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AGATA Collaboration(Ralet, D. et al), Gadea, A., & Perez-Vidal, R. M. (2017). Toward lifetime and g factor measurements of short-lived states in the vicinity of Pb-208. Phys. Scr., 92(5), 054004–4pp.
Abstract: The multi-nucleon transfer reaction mechanism was used to produce and study nuclei in the vicinity of 208Pb. This mass region is a test case for the nuclear shell model. The mass identification of the fragments was performed with the large acceptance magnetic spectrometer VAMOS++ coupled to the AGATA gamma-tracking array. This experiment aimed to determine both lifetimes and gyromagnetic ratios of excited states with the Cologne plunger device. The analysis indicates promising results with the possibility to determine several new lifetimes in this region.
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Muñoz, E., Barrio, J., Etxebeste, A., Ortega, P. G., Lacasta, C., Oliver, J. F., et al. (2017). Performance evaluation of MACACO: a multilayer Compton camera. Phys. Med. Biol., 62(18), 7321–7341.
Abstract: Compton imaging devices have been proposed and studied for a wide range of applications. We have developed a Compton camera prototype which can be operated with two or three detector layers based on monolithic lanthanum bromide (LaBr3) crystals coupled to silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs), to be used for proton range verification in hadron therapy. In this work, we present the results obtained with our prototype in laboratory tests with radioactive sources and in simulation studies. Images of a Na-22 and an Y-88 radioactive sources have been successfully reconstructed. The full width half maximum of the reconstructed images is below 4 mm for a Na-22 source at a distance of 5 cm.
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Gimenez-Alventosa, V., Antunes, P. C. G., Vijande, J., Ballester, F., Perez-Calatayud, J., & Andreo, P. (2017). Collision-kerma conversion between dose-to-tissue and dose-to-water by photon energy-fluence corrections in low-energy brachytherapy. Phys. Med. Biol., 62(1), 146–164.
Abstract: The AAPM TG-43 brachytherapy dosimetry formalism, introduced in 1995, has become a standard for brachytherapy dosimetry worldwide; it implicitly assumes that charged-particle equilibrium (CPE) exists for the determination of absorbed dose to water at different locations, except in the vicinity of the source capsule. Subsequent dosimetry developments, based on Monte Carlo calculations or analytical solutions of transport equations, do not rely on the CPE assumption and determine directly the dose to different tissues. At the time of relating dose to tissue and dose to water, or vice versa, it is usually assumed that the photon fluence in water and in tissues are practically identical, so that the absorbed dose in the two media can be related by their ratio of mass energy-absorption coefficients. In this work, an efficient way to correlate absorbed dose to water and absorbed dose to tissue in brachytherapy calculations at clinically relevant distances for low-energy photon emitting seeds is proposed. A correction is introduced that is based on the ratio of the water-to-tissue photon energy-fluences. State-of-the art Monte Carlo calculations are used to score photon fluence differential in energy in water and in various human tissues (muscle, adipose and bone), which in all cases include a realistic modelling of low-energy brachytherapy sources in order to benchmark the formalism proposed. The energy-fluence based corrections given in this work are able to correlate absorbed dose to tissue and absorbed dose to water with an accuracy better than 0.5% in the most critical cases (e.g. bone tissue).
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Ibanez-Rosello, B., Bautista-Ballesteros, J. A., Candela-Juan, C., Villaescusa, J. I., Ballester, F., Vijande, J., et al. (2017). Evaluation of the shielding in a treatment room with an electronic brachytherapy unit. J. Radiol. Prot., 37(2), N5–N12.
Abstract: Esteya (R) (Elekta Brachytherapy, Veenendaal, The Netherlands) is an electronic brachytherapy (eBT) system based on a 69.5 kVp x-ray source and a set of collimators of 1 to 3 cm in diameter, used for treating non-melanoma skin cancer lesions. This study aims to estimate room shielding requirements for this unit. The non-primary (scattered and leakage) ambient dose equivalent rates were measured with a Berthold LB-133 monitor (Berthold Technologies, Bad Wildbad, Germany). The latter ranges from 17 mSv h(-1) at 0.25 m distance from the x-ray source to 0.1 mSv h(-1) at 2.5 m. The necessary room shielding was then estimated following US and some European guidelines. The room shielding for all barriers considered was below 2 mmPb. The dose to a companion who, exceptionally, would stay with the patient during all treatment was estimated to be below 1 mSv if a leaded apron is used. In conclusion, Esteya shielding requirements are minimal.
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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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Pakarinen, J. et al, & Algora, A. (2017). Collectivity in Pb-196, Pb-198 isotopes probed in Coulomb-excitation experiments at REX-ISOLDE. J. Phys. G, 44(6), 064009–10pp.
Abstract: The neutron-deficient Pb-196,Pb-198 isotopes have been studied in Coulomb-excitation experiments employing the Miniball gamma-ray spectrometer and radioactive ion beams from the REX-ISOLDE post-accelerator at CERN. The reduced transition probabilities of the first excited 2(+) states in Pb-196 and Pb-198 nuclei have been measured for the first time. Values of B (E2) = 18.2(-4.1)(+4.8) W. u. and B (E2) = 13.1(-3.5)(+4.9) W. u., were obtained, respectively. The experiment sheds light on the development of collectivity when moving from the regime governed by the generalised seniority scheme to a region, where intruding structures, associated with different deformed shapes, start to come down in energy and approach the spherical ground state.
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IDS Collaboration(Lica, R. et al), & Morales, A. I. (2017). beta decay studies of n-rich Cs isotopes with the ISOLDE Decay Station. J. Phys. G, 44(5), 054002–14pp.
Abstract: Neutron-rich Ba isotopes are expected to exhibit octupolar correlations, reaching their maximum in isotopes around mass A = 146. The odd-A neutron-rich members of this isotopic chain show typical patterns related to non-axially symmetric shapes, which are however less marked compared to even-A ones, pointing to a major contribution from vibrations. In the present paper we present results from a recent study focused on Cs148-150 beta-decay performed at the ISOLDE Decay Station equipped with fast-timing detectors. A detailed analysis of the measured decay half-lives and decay scheme of Ba-149 is presented, giving a first insight in the structure of this neutron-rich nucleus.
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ANTARES Collaboration(Andre, M. et al), Barrios-Marti, J., Hernandez-Rey, J. J., Illuminati, G., Tönnis, C., Zornoza, J. D., et al. (2017). Sperm whale long-range echolocation sounds revealed by ANTARES, a deep-sea neutrino telescope. Sci Rep, 7, 45517–12pp.
Abstract: Despite dedicated research has been carried out to adequately map the distribution of the sperm whale in the Mediterranean Sea, unlike other regions of the world, the species population status is still presently uncertain. The analysis of two years of continuous acoustic data provided by the ANTARES neutrino telescope revealed the year-round presence of sperm whales in the Ligurian Sea, probably associated with the availability of cephalopods in the region. The presence of the Ligurian Sea sperm whales was demonstrated through the real-time analysis of audio data streamed from a cabled-to-shore deep-sea observatory that allowed the hourly tracking of their long-range echolocation behaviour on the Internet. Interestingly, the same acoustic analysis indicated that the occurrence of surface shipping noise would apparently not condition the foraging behaviour of the sperm whale in the area, since shipping noise was almost always present when sperm whales were acoustically detected. The continuous presence of the sperm whale in the region confirms the ecological value of the Ligurian sea and the importance of ANTARES to help monitoring its ecosystems.
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Jungclaus, A. et al, Gadea, A., & Montaner-Piza, A. (2017). Observation of a gamma-decaying millisecond isomeric state in Cd-128(80). Phys. Lett. B, 772, 483–488.
Abstract: A new high-spin isomer in the neutron-rich nucleus Cd-128 was populated in the projectile fission of a U-238 beam at the Radioactive Isotope Beam Factory at RIKEN. A half-life of T-1/2 = 6.3(8) mswas measured for the new state which was tentatively assigned a spin/parity of (15(-)). The experimental results are compared to shell model calculations performed using state-of-the-art realistic effective interactions and to the neighbouring nucleus Cd-129. In the present experiment no evidence was found for the decay of a 18(+) E6 spin-trap isomer, based on the complete alignment of the two-neutron and two-proton holes in the 0h(11/2) and the 0g(9/2) orbit, respectively, which is predicted to exist by the shell model. (C) 2017 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V.
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Morales, A. I. et al. (2017). Type II shell evolution in A=70 isobars from the N >= 40 island of inversion. Phys. Lett. B, 765, 328–333.
Abstract: The level structures of Co-70 and Ni-70, populated from the Chi decay of Fe-70, have been investigated using beta-delayed gamma-ray spectroscopy following in-flight fission of a U-238 beam. The experimental results are compared to Monte-Carlo Shell-Model calculations including the pf + g(9/2) + d(5/2) orbitals. The strong population of a (1(+)) state at 274 keV in Co-70 is at variance with the expected excitation energy of 1 MeV from near spherical single-particle estimates. This observation indicates a dominance of prolate deformed intruder configurations in the low-lying levels, which coexist with the normal near spherical states. It is shown that the 13 decay of the neutron-rich A = 70 isobars from the new island of inversion to the Z = 28 closed-shell regime progresses in accordance with a newly reported type of shell evolution, the so-called Type II, which involves many particle-hole excitations across energy gaps.
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