Guadilla, V. et al, Algora, A., Tain, J. L., Agramunt, J., Jordan, D., Monserrate, M., et al. (2017). Characterization of a cylindrical plastic beta-detector with Monte Carlo simulations of optical photons. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A, 854, 134–138.
Abstract: In this work we report on the Monte Carlo study performed to understand and reproduce experimental measurements of a new plastic beta-detector with cylindrical geometry. Since energy deposition simulations differ from the experimental measurements for such a geometry, we show how the simulation of production and transport of optical photons does allow one to obtain the shapes of the experimental spectra. Moreover, taking into account the computational effort associated with this kind of simulation, we develop a method to convert the simulations of energy deposited into light collected, depending only on the interaction point in the detector. This method represents a useful solution when extensive simulations have to be done, as in the case of the calculation of the response function of the spectrometer in a total absorption gamma-ray spectroscopy analysis.
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n_TOF Collaboration(Massimi, C. et al.), Domingo-Pardo, C., Giubrone, G., & Tain, J. L. (2017). Neutron spectroscopy of Mg-26 states: Constraining the stellar neutron source Ne-22(alpha, n)Mg-25. Phys. Lett. B, 768, 1–6.
Abstract: This work reports on accurate, high-resolution measurements of the Mg-25(n, gamma)Mg-26 and Mg-25(n, tot) cross sections in the neutron energy range from thermal to about 300 keV, leading to a significantly improved Mg-25(n, gamma)Mg-26 parametrization. The relevant resonances for n+Mg-25 were characterized from a combined R-matrix analysis of the experimental data. This resulted in an unambiguous spin/parity assignment of the corresponding excited states in Mg-26. With this information experimental upper limits of the reaction rates for Ne-22(alpha, n)Mg-25 and Ne-22(alpha, gamma)Mg-26 were established, potentially leading to a significantly higher (alpha, n)/(alpha, gamma) ratio than previously evaluated. The impact of these results has been studied for stellar models in the mass range 2 to 25 M-circle dot. (C) 2017 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V.
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Caballero-Folch, R. et al, Domingo-Pardo, C., Agramunt, J., Algora, A., Rubio, B., & Tain, J. L. (2017). beta-decay half-lives and beta-delayed neutron emission probabilities for several isotopes of Au, Hg, Tl, Pb, and Bi, beyond N=126. Phys. Rev. C, 95(6), 064322–16pp.
Abstract: Background: There have been measurements on roughly 230 nuclei that are beta-delayed neutron emitters. They range from He-8 up to La-150. Apart from 210Tl, with a branching ratio of only 0.007%, no other neutron emitter has been measured beyond A = 150. Therefore, new data are needed, particularly in the region of heavy nuclei around N = 126, in order to guide theoretical models and help understand the formation of the third r-process peak at A similar to 195. Purpose: To measure both beta-decay half-lives and neutron branching ratios of several neutron-rich Au, Hg, Tl, Pb, and Bi isotopes beyond N = 126. Method: Ions of interest were produced by fragmentation of a U-238 beam, selected and identified via the GSI-FRS fragment separator. A stack of segmented silicon detectors (SIMBA) was used to measure ion implants and beta decays. An array of 30 He-3 tubes embedded in a polyethylene matrix (BELEN) was used to detect neutrons with high efficiency and selectivity. A self-triggered digital system is employed to acquire data and to enable time correlations. The latter were analyzed with an analytical model and results for the half-lives and neutron-branching ratios were derived by using the binned maximum-likelihood method. Results: Twenty new beta-decay half-lives are reported for Au204-206, Hg208-211, Tl211-216, Pb215-218, and Bi218-220, nine of them for the first time. Neutron emission probabilities are reported for Hg-210,Hg-211 and Tl211-216. Conclusions: The new beta-decay half-lives are in good agreement with previous measurements on nuclei in this region. The measured neutron emission probabilities are comparable to or smaller than values predicted by global models such as relativistic Hartree Bogoliubov plus the relativistic quasi-particle random phase approximation (RHB + RQRPA).
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Rubio, B., Gelletly, W., Algora, A., Nacher, E., & Tain, J. L. (2017). Beta decay studies with total absorption spectroscopy and the Lucrecia spectrometer at ISOLDE. J. Phys. G, 44(8), 084004–25pp.
Abstract: Here we present the experimental activities carried out at ISOLDE with the total absorption spectrometer Lucrecia, a large 4 pi scintillator detector designed to absorb a full gamma cascade following beta decay. This spectrometer is designed to measure beta-feeding to excited states without the systematic error called Pandemonium. The set up allows the measurement of decays of very short half life. Experimental results from several campaigns, that focus on the determination of the shapes of beta-decaying nuclei by measuring their beta decay strength distributions as a function of excitation energy in the daughter nucleus, are presented.
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BRIKEN Collaboration(Tarifeño-Saldivia, A. et al), Tain, J. L., Domingo-Pardo, C., Agramunt, J., Algora, A., Morales, A. I., et al. (2017). Conceptual design of a hybrid neutron-gamma detector for study of beta-delayed neutrons at the RIB facility of RIKEN. J. Instrum., 12, P04006–22pp.
Abstract: BRIKEN is a complex detection system to be installed at the RIB-facility of the RIKEN Nishina Center. It is aimed at the detection of heavy-ion implants, β-particles, γ-rays and β-delayed neutrons. The whole detection setup involves the Advanced Implantation Detection Array (AIDA), two HPGe Clover detectors and a large set of 166 counters of 3He embedded in a high-density polyethylene matrix. This article reports on a novel methodology developed for the conceptual design and optimisation of the 3He-tubes array, aiming at the best possible performance in terms of neutron detection. The algorithm is based on a geometric representation of two selected parameters of merit, namely, average neutron detection efficiency and efficiency flatness, as a function of a reduced number of geometric variables. The response of the detection system itself, for each configuration, is obtained from a systematic MC-simulation implemented realistically in Geant4. This approach has been found to be particularly useful. On the one hand, due to the different types and large number of 3He-tubes involved and, on the other hand, due to the additional constraints introduced by the ancillary detectors for charged particles and gamma-rays. Empowered by the robustness of the algorithm, we have been able to design a versatile detection system, which can be easily re-arranged into a compact mode in order to maximize the neutron detection performance, at the cost of the gamma-ray sensitivity. In summary, we have designed a system which shows, for neutron energies up to 1(5) MeV, a rather flat and high average efficiency of 68.6%(64%) and 75.7%(71%) for the hybrid and compact modes, respectively. The performance of the BRIKEN system has been also quantified realistically by means of MC-simulations made with different neutron energy distributions.
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