Neutron Gas Research Articles

Synthesis and Properties of the Helium Clathrate and Defect Perovskite [He2-x □ x ][CaNb]F6.

The defect double perovskite [He2-x □ x ][CaNb]F6, with helium on its A-site, can be prepared by the insertion of helium into ReO3-type CaNbF6 at high pressure. Upon cooling from 300 to 100 K under 0.4 GPa helium, ∼60% of the A-sites become occupied. Helium uptake was quantified by both neutron powder diffraction and gas insertion and release measurements. After the conversion of gauge pressure to fugacity, the uptake of helium by CaNbF6 can be described by a Langmuir isotherm. The enthalpy of absorption for helium in [He2-x □ x ][CaNb]F6 is estimated to be ∼+3(1) kJ mol-1, implying that its formation is entropically favored. Helium is able to diffuse through the material on a time scale of minutes at temperatures down to ∼150 K but is trapped at 100 K and below. The insertion of helium into CaNbF6 reduces the magnitude of its negative thermal expansion, increases the bulk modulus, and modifies its phase behavior. On compressing pristine CaNbF6, at 50 and 100 K, a cubic (Fm3̅m) to rhombohedral (R3̅) phase transition was observed at <0.20 GPa. However, a helium-containing sample remained cubic at 0.4 GPa and 50 K. CaNbF6, compressed in helium at room temperature, remained cubic to >3.7 GPa, the limit of our X-ray diffraction measurements, in contrast to prior reports that upon compression in a nonpenetrating medium, a phase transition is detected at ∼0.4 GPa.

Influence of the tetraneutron on the EoS under core-collapse supernova and heavy-ion collision conditions

Context. Recently, a resonant state of four neutrons (tetraneutron) with an energy of E4n = 2.37 ± 0.38(stat) ± 0.44(sys) MeV and a width of Γ = 1.75 ± 0.22(stat) ± 0.30(sys) MeV was reported. Aims. In this work, we analyze the effect of including such an exotic state on the yields of other light clusters; these clusters not only form in astrophysical sites, such as core-collapse supernovae and neutron star (NS) mergers, but also in heavy-ion collisions. Methods. To this aim, we used a relativistic mean-field (RMF) formalism, where we consider in-medium effects in a two-fold way – that is, via the couplings of the clusters to the mesons, and via a binding energy shift – to compute the low-density equation of state (EoS) for nuclear matter at finite temperature and fixed proton fraction. We consider five light clusters – namely deuterons, tritons, helions, α-particles, and 6He – immersed in a gas of protons and neutrons, and we calculate their abundances and chemical equilibrium constants with and without the tetraneutron. We also analyze how the associated energy of the tetraneutron would influence such results. Results. We find that the low-temperature, neutron-rich systems are the ones most affected by the presence of the tetraneutron, making NSs excellent environments for their formation. Moreover, its presence in strongly asymmetric matter may increase the proton and α-particle fractions considerably. This may have an influence on the dissolution of the accretion disk of the merger of two NSs.

Symmetry Energy in the Inner Crust Region of Neutron Stars: A Study Around the Neutron Drip Density Point using the Compressed Liquid Drop Model

The properties of neutron star’s inner crust have been investigated using the Compressible Liquid Drop Model, particularly around the neutron drip density region, which is the boundary between the outer and inner crust. Symmetry energy in the equations of state SLy4 and BSk3 was calculated to determine the density data between the outer and inner crusts. The properties of the inner crust can be understood through parameters such as the change in the number of nucleons in the atomic nucleus, the asymmetry parameter in surface energy, and volume energy. It was shown that the choice of the symmetry energy expansion coefficient (L) of order-1 results in a distinct energy range of 9-11 MeV within the neutron drip region. This contrasts significantly with the energy symmetry observed around saturation density, which reaches (30 ± 4) MeV in the reference models used. Furthermore, it was found that symmetry energy affects the neutron composition in the inner crust. As the density increases, neutron numbers rise, while proton counts exhibit relative stability within the range of 40 to 50 for each atomic nucleus. Importantly, we observe a marked decrease in proton fraction at the onset of the neutron drip region, where ???? ≅10 MeV, suggesting electron capture processes transforming protons into neutrons. This phenomenon contributes to the presence of neutron and free neutron gas layers within the inner crust.

Recent Progress in Fabrication and Application of BN Nanostructures and BN-Based Nanohybrids.

Due to its unique physical, chemical, and mechanical properties, such as a low specific density, large specific surface area, excellent thermal stability, oxidation resistance, low friction, good dispersion stability, enhanced adsorbing capacity, large interlayer shear force, and wide bandgap, hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) nanostructures are of great interest in many fields. These include, but are not limited to, (i) heterogeneous catalysts, (ii) promising nanocarriers for targeted drug delivery to tumor cells and nanoparticles containing therapeutic agents to fight bacterial and fungal infections, (iii) reinforcing phases in metal, ceramics, and polymer matrix composites, (iv) additives to liquid lubricants, (v) substrates for surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy, (vi) agents for boron neutron capture therapy, (vii) water purifiers, (viii) gas and biological sensors, and (ix) quantum dots, single photon emitters, and heterostructures for electronic, plasmonic, optical, optoelectronic, semiconductor, and magnetic devices. All of these areas are developing rapidly. Thus, the goal of this review is to analyze the critical mass of knowledge and the current state-of-the-art in the field of BN-based nanomaterial fabrication and application based on their amazing properties.

Characterization of the inner edge of the neutron star crust

The poorly known crustal equation of state plays a critical role in many observational phenomena associated with a neutron star. Using semi-classical Monte Carlo simulations, we explore the possible configurations of the inner edge of the neutron-star crust for a variety of baryon densities and proton fractions. Applying the Kirkwood--Buff theory to these two-component systems, we observe how the isothermal compressibility reaches a maximum when isolated non-symmetric clusters are formed in an extremely dilute neutron gas. To determine the neutron fraction, we suggest a geometrical model based on the behavior of the proton-neutron pair correlation function. Accordingly, the equation of state of the inner crust is calculated, illustrating that the nuclear energy in beta-equilibrium follows a power-law behavior with baryon density. As a possible astrophysical outcome of this study, our results could help refine the mass-radius relation. Finally, our results pave the way towards further investigations of the impact of the proton-neutron pair correlation function on transport properties within the neutron-star crust.

Unveiling the Role of Transition‐Metal Ions in the Thermal Degradation of Layered Ni–Co–Mn Cathodes for Lithium Rechargeable Batteries

AbstractThe need for batteries with high energy density and safety has motivated the development of Ni‐rich layered cathodes with high thermal stability, requiring a revisit of the role of the transition‐metal ion in the phase transition accompanying the oxygen evolution of highly charged cathodes. Here, the role of the transition‐metal ion in LixNi0.5Co0.2Mn0.3O2 (x = 0.5, 0.33) is revealed in the phase transition and O2 evolution occurring at high temperatures using combined in situ high‐temperature neutron diffraction (ND) and gas analyses. The thermal migration of each transition‐metal ion upon heating is directly visualized at different states of charge using Rietveld refinement of ND patterns as well as the maximum entropy method. The oxygen evolution observed for the highly charged state at low temperature is accompanied by M3O4‐type spinel (M = Ni, Co, and Mn) phase formation with preferential occupation of Co in the tetrahedral site. Co3+/Co2+ reduction accompanying the oxygen evolution rather can mitigate and delay the formation of the rock‐salt phase. The findings provide insight into the manipulation of the composition of Ni‐rich layered cathode for the design of cathodes with high energy density and safety.

Kinetic mix at gas-shell interface in inverted corona fusion targets

Gas-filled, laser-driven “inverted corona” fusion targets have attracted interest as a low-convergence neutron source and platform for studying kinetic physics. At the fill pressures under investigation, ejected particles from the shell can penetrate deeply into the gas before colliding, leading to significant mixing across the gas–shell interface. Here, we use kinetic-ion, fluid-electron hybrid particle-in-cell simulations to explore the nature of that mix. Simulations of the system demonstrate characteristics of a weakly collisional electrostatic shock, whereby a strong electric field accelerates shell ions into the rarefied gas and reflects upstream gas ions. This interpenetration is mediated by collisional processes: At higher initial gas pressure, fewer shell particles pass into the mix region and reach the hotspot. This effect is detectable through neutron yield scaling vs gas pressure. Predictions of neutron yield scaling show excellent agreement with experimental data recorded at the OMEGA laser facility, suggesting that 1D kinetic mechanisms are sufficient to capture the mix process.

Fermi polaron in low-density spin-polarized neutron matter

We study the properties of a spin-down neutron impurity immersed in a low-density free Fermi gas of spin-up neutrons. In particular, we analyze its energy ($E_\downarrow$), effective mass ($m^*_\downarrow$) and quasiparticle residue ($Z_\downarrow$). Results are compared with those of state-of-the-art quantum Monte Carlo calculations of the attractive Fermi polaron realized in ultracold atomic gases experiments, and with those of previous studies of the neutron polaron. Calculations are performed within the Brueckner--Hartree--Fock approach using the chiral two-body nucleon-nucleon interaction of Entem and Machleidt at N$^3$LO with a 500 MeV cut-off and the Argonne V18 phenomenological potential. Only contributions from the $^1S_0$ partial wave, which is the dominant one in the low-density region considered, are included. Contributions from three-nucleon forces are expected to be irrelevant at these densities and, therefore, are neglected in the calculation. Our results show that for Fermi momenta between $\sim 0.25$ and $\sim 0.45$ fm$^{-1}$ the energy, effective mass and quasiparticle residue of the impurity vary only slightly, respectively, in the ranges $-0.604\,E_F < E_\downarrow < -0.635\,E_F $, $1.300\,m < m^*_\downarrow < 1.085\, m$ and $0.741 <Z_\downarrow< 0.836$ in the case of the chiral interaction, and $-0.621\,E_F < E_\downarrow < -0.643\,E_F $, $1.310\,m < m^*_\downarrow < 1.089\, m$ and $0.739 <Z_\downarrow< 0.832$ when using the Argonne V18 potential. These results are compatible with those derived from ultracold atoms and show that a spin-down neutron impurity in a free Fermi gas of spin-up neutrons with a Fermi momentum in the range $0.25\lesssim k_F \lesssim 0.45$ fm$^{-1}$ exhibits properties very similar to those of an attractive Fermi polaron in the unitary limit.

Low-Density Neutron Matter and the Unitary Limit

We review the properties of neutron matter in the low-density regime. In particular, we revise its ground state energy and the superfluid neutron pairing gap and analyze their evolution from the weak to the strong coupling regime. The calculations of the energy and the pairing gap are performed, respectively, within the Brueckner–Hartree–Fock (BHF) approach of nuclear matter and the Bardeen–Cooper–Schrieffer (BCS) theory using the chiral nucleon-nucleon interaction of Entem and Machleidt at N3LO and the Argonne V18 phenomenological potential. Results for the energy are also shown for a simple Gaussian potential with a strength and range adjusted to reproduce the1S0neutron-neutron scattering length and effective range. Our results are compared with those of quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) calculations for neutron matter and cold atoms. The Tan contact parameter in neutron matter is also calculated, finding a reasonable agreement with experimental data from ultra-cold atoms only at very low densities. We find that low-density neutron matter exhibits a behavior close to that of a Fermi gas at the unitary limit, although, this limit is actually never reached. We also review the properties (energy, effective mass, and quasiparticle residue) of a spin-down neutron impurity immersed in a low-density free Fermi gas of spin-up neutrons already studied by the author in a recent work where it was shown that these properties are very close to those of an attractive Fermi polaron in the unitary limit.

Elucidation of Fluid Streamlining in Multi-Layered Porous Transport Layers for Polymer Electrolyte Water Electrolyzers by Operando Neutron Radiography

Developments of the porous transport layers (PTLs) in recent years resulted in significant performance improvements in polymer electrolyte water electrolyzers (PEWEs). One of the milestones of the material design was the integration of a microporous layer (MPL) on sintered titanium PTLs. Utilizing high-resolution neutron imaging, the water and gas distribution in the multi-layered porous transport media (ML-PTL) was probed at various current densities (up to 4 A cm−2) and pressure conditions up to 8 bar, using a series of four materials, differing in MPL morphology. The water and gas distribution measured is greatly affected by the presence of an MPL. While in the bulk of the PTL, the gas accumulation is increased in the presence of an MPL, in the MPL itself more water is retained. The finer the MPL structure, the higher the liquid saturation. It is observed that the two-phase flow in the MPL has minor influence on the performance of the cell even though the gas accumulation at the CL interface is greatly reduced. The improvements, therefore, appear to be related to the CL and MPL interaction on sub-micron scale and microstructure effect on catalyst area utilization.

The calculation of the campaign of reactor RITM-200

In this paper, the campaign of RITM-200 reactor was calculated. The duration of the campaign was determined taking the net capacity factor into consideration. The calculated duration concurred with the known data. The neutron parameters were calculated using the effective temperature method. The presence of burnable absorber rods was taken into account. Their effect was considered using the diffusional approach. The iterative computations were used to finally determine the temperature of the neutron gas. At the end, the reactivity curve displaying different effects inside fuel, namely fuel and gadolinium burn-out, the poisoning and slagging was drawn.

A MESOSCOPIC OXIDE FUEL CLUSTERING AND ITS GLOBAL PERFORMANCE

Transient fuel behavior in a Light Water-cooled Reactor core depends on nuclear properties (Doppler broadening, moderation ratio, and, sometimes, neutron gas temperature etc.) and on variations of thermal-physics parameters (temperature distributions, fuel elongation and moderator density). Usually, in a rough reactor analysis one ignores the very details of temperature distributions largely staying in a frame of so-called adiabatic assumptions (when temperature and density distribution are changing in sync keeping given spatial shapes). In majority of practical applications the radially distributed temperature fields are represented as monotonically smeared ones as if fissile and other materials are homogeneously mixed. Moreover, no one measurement technique allows counting precise correlation between reactivity feedback and in-pellet temperature and materials space-time distributions. However, if fuel is made of Mixed Oxide Plutonium-Uranium compound the behavior of Light Water Reactor would be impacted by an appearance of Pu-rich agglomerates that could be large enough to change physical processes. In such case the fuel reacts on power and temperature variations no more as a homogeneous but a heterogeneous media (on a mesoscopic scale, of course). It leads to changes in a fission product distributions, a fission gas release and, even, to an appearance of multiple components in a Fuel Temperature Coefficient and in a Power Reactivity feedback. These components would depend non-linearly on power, power rate and on some details of a heat transfer. This paper is the only first step of a broad research program where we are estimating the relevant phenomena just by an order of magnitude.

Study on the Origin and Fluid Identification of Low-Resistance Gas Reservoirs

The Wu 2 section of the Ke017 well block is a low-resistance gas reservoir with ultralow porosity and low permeability. The comprehensive analysis of rock lithology, physical properties, sedimentary characteristics, and gas content demonstrated that the development of micropores in illite/smectite dominated clay minerals together with the resulted additional conductivity capability and complex reservoir pore structures, as well as the enrichment of self-generating conductivity minerals like zeolites and pyrite which were the formation mechanisms of low-resistance gas layers in the Wu 2 section. A low-resistance gas reservoir has poor physical property, and it is difficult to distinguish the oil layer from the dry, gas, or water layers. In this paper, based on well/mud logging data and laboratory data, by taking advantages of the “excavation effect” of neutron gas and the dual-lateral resistivity difference between different depths, we successfully established a set of low-contrast log response methods for the identification and evaluation of oil layer and formation fluids. For a gas layer, the difference between neutron porosity and acoustic (or density) porosity is smaller than 0 and the difference in dual-lateral resistivity is greater than 0. For a water layer, the neutron porosity is similar to the acoustic (or density) porosity and the dual-lateral resistivity difference will be less than 0. While for a dry layer or a layer with both gas and water, the difference in porosity as well as dual-lateral resistivity is very small. The proposed method effectively solves the technical problem of oil layer and formation fluid identification in low-resistance gas reservoirs.

Quasiparticle properties of a single α particle in cold neutron matter

Light clusters such as alpha particles and deuterons are predicted to occur in hot nuclear matter as encountered in intermediate-energy heavy-ion collisions and protoneutron stars. To examine the in-medium properties of such light clusters, we consider a much simplified system in which like an impurity, a single alpha particle is embedded in a zero-temperature, dilute gas of non-interacting neutrons. By adopting a non-selfconsistent ladder approximation for the effective interaction between the impurity and the gas, which is often used for analyses of Fermi polarons in a gas of ultracold atoms, we calculate the quasiparticle properties of the impurity, i.e., the energy shift, effective mass, quasiparticle residue, and damping rate.

Anisotropic stars with a modified polytropic equation of state

In this article, we have presented the anisotropic stars by taking a modified polytropic equation of state (pr = k ρ1+1/n − α, where k and α are constants) in the framework of the Korkina-Orlyanskii spacetime. In this study, we have discussed four different models as: (A) n = 1 (Bose–Einstein Condensate (BEC) neutron liquid), (B) n = 2, (C) n = 3/2 (Non-relativistic neutron gas, (D) n = 3 (Ultra relativistic Fermi-gas). Moreover, we have tested several physical properties for each model. To compare the stiffness of these four models, we have plotted the M − R curves, M − I curves and compression modulus. As per the M − R curves, the equation of state can hold maximum mass when the polytropic index in 2 and minimum mass when n = 1 (BEC neutron liquid). Further, the ultra relativistic Fermi gas (n = 3) can also hold more Mmax than its non-relativistic counter part (n = 3/2). These results are further supported by the compression modulus. Lastly, to show its physical validity we have fitted six well known compact stars in M − R curve within their observational error bars.

How accurately can the Extended Thomas-Fermi method describe the inner crust of a neutron star?

We perform a systematic comparison between the results obtained by solving fully self-consistently the Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov equations, and those obtained using the semi-classical Extended Thomas-Fermi method, for various Wigner-Seitz cells within the inner crust of a neutron star. The lack of pairing correlations in the semi-classical approach leads to a large discrepancy between the two approaches. This discrepancy is well beyond the error of the quantum-mechanical calculation, and is related to spurious shell effects in the neutron gas.

Structure factors of the unitary gas under supernova conditions

We compute with lattice field theory the vector and axial static structure factors of the unitary gas for arbitrary temperature above the superfluid transition and for fugacities 0.1 < z < 1.0. Using the lattice formulation, we calculate beyond the validity of the virial expansion, a commonly used technique in many-body physics. We find qualitative differences in the behavior of the structure factors at high fugacity compared to the predictions of the virial expansion. Due to the large scattering length of neutrons, we expect the unitary gas structure factors to approximate the structure factors of hot neutron gases, and we therefore expect our calculations to be useful in supernova simulations, where neutron gas structure factors are needed to compute in-medium neutrino-neutron scattering rates.

Crystallization of the inner crust of a neutron star and the influence of shell effects

Context. In the cooling process of a non-accreting neutron star, the composition and properties of the crust are thought to be fixed at the finite temperature where nuclear reactions fall out of equilibrium. A lower estimate for this temperature is given by the crystallization temperature, which can be as high as ≈7 × 109 K in the inner crust, potentially leading to sizeable differences with respect to the simplifying cold-catalyzed matter hypothesis. Aims. We extend a recent work on the outer crust to the study of the crystallization of the inner crust and the associated composition in the one-component plasma approximation. Methods. The finite temperature variational equations for non-uniform matter in both the liquid and the solid phases are solved using a compressible liquid-drop approach with parameters optimized on four different microscopic models that cover current uncertainties in nuclear modeling. Results. We consider the effect of the different nuclear ingredients with their associated uncertainties separately: the nuclear equation of state, the surface properties in the presence of a uniform gas of dripped neutrons, and the proton shell effects arising from the ion single-particle structure. Our results suggest that the highest source of model dependence comes from the smooth part of the nuclear functional. Conclusions. We show that shell effects play an important role at the lowest densities close to the outer crust, but the most important physical ingredient to be settled for a quantitative prediction of the inner crust properties is the surface tension at extreme isospin values.

Parametrization of the surface energy in the ETF approximation

We perform extended Thomas–Fermi calculations in the Wigner–Seitz cell below and above neutron drip with realistic functionals. The resulting energy density is decomposed as a sum of bulk terms and a surface term, and a compressible liquid drop analytical formula is used to fit the surface tension. The effect of curvature terms and neutron skin is studied in detail. A very good reproduction of the microscopic data is obtained using an expression that depends only on the mass and charge of the cluster, showing that the in-medium modifications of the nuclear energy in the presence of an external neutron gas can be effectively accounted for in the isospin dependence of the surface tension. In this first application, aimed at establishing the fitting protocol, we concentrate on the Sly4 energy functional, but the study can be easily generalized to different functionals, and the resulting parametrizations can be used for direct applications in pasta calculations in neutron star crusts and supernova matter.

Validation of JEFF-3.3 and ENDF/B-VIII.0 nuclear data libraries in ANSWERS codes

The JEFF-3.3 and ENDF/B-VIII.0 evaluated nuclear data libraries were released in December 2017 and February 2018 respectively. Both evaluations represent a comprehensive update to their predecessor evaluations. The ANSWERS Software Service produces the MONK® and MCBEND Monte Carlo codes, and the WIMS deterministic code for nuclear criticality, shielding and reactor physics applications. MONK and MCBEND can utilise continuous energy nuclear data provided by the BINGO nuclear data library and MONK and WIMS can utilise broad energy group data (172 group XMAS scheme) via the WIMS nuclear data library. To produce the BINGO library, the BINGO Pre-Processor code is used to process ENDF-6 format evaluations. This utilises the RECONR-BROADR-PURR sequence of NJOY2016 to reconstruct and Doppler broaden the free gas neutron cross sections together with bespoke routines to generate cumulative distributions for the S(α,β) tabulations and equi-probable bins or probability functions for the secondary angle and energy data. To produce the WIMS library, NJOY2016 is again used to reconstruct and Doppler broaden the cross sections. The THERMR module is used to process the thermal scattering data. Preparation of data for system-dependent resonance shielding of some nuclides is performed. GROUPR is then used to produce the group averaged data before all the data are transformed into the specific WIMS library format. The MONK validation includes analyses based on around 800 configurations for a range of fuel and moderator types. The WIMS validation includes analyses of zero-energy critical and sub-critical, commissioning, operational and post-irradiation experiments for a range of fuel and moderator types. This paper presents and discusses the results of MONK and WIMS validation benchmark calculations using the JEFF-3.3 and ENDF/B-VIII.0 based BINGO and WIMS nuclear data libraries.