Nuclear De-excitation Research Articles

Investigation of thorium salts as candidate materials for direct observation of the (229m)Th nuclear transition.

Recent efforts to measure the (229m)Th → (229g)Th nuclear transition sparked interest in understanding the electronic structure of wide-gap thorium salts. Such materials could be used to measure this nuclear transition using optical spectroscopy in solid-state devices. Here, we present screened hybrid density functional theory and many-body G0W0 calculations of two candidate materials, namely, Na2ThF6 and ThF4, for such a measurement. Our results show an electronic gap larger than 10 eV for both materials, suggesting that the internal conversion nuclear de-excitation channel would be suppressed in these materials. We also present results for ThX4 (X = Cl, Br, I), materials with smaller gaps significantly easier to access experimentally.

Development of gamma de-excitation model for prediction of prompt gamma-rays and isomer production based on energy-dependent level structure treatment

A new theoretical model to simulate gamma de-excitation of excited nuclei, EBITEM (ENSDF-Based Isomeric Transition and isomEr production Model), is developed based on the Evaluated Nuclear Structure Data File (ENSDF), supplementary evaluated data tables, and theories. In the model, reaction products after nucleon evaporation were de-excited by using theoretical calculations if the excitation energy was higher than 3000keV and the mass number was greater than 40amu. Otherwise, the nuclei were de-excited based on the scheme provided in the ENSDF. Thus by tracking nuclear de-excitation, production of prompt gamma-rays and isomers was simulated.The model is applicable for neutron capture products and spallation products of 1071 nuclear species from Li to Bk. Except for some of the light nuclei with discrete level structure, simulated isomer production and prompt gamma-ray spectra agree generally within 40% and a factor of 3, respectively.

Synchrotron radiation-based Mössbauer spectra of 174Yb measured with internal conversion electrons

A detection system for synchrotron-radiation (SR)-based Mössbauer spectroscopy was developed to enhance the nuclear resonant scattering counting rate and thus increase the available nuclides. In the system, a windowless avalanche photodiode (APD) detector was combined with a vacuum cryostat to detect the internal conversion (IC) electrons and fluorescent X-rays accompanied by nuclear de-excitation. As a feasibility study, the SR-based Mössbauer spectrum using the 76.5 keV level of 174Yb was observed without 174Yb enrichment of the samples. The counting rate was five times higher than that of our previous system, and the spectrum was obtained within 10 h. This result shows that nuclear resonance events can be more efficiently detected by counting IC electrons for nuclides with high IC coefficients. Furthermore, the windowless detection system enables us to place the sample closer to the APD elements and is advantageous for nuclear resonant inelastic scattering measurements. Therefore, this detection system can not only increase the number of nuclides accessible in SR-based Mössbauer spectroscopy but also allows the nuclear resonant inelastic scattering measurements of small single crystals or enzymes with dilute probe nuclides that are difficult to measure with the previous detection system.

Neutrino-pair emission from nuclear de-excitation in core-collapse supernova simulations

We study the impact of neutrino-pair production from the de-excitation of highly excited heavy nuclei on core-collapse supernova simulations, following the evolution up to several 100 ms after core bounce. Our study is based on the AGILE-Boltztran supernova code, which features general relativistic radiation hydrodynamics and accurate three-flavor Boltzmann neutrino transport in spherical symmetry. In our simulations the nuclear de-excitation process is described in two different ways. At first we follow the approach proposed by Fuller and Meyer [Astrophys. J. 376,701 (1991)], which is based on strength functions derived in the framework of the nuclear Fermi-gas model of non-interacting nucleons. Secondly, we parametrize the allowed and forbidden strength distributions in accordance with measurements for selected nuclear ground states. We determine the de-excitation strength by applying the Brink hypothesis and detailed balance. For both approaches, we find that nuclear de-excitation has no effect on the supernova dynamics. However, we find that nuclear de-excitation is the leading source for the production of electron antineutrinos as well as heavy-lepton flavor (anti)neutrinos during the collapse phase. At sufficiently high densities, the associated neutrino spectra are influenced by interactions with the surrounding matter, making proper simulations of neutrino transport important for the determination of the neutrino-energy loss rate. We find that even including nuclear de-excitations, the energy loss during the collapse phase is overwhelmingly dominated by electron neutrinos produced by electron captures.

Simultaneous fitting of statistical-model parameters to symmetric and asymmetric fission cross sections

The de-excitation of compound nuclei has been successfully described for several decades by means of statistical models. However, accurate predictions require some fine-tuning of the model parameters. This task can be simplified by studying several entrance channels, which populate different regions of the parameter space of the compound nucleus.Fusion reactions play an important role in this strategy because they minimise the uncertainty on the entrance channel by fixing mass, charge and excitation energy of the compound nucleus. If incomplete fusion is negligible, the only uncertainty on the compound nucleus comes from the spin distribution. However, some de-excitation channels, such as fission, are quite sensitive to spin. Other entrance channels can then be used to discriminate between equivalent parameter sets.The focus of this work is on fission and intermediate-mass-fragment emission cross sections of compound nuclei with 70 A 240. The statistical de-excitation model is GEMINI++. The choice of the observables is natural in the framework of GEMINI++, which describes fragment emission using a fissionlike formalism. Equivalent parameter sets for fusion reactions can be resolved using the spallation entrance channel. This promising strategy can lead to the identification of a minimal set of physical ingredients necessary for a unified quantitative description of nuclear de-excitation.

The effects of Doppler broadening and detector resolution on the performance of three‐stage Compton cameras

The authors investigated how the characteristics of the detectors used in a three-stage Compton camera (CC) affect the CC's ability to accurately measure the emission distribution and energy spectrum of prompt gammas (PG) emitted by nuclear de-excitations during proton therapy. The detector characteristics they studied included the material (high-purity germanium [HPGe] and cadmium zinc telluride [CZT]), Doppler broadening (DB), and resolution (lateral, depth, and energy). The authors simulated three-stage HPGe and CZT CCs of various configurations, detecting gammas from point sources with energies ranging from 0.511 to 7.12 MeV. They also simulated a proton pencil beam irradiating a tissue target to study how the detector characteristics affect the PG data measured by CCs in a clinical proton therapy setting. They used three figures of merit: the distance of closest approach (DCA) and the point of closest approach (PCA) between the measured and actual position of the PG emission origin, and the calculated energy resolution. For CCs with HPGe detectors, DB caused the DCA to be greater than 3 mm for 14% of the 6.13 MeV gammas and 20% of the 0.511 MeV gammas. For CCs with CZT detectors, DB caused the DCA to be greater than 3 mm for 18% of the 6.13 MeV gammas and 25% of the 0.511 MeV gammas. The full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the PCA in the ẑ direction for HPGe and CZT detectors ranged from 1.3 to 0.4 mm for gammas with incident energy ranging from 0.511 to 7.12 MeV. For CCs composed of HPGe detectors, the resolution of incident gamma energy calculated by the CC ranged from 6% to 1% for gammas with true incident energies from 0.511 to 7.12 MeV. For CCs composed of CZT detectors, the resolution of gamma energy calculated by the CC ranged from 10% to 1% for gammas with true incident energies from 0.511 to 7.12 MeV. For HPGe and CZT CCs in which all detector effect were included, the DCA was less than 3 mm for 75% and 68% of the detected gammas, respectively, and restricting gammas to those having energy greater than 2.0 MeV increased these percentages to 83% and 77% for HPGe and CZT, respectively. Distributions of the true gamma origins and the PCA after detector characteristics had been included showed good agreement on beam range and some loss of resolution for the lateral profile of the PG emission. Characteristic energy lines were evident in the calculated gamma energy spectrum. The authors found the following: (1) DB is the dominant source of spatial and energy resolution loss in the CCs at all energy levels; (2) the largest difference in the spatial resolution of HPGe and CZT CCs is that the spatial resolution distributions of CZT have broader tails. The differences in the FWHM of these distributions are small; (3) the energy resolution of both HPGe and CZT three-stage CCs is adequate for PG spectroscopy; and (4) restricting the gammas to those having energy greater than 2.0 MeV can improve the achievable image resolution.

Analysis ofγ-Ray Production in Neutral-Current Neutrino-Oxygen Interactions at Energies above 200 MeV

It has long been recognized that the observation of γ rays originating from nuclear deexcitation can be exploited to identify neutral-current neutrino-nucleus interactions in water-Cherenkov detectors. We report the results of a calculation of the neutrino- and antineutrino-induced γ-ray production cross section for the oxygen target. Our analysis is focused on the kinematical region of neutrino energy larger than ∼200 MeV, in which a single-nucleon knockout is known to be the dominant reaction mechanism. The numerical results have been obtained using for the first time a realistic model of the target spectral function, extensively tested against electron-nucleus scattering data. We find that at a neutrino energy of 600MeV the fraction of neutral-current interactions leading to emission of γrays of energy larger than 6MeV is ∼41%, and that the contribution of the p_{3/2} state is overwhelming.

Neutron to Gamma Pulse Shape Discrimination in Liquid Argon Detectors with High Quantum Effciency Photomultiplier Tubes

Abstract A high Light Yield Liquid Argon chamber has been radiated with an Am/Be source for signal-to-background separation level characterization in a Dark Matter Liquid Argon based detector. Apart from the standard nuclear recoil and electron events, from neutron elastic interactions and gamma conversions respectively, an intermediate population has been observed which is attributed to inelastic neutron scatters on Argon nuclei producing Argon recoil and simultaneous gammas from nuclear de-excitation. Taking account of these events results in a better determination of the recoil-like to electron-like separation based on the shape of the scintillation pulse. The results of this recent study as well as from a previous study with a chamber with a lower Light Yield are presented.

Multifragmentation in Reactions of 1-GeV Protons with Iron Nuclei

We use combinations of cascade and nuclear de-excitation models to assess the importance of the inclusion of a multifragmentation stage for the quantitative description of the 1-GeV p+Fe spallation reaction. We discuss the sensitivity of several exclusive physical observables to the deexcitation mechanism in the attempt to identify which of them can be considered suitable probes for a multifragmentation stage. The calculations show that the inclusion of a multifragmentation stage is not necessary to construct an accurate description of the observed data.

Prompt gamma detection for range verification in proton therapy

It is an on-going challenge to verify the proton range in situ during proton therapy. Since the protons stop in target tissue, measurement of gamma-rays emitted either promptly from nuclear de-excitation or in pair from positron annihilation is the feasible method to monitor the proton range in-vivo. Using the technique of gamma collimation, we empirically demonstrated that the proton range and prompt gamma distribution are well correlated in the therapy energy range, and that measuring prompt gammas is a viable method for the clinical application. However, this collimation technique appears not to be applicable to passively scattered proton beams. The device chosen for gamma imaging in 2D is an electron tracking Compton camera, which images single-emission photons employing a gas chamber to induce Compton scattering. Images of prompt gammas were attained at the proton beam energy of 140 MeV. Measurements showed that gamma image in the energy range of 800–2000 keV provides a better match with the proton range compared to the image by lower energy gammas.

Influence of nuclear de-excitation on observables relevant for space exploration

The composition of the space radiation environment inside spacecrafts is modified by the interaction with shielding material, with equipment and even with the astronauts’ bodies. Accurate quantitative estimates of the effects of nuclear reactions are necessary, for example, for dose estimation and prediction of single-event-upset rates. To this end, it is necessary to construct predictive models for nuclear reactions, which usually consist of an intranuclear-cascade or quantum-molecular-dynamics stage, followed by a nuclear-de-excitation stage.While it is generally acknowledged that it is necessary to accurately simulate the first reaction stage, transport-code users often neglect or underestimate the importance of the choice of the de-excitation code. The purpose of this work is to prove that the de-excitation model is in fact a non-negligible source of uncertainty for the prediction of several observables of crucial importance for space applications. For some particular observables, the systematic uncertainty due to the de-excitation model actually dominates the total uncertainty. Our point will be illustrated by making use of nucleon–nucleus calculations performed with several intranuclear-cascade/de-excitation models, such as the Liège Intranuclear Cascade model (incl4) and Isabel (for the cascade part) and abla07, Dresner, gem, gemini++ and smm (on the de-excitation side).

GEANT4 SIMULATIONS OF GAMMA-RAY EMISSION FROM ACCELERATED PARTICLES IN SOLAR FLARES

Gamma-ray spectroscopy provides diagnostics of particle acceleration in solar flares, but care must be taken when interpreting the spectra due to effects of the angular distribution of the accelerated particles (such as relativistic beaming) and Compton reprocessing of the radiation in the solar atmosphere. In this paper, we use the GEANT4 Monte Carlo package to simulate the interactions of accelerated electrons and protons and study these effects on the gamma-rays resulting from electron bremsstrahlung and pion decay. We consider the ratio of the 511~keV annihilation-line flux to the continuum at 200~keV and in the energy band just above the nuclear de-excitation lines (8--15~MeV) as a diagnostic of the accelerated particles and a point of comparison with data from the X17 flare of 2003 October 28. We also find that pion secondaries from accelerated protons produce a positron annihilation line component at a depth of $\sim$ 10 g cm$^{-2}$, and that the subsequent Compton scattering of the 511~keV photons produces a continuum that can mimic the spectrum expected from the 3$\gamma$ decay of orthopositronium.

Trapped Ion Oscillation Frequencies as Sensors for Spectroscopy

The oscillation frequencies of charged particles in a Penning trap can serve as sensors for spectroscopy when additional field components are introduced to the magnetic and electric fields used for confinement. The presence of so-called “magnetic bottles” and specific electric anharmonicities creates calculable energy-dependences of the oscillation frequencies in the radiofrequency domain which may be used to detect the absorption or emission of photons both in the microwave and optical frequency domains. The precise electronic measurement of these oscillation frequencies therefore represents an optical sensor for spectroscopy. We discuss possible applications for precision laser and microwave spectroscopy and their role in the determination of magnetic moments and excited state life-times. Also, the trap-assisted measurement of radiative nuclear de-excitations in the X-ray domain is discussed. This way, the different applications range over more than 12 orders of magnitude in the detectable photon energies, from below μeV in the microwave domain to beyond MeV in the X-ray domain.

Recent results of the laser ion source facility at INFN-LNS and applications to nuclear and applied research

A pulsed neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet laser ion source has been used as proton beams generator. The laser wavelength is 1064 nm, the pulse duration is 9 ns and the intensity reaches 10(10) W/cm(2). Laser irradiates hydrogenated polymers targets located in a chamber at 10(-7) mbar. The ions are post-accelerated in a suitable chamber by 30 kV of voltage between the target, positively biased, and the following ground electrode. The extracted beams is characterized through a time-of-flight technique. Possible applications to the field of nuclear physics, such as nuclear excitation and de-excitations, nuclear reactions and nuclear fusion, will be presented and discussed.

Nuclear interaction gamma-ray lines from the Galactic center region

Aims. The accretion of stars onto the central supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way is predicted to generate large fluxes of subrelativistic ions in the Galactic center region. We analyze the intensity, shape and spatial distribution of de-excitation gamma-ray lines produced by nuclear interactions of these energetic particles with the ambient medium. Methods. We first estimate the amount and mean kinetic energy of particles released from the central black hole during star disruption. We then calculate from a kinetic equation the energy and spatial distributions of these particles in the Galactic center region. These particle distributions are then used to derive the characteristics of the main nuclear interaction gamma-ray lines. Results. Because the time period of star capture by the supermassive black hole is expected to be shorter than the lifetime of the ejected fast particles against Coulomb losses, the gamma-ray emission is predicted to be stationary. We find that the nuclear de-excitation lines should be emitted from a region of maximum 5$^\circ$ angular radius. The total gamma-ray line flux below 8 MeV is calculated to be $\approx10^{-4}$ photons cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$. The most promising lines for detection are those at 4.44 and $\sim$6.2 MeV, with a predicted flux in each line of $\approx$$10^{-5}$ photons cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$. Unfortunately, it is unlikely that this emission can be detected with the INTEGRAL observatory. But the predicted line intensities appear to be within reach of future gamma-ray space instruments. A future detection of de-excitation gamma-ray lines from the Galactic center region would provide unique information on the high-energy processes induced by the central supermassive black hole and the physical conditions of the emitting region.

Pion-induced fission – A review

Real or virtual pions are important ingredients of nuclear reactions at intermediate energies, and their couplings to major nuclear de-excitation modes can determine the final reaction products starting from several beam species. One of these modes is the important fission decay channel for heavy nuclei, induced with real pion beams over a wide range of energies and nuclei, largely using SSNTD. The data have been compared with the predictions of several standard INC reaction models. This review of the data and calculations will provide a status report for this class of reactions. Comparison to fission induced by protons and photons is included to set a context for that induced by real pion beams.

Progress in hadronic physics modelling in Geant4

Geant4 offers a set of models to simulate hadronic showers in calorimeters. Recent improvements to several models relevant to the modelling of hadronic showers are discussed. These include improved cross sections, a revision of the FTF model, the addition of quasi-elastic scattering to the QGS model, and enhancements in the nuclear precompound and de-excitation models. The validation of physics models against thin target experiments has been extended especially in the energy region 10 GeV and below. Examples of new validation results are shown.

AVS-F observations of γ-ray emission during January 20, 2005 solar flare up to 140 MeV

The solar flare of January 20, 2005 (X7.1, 06:36–07:26 UT, maximum at 07:01 UT by the GOES soft X-ray data) was the most powerful one in January 2005 series. The AVS-F apparatus onboard CORONAS-F registered γ-emission during soft X-ray rising phase of this flare in two energy ranges of 0.1–20 MeV and 2–140 MeV. The highest γ-ray energy registered during this flare was ∼140 MeV. Six spectral features were registered in energy spectrum of this solar flare: annihilation + αα (0.4–0.6 MeV), 24Mg + 20Ne + 28Si + neutron capture (1.7–2.3 MeV), 21Ne + 22Ne + 16O + 12С (3.2–5.0 MeV), 16O (5.3–6.9 MeV), one from neutral pions decay (25–110 MeV) and one in energy band 15–21 MeV. Four of them contain typical for solar flares lines – annihilation, nuclear de-excitation and neutron capture at 1H. Spectral feature caused by neutral pions decay was registered during several flares too. Some spectral peculiarities in the region of 15–21 MeV were first observed in solar flare energy spectrum.

Determination of the fission fragment excitation energy with allowance for neutron multiplicity

The study of the excitation energy distribution of fission fragments as a function of their mass and charge is important for revealing the nuclear fission mechanism and useful for many applications. To measure directly the excitation energy of primary fission fragments (before emission of neutrons) is a great problem. A method of obtaining these excitation energies from calculated neutron multiplicities and experimental values for differential yields of fragment pairs after emission of neutrons is considered. The Empire-II code was used to calculate neutron multiplicities as a function of various characteristics of the nuclear structure, fission process, and fission fragment deexcitation.

Direct detection rates of dark matter coupled to dark energy

We investigate the effect of a coupling between dark matter and dark energy on the rates for the direct detection of dark matter. The magnitude of the effect depends on the strength $\ensuremath{\kappa}$ of this new interaction relative to gravity. The resulting isothermal velocity distribution for dark matter in galaxy halos is still Maxwell-Boltzmann (M-B), but the characteristic velocity and the escape velocity are increased by $\sqrt{1+{\ensuremath{\kappa}}^{2}}$. We adopt a phenomenological approach and consider values of $\ensuremath{\kappa}$ near unity. For such values we find that: (i) The (time averaged) event rate increases for light WIMPs, while it is somewhat reduced for WIMP masses larger than 100 GeV. (ii) The time dependence of the rate arising from the modulation amplitude is decreased compared to the standard M-B velocity distribution. (iii) The average and maximum WIMP energy increase proportionally to $1+{\ensuremath{\kappa}}^{2}$, which, for sufficiently massive WIMPs, allows the possibility of designing experiments measuring $\ensuremath{\gamma}$ rays following nuclear de-excitation.