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IDS Collaboration(Lica, R. et al), & Morales, A. I. (2018). Evolution of deformation in neutron-rich Ba isotopes up to A=150. Phys. Rev. C, 97(2), 024305–12pp.
Abstract: The occurrence of octupolar shapes in the Ba isotopic chain was recently established experimentally up to N = 90. To further extend the systematics, the evolution of shapes in the most neutron-rich members of the Z = 56 isotopic chain accessible at present, Ba-148,Ba-150, has been studied via beta decay at the ISOLDE Decay Station. This paper reports on the first measurement of the positive-and negative-parity low-spin excited states of 150Ba and presents an extension of the beta-decay scheme of Cs-148. Employing the fast timing technique, half-lives for the 2(1)(+) level in both nuclei have been determined, resulting in T-1/2 = 1.51(1) ns for Ba-148 and T-1/2 = 3.4(2) ns for Ba-150. The systematics of low-spin states, together with the experimental determination of the B(E2 : 2(+) -> 0(+)) transition probabilities, indicate an increasing collectivity in Ba148-150, towards prolate deformed shapes. The experimental data are compared to symmetry conserving configuration mixing (SCCM) calculations, confirming an evolution of increasingly quadrupole deformed shapes with a definite octupolar character.
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n_TOF Collaboration(Lerendegui-Marco, J. et al.), Domingo-Pardo, C., Tain, J. L., & Tarifeño-Saldivia, A. (2018). Radiative neutron capture on Pu-242 in the resonance region at the CERN n_TOF-EAR1 facility. Phys. Rev. C, 97(2), 024605–21pp.
Abstract: The spent fuel of current nuclear reactors contains fissile plutonium isotopes that can be combined with uranium to make mixed oxide (MOX) fuel. In this way the Pu from spent fuel is used in a new reactor cycle, contributing to the long-term sustainability of nuclear energy. However, an extensive use of MOX fuels, in particular in fast reactors, requires more accurate capture and fission cross sections for some Pu isotopes. In the case of Pu-242 there are sizable discrepancies among the existing capture cross-section measurements included in the evaluations (all from the 1970s) resulting in an uncertainty as high as 35% in the fast energy region. Moreover, postirradiation experiments evaluated with JEFF-3.1 indicate an overestimation of 14% in the capture cross section in the fast neutron energy region. In this context, the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) requested an accuracy of 8% in this cross section in the energy region between 500 meV and 500 keV. This paper presents a new time-of-flight capture measurement on Pu-242 carried out at nTOF-EAR1 (CERN), focusing on the analysis and statistical properties of the resonance region, below 4 keV. The Pu-242(n, gamma) reaction on a sample containing 95(4) mg enriched to 99.959% was measured with an array of four C6D6 detectors and applying the total energy detection technique. The high neutron energy resolution of nTOF-EAR1 and the good statistics accumulated have allowed us to extend the resonance analysis up to 4 keV, obtaining new individual and average resonance parameters from a capture cross section featuring a systematic uncertainty of 5%, fulfilling the request of the NEA.
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Olmo, G. J., Rubiera-Garcia, D., & Sanchez-Puente, A. (2018). Accelerated observers and the notion of singular spacetime. Class. Quantum Gravity, 35(5), 055010–18pp.
Abstract: Geodesic completeness is typically regarded as a basic criterion to determine whether a given spacetime is regular or singular. However, the principle of general covariance does not privilege any family of observers over the others and, therefore, observers with arbitrary motions should be able to provide a complete physical description of the world. This suggests that in a regular spacetime, all physically acceptable observers should have complete paths. In this work we explore this idea by studying the motion of accelerated observers in spherically symmetric spacetimes and illustrate it by considering two geodesically complete black hole spacetimes recently described in the literature. We show that for bound and locally unbound accelerations, the paths of accelerated test particles are complete, providing further support to the regularity of such spacetimes.
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T2K Collaboration(Abe, K. et al), Cervera-Villanueva, A., Izmaylov, A., Novella, P., Sorel, M., & Stamoulis, P. (2018). Measurement of the single pi(0) production rate in neutral current neutrino interactions on water. Phys. Rev. D, 97(3), 032002–13pp.
Abstract: The single pi(0) production rate in neutral current neutrino interactions on water in a neutrino beam with a peak neutrino energy of 0.6 GeV has been measured using the empty set, one of the subdetectors of the T2K near detector. The production rate was measured for data taking periods when the Pempty setD contained water (2.64 x 10(20) protons-on-target) and also periods without water (3.49 x 10(20) protons-on-target). A measurement of the neutral current single pi(0) production rate on water is made using appropriate subtraction of the production rate with water in from the rate with water out of the target region. The subtraction analysis yields 106 +/- 41 +/- 69 signal events where the uncertainties are statistical (stat.) and systematic (sys.) respectively. This is consistent with the prediction of 157 events from the nominal simulation. The measured to expected ratio is 0.68 +/- 0.26(stat) +/- 0.44(sys) +/- 0.12(flux). The nominal simulation uses a flux integrated cross section of 7.63 x 10(-39) cm(2) per nucleon with an average neutrino interaction energy of 1.3 GeV.
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