Search

Because of the high density of energy storage and the large cross section for its release there is considerable significance of the triggering of induced gamma emission from nuclear spin isomers to efforts to develop intense sources of short-wavelength radiation. The work reported here describes the current experimental focus and results recently obtained.

PRISMA is a magnetic spectrometer installed at Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro (Italy) and designed for A=100–200, E=5–10 MeV-per-nucleon beams, and for possible use with the proposed radioactive beam facility SPES. The foremost features of the instrument are presented, along with the outline of two data analyses exemplifying the effectiveness of PRISMA-CLARA in studies of reaction dynamics.

Lifetimes of states in the magnetic band in 193Pb have been measured with the recoil-distance Doppler-shift (RDDS) method. This band is built on the Iπ = 29/2− isomer (Eex = 2584 keV, T1/2 = 9.4 ns). High-spin states in 193Pb were populated in the 170Er (28Si, 5n) reaction at 149 MeV. The nuclear γ-decay was detected with the GASP spectrometer in combination with the Kln plunger device. These results provide for the first time a complete set of experimental observables for such an excitation in atomic nuclei.

Several nuclei in the A ∼ 190 region have been studied following deep-inelastic reactions using a 460 MeV 82Se projectile impinging upon a thick 192Os target. The GASP array (at the Legnaro National Laboratory in Italy) was used to measure the resulting γ-decays. The previously reported near-yrast structure of 191Os is extended to a isomer, at an energy of 2640 keV. Branching ratios for ΔI = 1 and ΔI = 2 transitions in the band have been measured, giving |(gK − gR)/Q0| = 0.022(3) and 0.024(7) for transitions from the and states respectively. These are consistent with the theoretical calculation for the proposed ν11/2+[615] configuration of the band. Nilsson plus BCS calculations reveal that the isomer is likely to have a {ν11/2+[615] ⊗ π11/2−[505] ⊗ π9/2−[514]} configuration with . This yields an implied reduced hindrance of fν= 1.9, in accordance with empirical systematics of K isomers in the A ∼ 180–190 region.

Fusion and incomplete fusion evaporation channels were studied in the 7Li +164Dy reaction at the INFN Laboratory, Legnaro, Italy. The Tandem-XTU accelerator was used to accelerate a beam of 7Li ions to 55 MeV. The highly sensitive GASP γ-detector array coupled with the selectivity of the ISIS charged particle ΔE–E telescope array provided a powerful tool for studies of high spin states in the fusion and incomplete fusion reaction products. Rotational sequences in the Er and Tm isotopes around A = 166 have been observed and extended to higher spin states. Comparisons of the experimental data with the results of the cranked shell model give some insight into the configuration dependence of the crossing of the ground-state band with the aligned i13/2 two quasineutron configuration.

CLARA is an array of 25 Clover (EUROBALL type) Ge detectors, placed at the target position of the large acceptance magnetic spectrometer PRISMA. Due to the granularity of the CLARA Ge array (100 crystals), the photopeak efficiency (≈3%) and the PRISMA large acceptance (≈80 msr, and 20% Δp/p), the setup is an excellent tool to investigate the structure of neutron-rich nuclei, populated in multinucleon transfer reactions and deep inelastic collisions with stable beams. Since March 2004 the setup is fully operational, and since then several experiments have been performed, with beams delivered by the LNL XTU-Tandem and the ALPI linac. In this contribution the preliminary outcome of the first experiments is shown.

Based on the energy spectra and relative transition probabilities 176,178,180Os turned out to be very promising candidates for testing the features of the critical point symmetry X(5). In order to also test absolute transition probabilities predicted in the framework of the X(5) symmetry lifetime measurements were performed at the Cologne FN tandem accelerator. The lifetimes of the first 2+ states in 176,178,180Os were measured using electronic timing and in the case of 178Os with the recoil distance Doppler shift (RDDS) technique using an 16O-induced fusion evaporation reaction. In addition, a coincidence RDDS measurement was performed at the Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro with the GASP spectrometer using the 154Sm(29Si,5n)178Os reaction. The deduced transition quadrupole moments agree well with the X(5) predictions, thus further supporting an X(5) structure for 178Os. The experimental data for 178Os are compared to calculations in the framework of the interaction boson model (IBM) and of the general collective model (GCM).

The reactions ¹⁶O(⁷Li, 2n) and ¹⁶O(⁷Li, np) populating ²¹Na and ²¹Ne have been studied at E_L &equal; 27 MeV using the GASP γ-detector array. The level scheme for ²¹Na and ²¹Ne has been extended to higher excitation energy. Spins and parities of the observed levels are assigned tentatively supporting the identification of opposite parity structures connected by strong dipole transitions. The structure of these bands is interpreted as based on a reflection asymmetric cluster structure.

Alcohol exposure induces multiple neuroadaptive changes in the CNS that can have serious long-term consequences on CNS function including cognitive effects and attenuation of learning and memory. The cellular mechanisms underlying the CNS effects of alcohol have yet to be fully elucidated and are likely to depend on the pattern and dose of alcohol exposure. Using electrophysiological recordings from hippocampal slices obtained from control and chronic alcohol-treated rats, we have investigated the effects of a binge pattern of alcohol abuse on synaptic plasticity in the CNS. The alcohol-treated animals were exposed to ethanol vapor for 12–14 days using an intermittent exposure paradigm (14 h ethanol exposure/10 h ethanol withdrawal daily; blood alcohol levels ∼180 mg/dl), a paradigm that models human binge alcohol use. Induction of long-term potentiation (LTP) in the CA1 region of the hippocampus by tetanic stimulation of Schaffer collaterals was completely blocked in slices from the chronic alcohol-treated animals. LTP remained blocked 1 day after withdrawal of animals from alcohol, indicating that the neuroadaptive changes produced by alcohol were not readily reversible. Partial recovery was observed after withdrawal from alcohol for 5 days. Other measures of synaptic plasticity including posttetanic potentiation and paired-pulse facilitation were also altered by the intermittent alcohol treatment paradigm. The results suggest that alterations in synaptic plasticity induced by chronic intermittent ethanol consumption play an important role in the effects of binge alcohol use on learning and memory function.

Abstract:: The reactions 11B + 198Pt →209Bi* and 10B + 198Pt →208Bi* have been investigated by measuring low- and high-energy γ-rays and proton-γ coincidences. The nuclear temperature of the 208Pb populated by first-chance proton emission from 209Bi has been determined by using an unfolding technique. The extracted value, T = 1.6±0.2 MeV, is compared with predictions from various level density parametrisations in which the shell effects play different roles. The comparison shows that, as expected in this excitation energy range, the shell effects in 208Pb are substantially washed out. Proton and high-energy γ-ray spectra as well as neutron average multiplicities have been also compared with predictions from Statistical Model calculations making use of a constant ( a = A/10MeV -1) or an excitation-energy-dependent level density parameter. The obtained results demonstrate that the high-energy γ-rays are more sensitive than protons to the level density variation with the excitation energy. However, Statistical Model calculations fail in reproducing satisfactorily the line-shape of the experimental γ-ray spectra, suggesting that the actual knowledge of the level densities in the 208Pb region is not sufficiently accurate.

A process for transferring energy from electron shells into nuclear excitation, NEET, has offered the promise for modulating nuclear properties at accessible levels of power. It had been proven recently by exciting a nuclear level of 197Au with synchrotron radiation, but measured couplings were far below theoretical objectives. Reported here is an extension of that approach for excitation to 178Hfm2isomeric nuclei. Isomeric targets were irradiated with X-rays in the beamline BL01B1 at the synchrotron radiation source SPring-8. Energies were tuned from 9 to 13 keV. In this range an excitation branch attributed to NEET was found to have a probability of 2 × 10?3relative to L-shell photoionization. The resulting emission of exoergic ?-photons was observed from the target at a rate approaching the theoretical maximum.

Fluctuation properties have been analysed for the energy levels predicted by IBFM calculations in the Ba isotopes121Ba to131Ba. The results indicate, in general, a situation which is close to the chaotic limit. For the lighter isotopes studied (121 and 123), a phase transition is obtained in the low-spin, positive parity states, from a situation close to regularity at low excitation energies, towards chaoticity at higher excitations.

Abstract:: The ridge structure with ΔEγ=±30 keV, observed in the past in coincidence with protons emitted in the reaction 187 MeV 37Cl +120Sn and attributed to an hyperdeformed nuclear shape in 152Dy, has been studied in a new experiment performed with the EUROBALL III array. The ridge is now observed in coincidence with transitions in the yrast superdeformed band of 152Dy but no discrete rotational bands have been identified.

The lowlying level scheme of the oddodd nucleus132Pr has been investigated for the first time. The radioactive nuclei were produced by bombarding96Mo targets with 225 MeV40Ca beam. Levels have been populated from the132Nd ß- decay. A new value of its halflife has been measured: T1/2=88±7 s. The mass identification has been made with an ionguide coupled with an online isotope separator. ?- ?- t, X-?-t and e--?-t coincidence measurements have been performed. The observed distribution of the level feedings is similar to that of the neighbouring odd-odd nuclei.

High spin states have been observed for the first time in the odd-odd nucleus80Y, by using the24Mg(58Ni,pn) reaction at 180 MeV. Eight rotational bands have been established, indicating a nucleus with appreciable deformation.

Abstract: The viability of producing BEGe-type detectors from isotopically modified germanium for the neutrinoless double beta decay experiment GERDA is demonstrated by a complete test of the supply chain. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The GERmanium Detector Array, GERDA, [Gerda Collaboration, Abt I et al., Proposal, a http://www.mpi-hd.mpg.de/ge76/home.html] is designed to search for neutrinoless double beta -decay of 76Ge. The importance of such a search is emphasized by the evidence of a non-zero neutrino mass from flavour oscillation experiments and by the recent claim [Klapdor-Kleingrothaus H V et al., Phys. Lett. B 586, 198 (2004)] based on data of the Heidelberg-Moscow experiment. GERDA will be installed in the Hall A of the Gran Sasso underground Laboratory (LNGS), Italy. The construction of GERDA will start in 2006. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]