53678950
Lifetime measurements in $^{63}$Co and $^{65}$Co
Lifetimes of the $9/2^-_1$ and $3/2^-_1$ states in $^{63}$Co and the $9/2^-_1$ state in $^{65}$Co were measured using the recoil distance Doppler shift and the differential decay curve methods. The nuclei were populated by multi-nucleon transfer reactions in inverse kinematics. Gamma rays were measured with the EXOGAM Ge array and the recoiling fragments were fully identified using the large-acceptance VAMOS spectrometer. The E2 transition probabilities from the $3/2^-_1$ and $9/2^-_1$ states to the $7/2^-$ ground state could be extracted in $^{63}$Co as well as an upper limit for the $9/2^-_1\rightarrow7/2^-_1$ $B$(E2) value in $^{65}$Co. The experimental results were compared to large-scale shell-model calculations in the $pf$ and $pfg_{9/2}$ model spaces, allowing to draw conclusions on the single-particle or collective nature of the various states.
119392837
Fission-Fragment Mass Distribution and Particle Evaporation at low Energies
Fusion-fission dynamics is investigated with a special emphasis on fusion reactions at low energy for which shell effects and pairing correlations can play a crucial role leading in particular to multi-modal fission. To follow the dynamical evolution of an excited and rotating nucleus we solve a 2-dimensional Langevin equation taking explicitly light-particle evaporation into account. The confrontation theory-experiment is demonstrated to give interesting information on the model presented, its qualities as well as its shortcomings.
116938056
Observation of the lowest energy gamma-ray in any superdeformed nucleus : 196Bi
New results on the superdeformed $^{196}$Bi nucleus a re reported. We have observed with the EUROBALL IV $\gamma$-ray spectrometer array a superdeformed trans ition of 124 keV which is the lowest observed energy $\gamma$-ray in any superdeformed nucleus. We have de velopped microscopic cranked Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov calculations using the SLy4 effective force and a realistic surface p airing which strongly support the $K^\pi=2^-$($\pi$[651]1/2$\otimes \nu$[752]5/2) assignment of this su perdeformed band.
121241106
Isotopic production cross sections of the residual nuclei in spallation reactions induced by 136Xe projectiles on proton at 500 A MeV
Around 270 medium-mass residual nuclei, formed in spallation reactions induced by 136Xe projectiles impinging on a liquid hydrogen target at 500 A MeV, have been unambiguously identified at GSI using the magnetic spectrometer FRS. The individual production cross sections and the longitudinal momentum distributions have been determined with high accuracy. These data represent an important constraint for theoretical models describing spallation reactions. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.
120833641
Examining fine potential energy effects in high-energy fission dynamics
The potential energy surface plays a decisive role in nuclear fission. Together with inertia and viscosity, it influences the trajectory of the system, and the properties of the fission fragments result from the puzzling interplay between static and dynamical effects. A careful study on the influence of the parametrization of the potential energy landscape in heavy-ion-induced fission is performed. Dynamical calculations are done within the stochastic Langevin approach in a three-dimensional deformation space. Various prescriptions of the potential energy surface are considered, probing two different Liquid Drop models and the deformation dependence of the Wigner/congruence energy. A wide set of observables, including cross sections, particle multiplicities, and integral, as well as isotopic and isobaric, distributions of fission and evaporation products, is analyzed. Nuclei close to the Businaro-Gallone point are confirmed to be well suited for investigating the Liquid Drop parametrization, while the influence of the deformation-dependent Wigner/congruence energy is difficult to demonstrate unambiguously in fission at high excitation energies.
5034444
Study of the multi-nucleon transfer reactions of 136Xe + 198Pt for producing exotic heavy nuclei
The feasibility of the multi-nucleon transfer (MNT) reaction in the 136 Xe + 198 Pt system was investigated for synthesizing neutron-rich heavy nuclei around mass number A 200 of astrophysical interest. Identification of the projectile-like fragments (PLF's) was successfully performed by using VAMOS++ spectrometer. The isotopic distributions of the PLF's produced by two-proton stripping and pickup reactions were compared with each other, demonstrating the properties of the MNT reactions observed in the present system. The two-proton pickup channels strongly populated than the two- proton stripping channels were observed. The isotopic distributions for di erent total kinetic energy loss (TKEL) ranges are also discussed. The overall enhancement of the strength of the two-proton pickup compared with the two-proton stripping appears to be related to the MNT reactions with relatively moderate energy dissipation.
206538240
A Shorter 146Sm Half-Life Measured and Implications for 146Sm-142Nd Chronology in the Solar System
A New Lease on Half-Life Radiometric dating relies on measuring the abundance of long-lived radionuclides relative to the abundance of their radiogenic decay products—a process determined by the original radionuclide's half-life. For primordial radionuclides that decay slowly, such as 146Sm decaying to 142Nd, this method provides the timing of some of the earliest processes in solar system history. Using accelerator mass spectrometry, Kinoshita et al. (p. 1614) provide a revised estimate for the 146Sm half-life of ∼68.7 million years, which is 30% shorter than the previously accepted value. This shorter half-life suggests that reductions need to be made in the estimated ages for differentiation of Earth's mantle and the solidification of the Moon's magma ocean and for other more recent processes. Mantle differentiation of Earth, the Moon, and Mars occurred earlier and over a shorter time scale than previously estimated. The extinct p-process nuclide 146Sm serves as an astrophysical and geochemical chronometer through measurements of isotopic anomalies of its α-decay daughter 142Nd. Based on analyses of 146Sm/147Sm α-activity and atom ratios, we determined the half-life of 146Sm to be 68 ± 7 (1σ) million years, which is shorter than the currently used value of 103 ± 5 million years. This half-life value implies a higher initial 146Sm abundance in the early solar system, (146Sm/144Sm)0 = 0.0094 ± 0.0005 (2σ), than previously estimated. Terrestrial, lunar, and martian planetary silicate mantle differentiation events dated with 146Sm-142Nd converge to a shorter time span and in general to earlier times, due to the combined effect of the new 146Sm half-life and (146Sm/144Sm)0 values.
119287201
High-precision measurement of total fission cross sections in spallation reactions of 208 Pb and 238 U
Total cross sections for proton- and deuteron-induced-fission of 208Pb and 238U have been determined in the energy range between 500 MeV and 1 GeV. The experiment has been performed in inverse kinematics at GSI Darmstadt, facilitating the counting of the projectiles and the identification of the reaction products. High precision between 5 and 7 percent has been achieved by individually counting the beam particles and by registering both fission fragments in coincidence with high efficiency and full Z resolution. Fission was clearly distinguished from other reaction channels. The results were found to deviate by up to 30 percent from Prokofiev's systematics on total fission cross sections. There is good agreement with an elaborate experiment performed in direct kinematics.
109652400
Commissioning of the ATLAS reconstruction software with first data
The ATLAS detector is being commissioned using all types of physics data available: cosmic rays, beam-halo and beam-gas events. In addition to putting in place the trigger and data acquisition chains, commissioning of the full software chain is a main goal. This is interesting not only to ensure that the reconstruction, monitoring and simulation chains are ready to deal with LHC physics data, but also to understand the detector performance in view of achieving the physics requirements.
62199781
Track finding in ATLAS using GPUs
The reconstruction and simulation of collision events is a major task in modern HEP experiments involving several ten thousands of standard CPUs. On the other hand the graphics processors (GPUs) have become much more powerful and are by far outperforming the standard CPUs in terms of floating point operations due to their massive parallel approach. The usage of these GPUs could therefore significantly reduce the overall reconstruction time per event or allow for the usage of more sophisticated algorithms. In this paper the track finding in the ATLAS experiment will be used as an example on how the GPUs can be used in this context: the implementation on the GPU requires a change in the algorithmic flow to allow the code to work in the rather limited environment on the GPU in terms of memory, cache, and transfer speed from and to the GPU and to make use of the massive parallel computation. Both, the specific implementation of parts of the ATLAS track reconstruction chain and the performance improvements obtained will be discussed.
122281343
ATLAS cosmic ray results