrinos et noyaux. Nous illustrons également la construction du premier module WAGASCI – appelé le WaterModule – effectuée à l’automne 2015 ainsi que les études d’étalonnage de la réponse en énergie du détecteur.Les données collectées avec le WaterModule sont ensuite utilisées pour mesurer la section efficace des interactions par courant chargé des neutrinos muoniques produisant un pion dans l’état final (canal CC1π). Nous présentons ainsi les étapes menant à cette mesure : l’identification des particules, la sélection d’un échantillon d’évènements candidats puis l’étude des incertitudes statistiques et systématiques. Pour extraire la section efficace en fonction de l’angle et de l’impulsion du muon, nous utilisons une méthode statistique (unfolding) itérative pour laquelle un critère de convergence doit être établi ; nous présentons cette méthode ainsi qu’un moyen de construire un critère de convergence dicté par les données.Cette mesure, comme l’ensemble des mesures effectuées avec le détecteur WAGASCI, contribuera à réduire de manière significative les incertitudes systématiques de l’expérience T2K, ouvrant la voie à la mesure de la phase de violation de la symétrie CP. / The Tokai-to-Kamioka experiment (T2K), located in Japan, studies oscillations of muon neutrinos and antineutrinos. It aims to measure neutrino mixing parameters, such as the mixing angle θ13 and the CP-symmetry violating phase. The principal uncertainty on these measurements relates to the limited knowledge on neutrino-nucleus interactions on various target materials in the detectors. In order to reduce these systematic uncertainties, the WAGASCI detector – a lattice of scintillator bars in a water tank – has been built and installed in 2016 at J-PARC (Tokai, Japan).In this thesis we introduce neutrino oscillations alongside the nuclear effects required to describe how neutrinos interact with nuclei. We also show how the first WAGASCI module, the so-called WaterModule, was built in autumn 2015 in Tokai. The charge calibration of the WaterModule is also presented.The first WaterModule data are used to measure the muon neutrino charged-current cross section with one charged pion in the final state (CC1π channel). We detail the steps leading to this measurement: the particle identification; the selection of CC1π-candidate events; and the study of statistical and systematic uncertainties. To extract the double differential cross section with respect to muon momentum and angle, we use an iterative unfolding approach that requires a convergence criterion. We present this method and a way to build a data-driven convergence criterion.This measurement, as well as all coming measurements from the full WAGASCI detector, will contribute to significantly reduce the systematic errors for the T2K experiment. We will thus take a step further towards the measurement of the CP-symmetry violating phase.

No description available.

In this thesis, two applications of dimensional deconstruction are studied. The first application is a model for neutrino oscillations in the presence of a large decon- structed extra dimension. In the second application, Kaluza{Klein dark matter from a latticized universal extra dimension is studied. The goal of these projects have been twofold. First, to see whether it is possible to reproduce the relevant features of the higher-dimensional continuum theory, and second, to examine the effect of the latticization in experiments. In addition, an introduction to the the- ory of dimensional deconstruction as well as to the theory of continuous extra dimensions is given. Furthermore, the various higher-dimensional models, such as Arkani-Hamed{Dvali{Dimopolous (ADD) models and models with universal extra dimensions, that have been intensively studied in recent years, are discussed. / QC 20101202

The goal of this Master thesis is to demonstrate Witteńs mechanism in selected extensions of the Standard model based on the Pati-Salam gauge group. The purpose of this mechanism is to obtain an extremely large Majorana mass term for right-handed neutrinos at the two-loop level and consequently light physical masses of neutrinos using the type I see-saw mechanism. The existence of corresponding Feynman diagrams without any interactions of vector bosons is presented. While it is impossible to construct this type of corrections in minimal SO(10) or SU(5)xU(1) model in Pati-Salam model they may be even dominant. Subsequently, implications of possible partial gauge coupling unification or even embedding of the Pati-Salam group into a gauge group of "Great Unified Theory" are considered. At the end the possibility of unacceptably fast proton decay is inspected. The discussed models are concluded to be potentially realistic but only at the cost of predictivity, since completely unknown Yukawa couplings appear in numerous key relations. 1

Abstract Iris The power of quantum computing lies in its ability to perform certain calculations and solve complex problems exponentially faster than classical computers. This potential has profound implications for a wide range of fields, including particle physics. This thesis lays a fundamental foundation for understanding quantum computing. Particular emphasis is placed on the intricate process of quantum gate decomposition, an elementary lynchpin that underpins the development of quantum algorithms and plays a crucial role in this research. In particular, this concerns the implementation of quantum algorithms designed to simulate the dynamic evolution of multi-particle quantum systems - so-called Hamiltonian simulations. The concept of quantum gate decomposition is introduced and linked to quantum circuit optimisation. The decomposition of quantum gates plays a crucial role in fault-tolerant quantum computing in the sense that an optimal implementation of a quantum gate is essential to efficiently perform a quantum simulation, especially for near-term quantum computers. Part of this thesis aims to propose a new explicit tensorial notation of quantum computing. Two notations are commonly used in the literature. The first is the Dirac notation and the other standard formalism is based on the so-called computational basis. The main disadvantage of the latter is the exponential growth of vector and matrix dimensions and the fact that it hides some relevant quantum properties of the operations by increasing the apparent number of independent variables. A third possible notation is introduced here, which describes qubit states as tensors and quantum gates as multilinear or quasi-multilinear maps. Some advantages for the detection of separable and entangled systems and for measurement techniques are also shown. Finally, this thesis demonstrates the advantage of quantum computing in the description of multi-particle quantum systems by proposing a quantum algorithm to simulate collective neutrino oscillations. Collective flavour oscillations of neutrinos due to forward neutrino-neutrino scattering provide an intriguing many-body system for time evolution simulations on a quantum computer. These phenomena are of particular interest in extreme astrophysical settings such as core-collapse supernovae, neutron star mergers and the early universe. A detailed description of the physical phenomena and environments in which collective flavor oscillations occur is first reported, and the derivation of the Hamiltonian governing the evolution of flavor oscillations is detailed. The aim is to reproduce this evolution using a quantum algorithm. To manage the computational complexity, we use the Trotter approximation of the time evolution operator, which mitigates the exponential growth of circuit complexity. The quantum algorithm was designed to work on a trapped-ion based testbed (the theory of which is presented in detail). After machine-aware optimisation, the quantum circuit implementing the algorithm was run on the real quantum machine 'Quantinuum', and the results are presented and discussed.

The search for the sources of astrophysical neutrinos is a central open question in particle astrophysics. Thanks to substantial experimental efforts, we now have large-scale neutrino detectors in the oceans and polar ice. The neutrino sky seems mostly isotropic, but hints of possible source-neutrino associations have started to emerge, leading to much excitement within the astrophysics community. As more data are collected and future experiments planned, the question of how to statistically quantify point source detection in a robust way becomes increasingly pertinent. The standard approach to null-hypothesis testing leads to reporting the results in terms of a p-value, with detection typically corresponding to surpassing the coveted 5-sigma threshold. While widely used, p-values and significance thresholds are notorious in the statistical community as challenging to interpret and potentially misleading. We explore an alternative Bayesian approach to reporting point source detection and the connections and differences with the frequentist view. In this thesis, two methods for associating neutrino events to candidate sources are implemented on data from a simplified simulation of high-energy neutrino generation and detection. One is a maximum likelihood-based method that has been used in some high-profile articles, and the alternative uses Bayesian Hierarchical modelling with Hamiltonian Monte Carlo to sample the joint posterior of key parameters. Both methods are applied to a set of test cases to gauge their differences and similarities when applied on identical data. The comparisons suggest the applicability of this Bayesian approach as alternative or complement to the frequentist, and illustrate how the two approaches differ. A discussion is also conducted on the applicability and validity of the study itself as well as some potential benefits of incorporating a Bayesian framework, with suggestions for additional aspects to analyze. / Sökandet efter källorna till astrofysiska neutriner är en central öppen fråga i astropartikel- fysik. Tack vare omfattande experimentella ansträngningar har vi nu storskaliga neutrino-detektorer i haven och polarisen. Neutrinohimlen verkar mestadels isotropisk, men antydningar till möjliga källneutrinoföreningar har börjat antydas, vilket har lett till mycket spänning inom astrofysikgemenskapen. När mer data samlas in och framtida experiment planeras, blir frågan om hur man statistiskt kvantifierar punktkälledetektering på ett robust sätt alltmer relevant. Standardmetoden för nollhypotes-testning leder ofta till rapportering av resultat i termer av p-värden, då en specifik tröskel i signifikans eftertraktas. Samtidigt som att vara starkt utbredda, är p-värden och signifikansgränser mycket omdiskuterade i det statistiska samfundet angående deras tolkning. Vi utforskar en alternativ Bayesisk inställning till utvärderingen av punktkälldetektering och jämför denna med den frekvensentistiska utgångspunkten. I denna uppsats tillämpas två metoder för att associera neutrinohändelser till kandidatkällor på basis av simulerad data. Den första använder en maximum likelihood-metod anpassad från vissa uppmärksammade rapporter, medan den andra använder Hamiltonsk Monte Carlo till att approximera den gemensamma aposteriorifördelningen hos modellens parametrar. Båda metoderna tillämpas på en uppsättning testfall för att uppskatta deras skillnader och likheter tillämpade på identisk data. Jämförelserna antyder tillämpligheten av den Bayesianska som alternativ eller komplement till den klassiska, och illustrerar hur de två metoderna skiljer sig åt. En diskussion förs också om validiteten av studien i sig samt några potentiella fördelar med att använda ett Bayesiskt ramverk, med förslag på ytterligare aspekter att analysera.