Abstract: The Ni-63(n, gamma) cross section has been measured for the first time at the neutron time-of-flight facility n_TOF at CERN from thermal neutron energies up to 200 keV. In total, capture kernels of 12 (new) resonances were determined. Maxwellian averaged cross sections were calculated for thermal energies from kT = 5-100 keV with uncertainties around 20%. Stellar model calculations for a 25M(circle dot) star show that the new data have a significant effect on the s-process production of Cu-63, Ni-64, and Zn-64 in massive stars, allowing stronger constraints on the Cu yields from explosive nucleosynthesis in the subsequent supernova.

Abstract: The neutron capture cross sections of several unstable nuclides acting as branching points in the s process are crucial for stellar nucleosynthesis studies. The unstable Tm-171 (t(1/2) = 1.92 yr) is part of the branching around mass A similar to 170 but its neutron capture cross section as a function of the neutron energy is not known to date. In this work, following the production for the first time of more than 5 mg of Tm-171 at the high-flux reactor Institut Laue-Langevin in France, a sample was produced at the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland. Two complementary experiments were carried out at the neutron time-of-flight facility (nTOF) at CERN in Switzerland and at the SARAF liquid lithium target facility at Soreq Nuclear Research Center in Israel by time of flight and activation, respectively. The result of the time -of-flight experiment consists of the first ever set of resonance parameters and the corresponding average resonance parameters, allowing us to make an estimation of the Maxwellian-averaged cross sections (MACS) by extrapolation. The activation measurement provides a direct and more precise measurement of the MACS at 30 keV: 384 (40) mb, with which the estimation from the nTOF data agree at the limit of 1 standard deviation. This value is 2.6 times lower than the JEFF-3.3 and ENDF/B-VIII evaluations, 25% lower than that of the Bao et al. compilation, and 1.6 times larger than the value recommended in the KAlloNiS (v1) database, based on the only previous experiment. Our result affects the nucleosynthesis at the A similar to 170 branching, namely, the Yb-171 abundance increases in the material lost by asymptotic giant branch stars, providing a better match to the available pre-solar SiC grain measurements compared to the calculations based on the current JEFF-3.3 model-based evaluation.

Abstract: The MiniBooNE experiment at Fermilab reports results from a search for (nu) over bar (mu) -> (nu) over bar (e) oscillations, using a data sample corresponding to 5.66 x 10(20) protons on target. An excess of 20.9 +/- 14.0 events is observed in the energy range 475 < E-nu(QE) < 1250 MeV, which, when constrained by the observed <(nu)over bar>(mu) events, has a probability for consistency with the background-only hypothesis of 0.5%. On the other hand, fitting for (nu) over bar (mu) -> (nu) over bar (e) oscillations, the best-fit point has chi(2) probability of 8.7%. The data are consistent with (nu) over bar (mu) -> (nu) over bar (e) oscillations in the 0.1 to 1.0 eV(2) Delta m(2) range and with the evidence for antineutrino oscillations from the Liquid Scintillator Neutrino Detector at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Abstract: The level structures of the very neutron-rich nuclei Pd-128 and Pd-126 have been investigated for the first time. In the r-process waiting-point nucleus Pd-128, a new isomer with a half-life of 5.8(8) μs is proposed to have a spin and parity of 8(+) and is associated with a maximally aligned configuration arising from the g(9/2) proton subshell with seniority v = 2. For Pd-126, two new isomers have been identified with half-lives of 0.33(4) and 0.44(3) μs. The yrast 2(+) energy is much higher in Pd-128 than in Pd-126, while the level sequence below the 8(+) isomer in Pd-128 is similar to that in the N = 82 isotone Cd-130. The electric quadrupole transition that depopulates the 8(+) isomer in Pd-128 is more hindered than the corresponding transition in Cd-130, as expected in the seniority scheme for a semimagic, spherical nucleus. These experimental findings indicate that the shell closure at the neutron number N = 82 is fairly robust in the neutron-rich Pd isotopes.

Abstract: The Lambda K-+(c)- mass spectrum is studied with a data sample of pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5.6 fb(-1) collected by the LHCb experiment. Three Xi(0)(c) states are observed with a large significance and their masses and natural widths are measured to be m[Xi(c)(2923)(0)] = 2923.04 +/- 0.25 +/- 0.20 +/- 0.14 MeV, Gamma[Xi(c)(2923)(0)] = 7.1 +/- 0.8 +/- 1.8 MeV, m[Xi(c)(2939)(0)] = 2938.55 +/- 0.21 +/- 0.17 +/- 0.14 MeV, Gamma[Xi(c)(2939)(0)] = 10.2 +/- 0.8 +/- 1.1 MeV, m[Xi(c)(2965)(0)] = 2964.88 +/- 0.26 +/- 0.14 +/- 0.14 MeV, Gamma[Xi(c)(2965)(0)] = 14.1 +/- 0.9 +/- 1.3 MeV, where the uncertainties are statistical, systematic, and due to the limited knowledge of the Lambda(+)(c) mass. The Xi(c)(2923)(0) and Xi(c)(2939)(0) baryons are new states. The Xi(c)(2965)(0) state is in the vicinity of the known Xi(c)(2970)(0) baryon; however, their masses and natural widths differ significantly.