|
Gonzalez-Sevilla, S. et al, Bernabeu Verdu, J., Civera, J. V., Garcia, C., Lacasta, C., Marco, R., et al. (2014). A double-sided silicon micro-strip Super-Module for the ATLAS Inner Detector upgrade in the High-Luminosity LHC. J. Instrum., 9, P02003–37pp.
Abstract: The ATLAS experiment is a general purpose detector aiming to fully exploit the discovery potential of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. It is foreseen that after several years of successful data-taking, the LHC physics programme will be extended in the so-called High-Luminosity LHC, where the instantaneous luminosity will be increased up to 5 x 10(34) cm(-2) s(-1). For ATLAS, an upgrade scenario will imply the complete replacement of its internal tracker, as the existing detector will not provide the required performance due to the cumulated radiation damage and the increase in the detector occupancy. The current baseline layout for the new ATLAS tracker is an all-silicon-based detector, with pixel sensors in the inner layers and silicon micro-strip detectors at intermediate and outer radii. The super-module is an integration concept proposed for the strip region of the future ATLAS tracker, where double-sided stereo silicon micro-strip modules are assembled into a low-mass local support structure. An electrical super-module prototype for eight double-sided strip modules has been constructed. The aim is to exercise the multi-module readout chain and to investigate the noise performance of such a system. In this paper, the main components of the current super-module prototype are described and its electrical performance is presented in detail.
|
|
|
Pujades, M. C., Granero, D., Vijande, J., Ballester, F., Perez-Calatayud, J., Papagiannis, P., et al. (2014). Air-kerma evaluation at the maze entrance of HDR brachytherapy facilities. J. Radiol. Prot., 34(4), 741–753.
Abstract: In the absence of procedures for evaluating the design of brachytherapy (BT) facilities for radiation protection purposes, the methodology used for external beam radiotherapy facilities is often adapted. The purpose of this study is to adapt the NCRP 151 methodology for estimating the air-kerma rate at the door in BT facilities. Such methodology was checked against Monte Carlo (MC) techniques using the code Geant4. Five different facility designs were studied for Ir-192 and Co-60 HDR applications to account for several different bunker layouts. For the estimation of the lead thickness needed at the door, the use of transmission data for the real spectra at the door instead of the ones emitted by Ir-192 and Co-60 will reduce the lead thickness by a factor of five for Ir-192 and ten for Co-60. This will significantly lighten the door and hence simplify construction and operating requirements for all bunkers. The adaptation proposed in this study to estimate the air-kerma rate at the door depends on the complexity of the maze: it provides good results for bunkers with a maze (i.e. similar to those used for linacs for which the NCRP 151 methodology was developed) but fails for less conventional designs. For those facilities, a specific Monte Carlo study is in order for reasons of safety and cost-effectiveness.
|
|
|
Tarifeño-Saldivia, A., & Soto, L. (2014). Effects of gas chamber geometry and gas flow on the neutron production in a fast plasma focus neutron source. Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion, 56(12), 125013–5pp.
Abstract: This work reports that gas chamber geometry and gas flow management substantially affect the neutron production of a repetitive fast plasma focus. The gas flow rate is the most sensitive parameter. An appropriate design of the gas chamber combined with a suitable flow-rate management can lead to improvements in the neutron production of one order of magnitude working in a fast repetitive mode.
|
|
|
Piersanti, L., Bellini, F., Bini, F., Collamati, F., De Lucia, E., Durante, M., et al. (2014). Measurement of charged particle yields from PMMA irradiated by a 220 MeV/u C-12 beam. Phys. Med. Biol., 59(7), 1857–1872.
Abstract: The radiation used in hadrontherapy treatments interacts with the patient body producing secondary particles, either neutral or charged, that can be used for dose and Bragg peak monitoring and to provide a fast feedback on the treatment plans. Recent results obtained from the authors on simplified setups (mono-energetic primary beams interacting with homogeneous tissue like target) have already indicated the correlation that exists between the flux of these secondaries coming from the target (e.g. protons and photons) and the position of the primary beam Bragg peak. In this paper, the measurements of charged particle fluxes produced by the interaction of a 220 MeV/u carbon ion beam at GSI, Darmstadt, with a polymethyl methacrylate target are reported. The emission region of protons (p), deuterons (d) and tritons (t) has been characterized using a drift chamber while the particle time-of-flight, used to compute the kinetic energy spectra, was measured with a LYSO scintillator.The energy released in the LYSO crystal was used for particle identification purposes. The measurements were repeated with the setup at 60 degrees and 90 degrees with respect to the primary beam direction. The accuracy on the fragments emission profile reconstruction and its relationship with the Bragg peak position have been studied. Based on the acquired experimental evidence, a method to monitor the dose profile and the position of the Bragg peak inside the target is proposed.
|
|
|
Brzezinski, K., Oliver, J. F., Gillam, J., & Rafecas, M. (2014). Study of a high-resolution PET system using a Silicon detector probe. Phys. Med. Biol., 59(20), 6117–6140.
Abstract: A high-resolution silicon detector probe, in coincidence with a conventional PET scanner, is expected to provide images of higher quality than those achievable using the scanner alone. Spatial resolution should improve due to the finer pixelization of the probe detector, while increased sensitivity in the probe vicinity is expected to decrease noise. A PET-probe prototype is being developed utilizing this principle. The system includes a probe consisting of ten layers of silicon detectors, each a 80 x 52 array of 1 x 1 x 1 mm(3) pixels, to be operated in coincidence with a modern clinical PET scanner. Detailed simulation studies of this system have been performed to assess the effect of the additional probe information on the quality of the reconstructed images. A grid of point sources was simulated to study the contribution of the probe to the system resolution at different locations over the field of view (FOV). A resolution phantom was used to demonstrate the effect on image resolution for two probe positions. A homogeneous source distribution with hot and cold regions was used to demonstrate that the localized improvement in resolution does not come at the expense of the overall quality of the image. Since the improvement is constrained to an area close to the probe, breast imaging is proposed as a potential application for the novel geometry. In this sense, a simplified breast phantom, adjacent to heart and torso compartments, was simulated and the effect of the probe on lesion detectability, through measurements of the local contrast recovery coefficient-to-noise ratio (CNR), was observed. The list-mode ML-EM algorithm was used for image reconstruction in all cases. As expected, the point spread function of the PET-probe system was found to be non-isotropic and vary with position, offering improvement in specific regions. Increase in resolution, of factors of up to 2, was observed in the region close to the probe. Images of the resolution phantom showed visible improvement in resolution when including the probe in the simulations. The image quality study demonstrated that contrast and spill-over ratio in other areas of the FOV were not sacrificed for this enhancement. The CNR study performed on the breast phantom indicates increased lesion detectability provided by the probe.
|
|
|
Gillam, J. E., Solevi, P., Oliver, J. F., Casella, C., Heller, M., Joram, C., et al. (2014). Sensitivity recovery for the AX-PET prototype using inter-crystal scattering events. Phys. Med. Biol., 59(15), 4065–4083.
Abstract: The development of novel detection devices and systems such as the AX-positron emission tomography (PET) demonstrator often introduce or increase the measurement of atypical coincidence events such as inter-crystal scattering (ICS). In more standard systems, ICS events often go undetected and the small measured fraction may be ignored. As the measured quantity of such events in the data increases, so too does the importance of considering them during image reconstruction. Generally, treatment of ICS events will attempt to determine which of the possible candidate lines of response (LoRs) correctly determine the annihilation photon trajectory. However, methods of assessment often have low success rates or are computationally demanding. In this investigation alternative approaches are considered. Experimental data was taken using the AX-PET prototype and a NEMA phantom. Three methods of ICS treatment were assessed-each of which considered all possible candidate LoRs during image reconstruction. Maximum likelihood expectation maximization was used in conjunction with both standard (line-like) and novel (V-like in this investigation) detection responses modeled within the system matrix. The investigation assumed that no information other than interaction locations was available to distinguish between candidates, yet the methods assessed all provided means by which such information could be included. In all cases it was shown that the signal to noise ratio is increased using ICS events. However, only one method, which used full modeling of the ICS response in the system matrix-the V-like model-provided enhancement in all figures of merit assessed in this investigation. Finally, the optimal method of ICS incorporation was demonstrated using data from two small animals measured using the AX-PET demonstrator.
|
|
|
Krzysiek, M. et al, Gadea, A., Huyuk, T., & Barrientos, D. (2014). Study of the soft dipole modes in Ce-140 via inelastic scattering of O-17. Phys. Scr., 89(5), 054016–6pp.
Abstract: The main aim of this study was a deeper understanding of the nuclear structure properties of the soft dipole modes in Ce-140, excited via inelastic scattering of weakly bound O-17 projectiles. An important aim was to investigate the 'splitting' of the PDR into two parts: a low-energy isoscalar component dominated by neutron-skin oscillations and a higher-energy component lying on the tail of the giant dipole resonance of a rather isovector character. This was already observed for this nucleus, investigated in (alpha, alpha') and (gamma,gamma') experiments. The experiment was performed at Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro, Italy. Inelastic scattering of O-17 ion beam at 20 MeV A(-1) was used to excite the resonance modes in the Ce-140 target. Gamma-rays were registered by five triple clusters of AGATA-Demonstrator and nine large volume scintillators (LaBr3). The scattered O-17 ions were identified by two Delta E – E Si telescopes of the TRACE array mounted inside the scattering chamber. The telescopes consisted of two segmented Si-pad detectors, each of 60 pixels. Very preliminary data have shown a strong domination of the E1 transitions in the 'pygmy' region with a character more similar to the one obtained in alpha scattering experiment.
|
|
|
Greynat, D., Sesma, J., & Vulvert, G. (2014). Derivatives of the Pochhammer and reciprocal Pochhammer symbols and their use in epsilon-expansions of Appell and Kampe de Feriet functions. J. Math. Phys., 55(4), 043501–16pp.
Abstract: Useful expressions of the derivatives, to any order, of Pochhammer and reciprocal Pochhammer symbols with respect to their arguments are presented. They are building blocks of a procedure, recently suggested, for obtaining the e-expansion of functions of the hypergeometric class related to Feynman integrals. The procedure is applied to some examples of such kind of functions taken from the literature.
|
|
|
Taprogge, J. et al, Gadea, A., & Montaner-Piza, A. (2014). Identification of a millisecond isomeric state in Cd-129(81) via the detection of internal conversion and Compton electrons. Phys. Lett. B, 738, 223–227.
Abstract: The decay of an isomeric state in the neutron-rich nucleus Cd-129 has been observed via the detection of internal conversion and Compton electrons providing first experimental information on excited states in this nucleus. The isomer was populated in the projectile fission of a U-238 beam at the Radioactive Isotope Beam Factory at RIKEN. From the measured yields of gamma-rays and internal conversion electrons, a multipolarity of E3 was tentatively assigned to the isomeric transition. A half-life of T-1/2 = 3.6(2) ms was determined for the new state which was assigned a spin of (21/2(+)), based on a comparison to shell model calculations performed using state-of-the-art realistic effective interactions.
|
|
|
AGATA Collaboration(Pellegri, L. et al), & Gadea, A. (2014). Pygmy dipole resonance in Sn-124 populated by inelastic scattering of O-17. Phys. Lett. B, 738, 519–523.
Abstract: The gamma decay from the high-lying states of Sn-124 was measured using the inelastic scattering of O-17 at 340 MeV. The emitted gamma rays were detected with high resolution with the AGATA demonstrator array and the scattered ions were detected in two segmented Delta E-E silicon telescopes. The angular distribution was measured both for the gamma rays and the scattered O-17 ions. An accumulation of E1 strength below the particle threshold was found and compared with previous data obtained with (gamma,gamma') and (alpha,alpha'gamma) reactions. The present results of elastic scattering, and excitation of E2 and E1 states were analysed using the DWBA approach. From this comprehensive description the isoscalar component of the 1-excited states was extracted. The obtained values are based on the comparison of the data with DWBA calculations including a form factor deduced using a microscopic transition density.
|
|