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The swimming abilities of larval fishes are important for their survival, potentially affecting their ability to avoid predators, obtain food and control dispersal patterns. Near settlement swimming abilities may also influence spatial and temporal patterns of recruitment. We examined Critical speed (U-crit) swimming ability in late stage larvae of 89 species of coral reef fishes from the Great Barrier Reef and the Caribbean. Coefficients of variation in U-crit calculated at the individual level were high (28.4%), and this was not explained by differences in size or condition factor of these same larvae. Among species U-crit ranged from 5.5 cm s-1 to 100.8 cm s-1 (mean=37.3 cm s-1), with 95% of species able to swim faster than the average current speed around Lizard Island, suggesting that most species should be capable of influencing their spatial and temporal patterns of settlement. Inter-specific differences in swimming ability (at both the family and species levels) were significantly correlated with size and larval morphology. Correlations were found between swimming performance and propulsive area, fineness ratio and aspect ratio, and these morphological parameters may prove useful for predicting swimming ability in other taxa. Overall, the swimming speeds of larvae from the same families at the two locations were relatively similar, although the Lutjanidae and Acanthuridae from the Caribbean were significantly slower than those from the great barrier reef. Differences in swimming speed and body form among late stage larvae suggests that they will respond differently to factors influencing survival and transport during their pelagic phase, as well as habitat use following settlement.

Prerequisites for understanding dispersal in pelagic larvae of demersal fishes are data on when swimming abilities of larvae are sufficiently developed to be able to alter passive dispersal trajectories. In laboratory swimming chambers, the development of critical speed and endurance swimming was measured in reared larvae of 4 species of warm-temperate marine and estuarine fishes that spawn pelagic eggs (Sciaenidae,Argyrosomus japonicus; Sparidae,Pagrus auratus,Acanthopagrus australis; Percichthyidae,Macquaria novemaculeata). Size was a better predictor of swimming ability than age. Increase in critical speed with growth was best portrayed by linear or ‘flat’ curvilinear relationships. Increase in endurance was best portrayed by strongly concave curvilinear relationships. The percichthyid larvae had the highest critical speed initially, but speed increased slowly with growth. The 2 sparids had the greatest increase in speed with growth, and the sciaenid the least. The greatest increase in endurance with growth was found inP. auratus, but performance ofM. novemaculeatawas only slightly less. The slowest increase in endurance with growth was found inA. japonicus, but, by settlement, its performance was similar to the other species. Until notochord flexion was complete, both speed and endurance were limited. Thereafter, swimming performance improved markedly at a species-specific rate. At settlement, larvae of these species could swim more than 10 km and at speeds of 15 to 20 cm s–1(=12 to 20 BL s–1), which exceeded the average currents in their coastal environment. Following notochord flexion, all larvae swimming at critical speed were in an inertial environment, and this corresponded to when substantial endurance swimming developed. Whether these potential performances are actually realized in the field remains to be determined, but they provide the potential to strongly influence dispersal.

Previous studies of the swimming endurance abilities of late-stage larvae of reef fishes have used laboratory swimming chambers and, with one exception, unfed larvae. Based on the exceptional study, we predicted that fed larvae should have much greater endurance than previously reported for unfed larvae. We tested the swimming endurance of the fed late-stage larvae of 6 pomacentrid species and found that all could swim at least twice as long as unfed larvae. The 3 species with larger larvae (12-14mm standard length: SL) all grew during these experiments in spite of being forced to swim 23.3h per day. The 3 species with smaller larvae (10-11mm SL) did not show consistent growth. Unfed laboratory measures of swimming endurance are, therefore, very conservative, and are probably more of an indication of the reserves available to the larvae than a realistic indication of how far the larvae are capable of swimming in the field.[PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]

This paper reports on a measurement of electron-ion recombination in liquid argon in the ICARUS liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC). A clear dependence of recombination on the angle of the ionizing particle track relative to the drift electric field is observed. An ellipsoid modified box (EMB) model of recombination describes the data across all measured angles. These measurements are used for the calorimetric energy scale calibration of the ICARUS TPC, which is also presented. The impact of the EMB model is studied on calorimetric particle identification, as well as muon and proton energy measurements. Accounting for the angular dependence in EMB recombination improves the accuracy and precision of these measurements.

The ICARUS liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) neutrino detector has been taking physics data since 2022 as part of the Short-Baseline Neutrino (SBN) Program. This paper details the equalization of the response to charge in the ICARUS time projection chamber (TPC), as well as data-driven tuning of the simulation of ionization charge signals and electronics noise. The equalization procedure removes non-uniformities in the ICARUS TPC response to charge in space and time. This work leverages the copious number of cosmic ray muons available to ICARUS at the surface. The ionization signal shape simulation applies a novel procedure that tunes the simulation to match what is measured in data. The end result of the equalization procedure and simulation tuning allows for a comparison of charge measurements in ICARUS between Monte Carlo simulation and data, showing good performance with minimal residual bias between the two.

We develop a novel approach for a Time Projection Chamber (TPC) concept suitable for deployment in kilotonne scale detectors, with a charge-readout system free from reconstruction ambiguities, and a robust TPC design that reduces high-voltage risks while increasing the coverage of the light collection system. This novel concept could be deployed as a Far Detector module in the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) neutrino-oscillation experiment. For the charge-readout system, we use the charge-collection pixels and associated application-specific integrated circuits currently being developed for the liquid argon (LAr) component of the DUNE Near Detector design, ArgonCube. In addition, we divide the TPC into a number or shorter drift volumes, reducing the total voltage used to drift the ionisation electrons, and minimising the stored energy per TPC. Segmenting the TPC also contains scintillation light, allowing for precise trigger localisation and a more expansive light-readout system. Furthermore, the design opens the possibility of replacing or upgrading components. These augmentations could substantially improve reliability and sensitivity, particularly for low energy signals, in comparison to a traditional monolithic LArTPCs with projective charge-readout.

We present a measurement of the combined \\(\\nu_e\\) + \\(\\bar{\\nu}_e\\) flux-averaged charged-current inclusive cross section on argon using data from the MicroBooNE liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) at Fermilab. Using the off-axis flux from the NuMI beam, MicroBooNE has reconstructed 214 candidate \\(\\nu_e\\) + \\(\\bar{\\nu}_e\\) interactions with an estimated exposure of 2.4\\(\\times10^{20}\\) protons on target. Given the estimated purity of 38.6\\%, this implies the observation of 80 \\(\\nu_e\\) + \\(\\bar{\\nu}_e\\) events in argon, the largest such sample to date. The analysis includes the first demonstration of a fully automated application of a dE/dx-based particle discrimination technique of electron and photon induced showers in a LArTPC neutrino detector. We measure the \\(\\nu_e + \\bar{\\nu}_e\\) flux-averaged charged-current total cross section to be \\({6.84\\pm\\!1.51~\\textrm{(stat.)}\\pm\\!2.33~\\textrm{(sys.)}\\!\\times\\!10^{-39}~\\textrm{cm}^{2}/~\\textrm{nucleon}}\\), for neutrino energies above 250 MeV and an average neutrino flux energy of 905 MeV when this threshold is applied. The measurement is sensitive to neutrino events where the final state electron momentum is above 48 MeV/c, includes the entire angular phase space of the electron, and is in agreement with the theoretical predictions from \\texttt{GENIE} and \\texttt{NuWro}. This measurement is also the first demonstration of electron neutrino reconstruction in a surface LArTPC in the presence of cosmic ray backgrounds, which will be a crucial task for surface experiments like those that comprise the Short-Baseline Neutrino (SBN) Program at Fermilab.

We report on the first measurement of flux-integrated single differential cross sections for charged-current (CC) muon neutrino (\\(\\nu_\\mu\\)) scattering on argon with a muon and a proton in the final state, \\(^{40}\\)Ar(\\(\\nu_\\mu\\),\\(\\mu\\)p)X. The measurement was carried out using the Booster Neutrino Beam at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and the MicroBooNE liquid argon time projection chamber detector with an exposure of 4.59 \\(\\times\\) 10\\(^{19}\\) protons on target. Events are selected to enhance the contribution of CC quasielastic (CCQE) interactions. The data are reported in terms of a total cross section as well as single differential cross sections in final state muon and proton kinematics. We measure the integrated per-nucleus CCQE-like cross section (i.e. for interactions leading to a muon, one proton and no pions above detection threshold) of (4.93 \\(\\pm\\) 0.76stat \\(\\pm\\) 1.29sys) \\(\\times\\) 10\\(^{-38}\\)cm\\(^2\\), in good agreement with theoretical calculations. The single differential cross sections are also in overall good agreement with theoretical predictions, except at very forward muon scattering angles that correspond to low momentum-transfer events.

We present an analysis of MicroBooNE data with a signature of one muon, no pions, and at least one proton above a momentum threshold of 300 MeV/c (CC0\\(\\pi\\)Np). This is the first differential cross section measurement of this topology in neutrino-argon interactions. We achieve a significantly lower proton momentum threshold than previous carbon and scintillator-based experiments. Using data collected from a total of approximately \\(1.6 \\times 10^{20}\\) protons-on-target, we measure the muon neutrino cross section for the CC0\\(\\pi\\)Np interaction channel in argon at MicroBooNE in the Booster Neutrino Beam which has a mean energy of around 800 MeV. We present the results from a data sample with estimated efficiency of 29\\% and purity of 76\\% as differential cross sections in five reconstructed variables: the muon momentum and polar angle, the leading proton momentum and polar angle, and the muon-proton opening angle. We include smearing matrices that can be used to \"forward-fold\" theoretical predictions for comparison with these data. We compare the measured differential cross sections to a number of recent theory predictions demonstrating largely good agreement with this first-ever data set on argon.

We present results on the reconstruction of electromagnetic (EM) activity from photons produced in charged current \\(\\nu_{\\mu}\\) interactions with final state \\(\\pi^0\\)s. We employ a fully-automated reconstruction chain capable of identifying EM showers of \\(\\mathcal{O}\\)(100) MeV energy, relying on a combination of traditional reconstruction techniques together with novel machine-learning approaches. These studies demonstrate good energy resolution, and good agreement between data and simulation, relying on the reconstructed invariant \\(\\pi^0\\) mass and other photon distributions for validation. The reconstruction techniques developed are applied to a selection of \\(\\nu_{\\mu} + {\\rm Ar} \\rightarrow \\mu + \\pi^0 + X\\) candidate events to demonstrate the potential for calorimetric separation of photons from electrons and reconstruction of \\(\\pi^0\\) kinematics.