Search

A high-intensity proton beam exposure with 181 MeV energy has been conducted at Brookhaven Linac Isotope Producer facility on various material specimens for accelerator targetry applications, including titanium alloys as a beam window material. The radiation damage level of the analyzed capsule was 0.25 dpa at beam center region with an irradiation temperature around 120 degree C. Tensile tests showed increased hardness and a large decrease in ductility for the dual alpha+beta-phase Ti-6Al-4V Grade-5 and Grade-23 extra low interstitial alloys, with the near alpha-phase Ti-3Al-2.5V Grade-9 alloy still exhibiting uniform elongation of a few % after irradiation. Transmission Electron Microscope analyses on Ti-6Al-4V indicated clear evidence of a high-density of defect clusters with size less than 2 nm in each alpha-phase grain. The beta-phase grains did not contain any visible defects such as loops or black dots, while the diffraction patterns clearly indicated omega-phase precipitation in an advanced formation stage. The radiation-induced omega-phase transformation in the beta-phase could lead to greater loss of ductility in Ti-6Al-4V alloys in comparison with Ti-3Al-2.5V alloy with less beta-phase., 23 pages, 9 figures, In Press

Tungsten (W) is a principal candidate as target material because of its high density and extremely high melting point. W inherently has a critical disadvantage of its brittleness at around room temperature (low temperature brittleness), recrystallization embrittlement, and irradiation embrittlement. TFGR (Toughened, Fine Grained, Recrystallized) W-1.1%TiC has been considered as a realized solution to the embrittlement problems. We started to fabricate TFGR W-1.1%TiC in 2016 under collaboration between KEK and Metal Technology Co., LTD (MTC). The TFGR W-1.1%TiC samples were successfully fabricated in June, 2018. As a result, the specimen showed slight bend ductility and 2.6 GPa of fracture strength. The TFGR W-1.1%TiC was included in the HRMT-48 PROTAD experiment on September 28th, 2018. After cooling, the post-irradiation-examination will be conducted for the irradiated TFGR W-1.1%TiC.

For damage estimation of structural material in the accelerator facility, displacement per atom (DPA) is widely employed as an index of the damage calculated based on the displacement cross section obtained with the calculation model. Although the DPA is employed as the standard, the experimental data of displacement cross section are scarce for a proton in the energy region above 20 MeV. Among the calculation models, the difference exists about 8 times so that experimental data of the displacement cross section is crucial to validate the model. To obtain the displacement cross section, we conducted the experiment in J-PARC. As a preliminary result, the displacement cross section of copper was successfully obtained for 3-GeV proton. The present results showed that the widely utilized the Norgertt-Robinson-Torrens (NRT) model overestimates the cross section as suggested by the previous experiment for protons with lower energy.

A high-strength dual alpha+beta phase titanium alloy Ti-6Al-4V is utilized as a material for beam windows in several accelerator target facilities. However, relatively little is known about how material properties of this alloy are affected by high-intensity proton beam irradiation. With plans to upgrade neutrino facilities at J-PARC and Fermilab to over 1 MW beam power, the radiation damage in the window material will reach a few displacements per atom (dpa) per year, significantly above the ~0.3 dpa level of existing data. The RaDIATE collaboration has conducted a high intensity proton beam irradiation of various target and window material specimens at BLIP facility, including a variety of titanium alloys. Post-Irradiation Examination of the specimens in the 1st capsule, irradiated at up to 0.25 dpa, is in progress. Tensile tests in a hot cell at PNNL exhibited a clear signature of radiation hardening and loss of ductility for Ti-6Al-4V, while Ti-3Al-2.5V, with less beta phase, exhibited less severe hardening. Microstructural investigations will follow to study the cause of the difference in tensile behavior between these alloys. High-cycle fatigue (HCF) performance is critical to the lifetime estimation of beam windows exposed to a periodic thermal stress from a pulsed proton beam. The 1st HCF data on irradiated titanium alloys are to be obtained by a conventional bend fatigue test at Fermilab and by an ultrasonic mesoscale fatigue test at Culham Laboratory. Specimens in the 2nd capsule, irradiated at up to ~1 dpa, cover typical titanium alloy grades, including possible radiation-resistant candidates. These systematic studies on the effects of radiation damage of titanium alloys are intended to enable us to predict realistic lifetimes of current beam windows made of Ti-6Al-4V and to extend the lifetime by choosing a more radiation and thermal shock tolerant alloy., 10 pages, 7 figures, In Proc. of IWSMT-14, 14th International Workshop on Spallation Materials Technology, 11th-17th Nov. 2018 at Fukushima, Japan

A foil of a metastable β Titanium alloy Ti-15V-3Cr-3Sn-3Al was irradiated at the J-PARC neutrino experimental facility with 1.4 × 1020 30 GeV protons at low temperature (100–130 °C at most), and microstructural characterization and hardness testing were conducted as an initial study on the radiation damage effects of Titanium alloy by the high energy proton beam exposure. Expected radiation damage at the beam center is about 0.06–0.12 displacement per atom. A high density (> 1023 m−3) of a nanometer-sized precipitate was observed by TEM studies, which would be identified as martensite α-phase and athermal ω-phase formed during the solution-treatment process to fabricate metastable β alloy. They did not appear to change substantially after irradiation with protons. In the irradiated specimen, we could not identify an obvious signature of radiation damage distributed along the proton beam profile. Very small, nanometer-scale black dots were present at a low density in the most highly irradiated region, and may be small dislocation loops formed during irradiation. The micro-indentation test indicated that the radiation exposure led to tiny increase in Vickers micro-hardness of ΔHV = 20 at beam center. Atom probe tomography reveals compositional fluctuations that reach a maximum amplitude of 10 at% Ti within a space of

Recent major accelerator facilities have been limited in beam power by production target and beam window survivability, where radiation damage to their constituent materials has been identified as the most cross-cutting challenge facing these high power target facilities. The RaDIATE collaboration, Radiation Damage In Accelerator Target Environments, was formed in 2012 to address this challenge by bringing together experts from the fields of nuclear materials and accelerator target facilities. The collaboration conducted high intensity proton beam irradiation of test specimens at the Brookhaven Linac Isotope Producer (BLIP) facility at BNL, where the specimens, including candidate materials for various beam intercepting device applications, were provided by participating accelerator facilities. Post-Irradiation Examination (PIE) of the irradiated specimens is being conducted at participating nuclear/fusion research institutions with appropriate ``hot-cell'' facilities, such as Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). The recent collaboration work also includes efforts to provide the samples irradiated at BLIP to in-beam thermal shock test at CERN's HiRadMat facility. It will be the first examination to observe how the radiation-damaged material will behave when exposed to actual beam loading conditions. In this talk up-to-date status of these experiments, PIEs, and prospect for the works conducted by the RaDIATE collaboration are over-viewed.

For damage estimation of structural material in the accelerator facility, displacement per atom (DPA) is widely employed as an index of the damage calculated based on the displacement cross section obtained with the calculation model. Although the DPA is employed as the standard, the experimental data of displacement cross section are scarce for a proton in the energy region above 20 MeV. Among the calculation models, the difference exists about 8 times so that experimental data of the displacement cross section is crucial to validate the model. To obtain the displacement cross section, we conducted the experiment in J-PARC. As a preliminary result, the displacement cross section of copper was successfully obtained for 3-GeV proton. The present results showed that the widely utilized the Norgertt-Robinson-Torrens (NRT) model overestimates the cross section as suggested by the previous experiment for protons with lower energy.

Muon beam monitoring is indispensable for indirectly monitoring accelerator-produced neutrino beams in real time. Though Si photodiodes and ionization chambers have been successfully used as muon monitors at the T2K experiment, sensors that are more radiation tolerant are desired for future operation. We have investigated the electron-multiplier tube (EMT) as a new sensor for muon monitoring. Secondary electrons produced by the passage of muons at dynodes are multiplied in the tube and produce signal. Two prototype detectors were installed at the T2K muon monitor location, and various EMT properties were studied based on in situ data taken with the T2K muon beam. The signal size is as expected based on calculation, and the EMTs show a sufficiently fast time response for bunch-by-bunch beam monitoring. The spill-by-spill intensity resolution is 0.4%, better than the required value (1%). Signal linearity within $\pm$1% is achieved at proton beam powers up to 460 kW (with +250 kA focusing horn operation). A gradual signal decrease was observed during the initial exposure, due to the stabilization of dynode materials, before the response became stable within $\pm$1%. This work demonstrates that EMTs are a good candidate for future muon monitoring at T2K, and may also have other more general applications., 23 pages, 20 figures, 6 tables

Thiophene monomer reacted with ferric chloride in the presence of a variety of fluoroalkyl end-capped N-(1,1-dimethyl-3-oxobutyl)acrylamide oligomers [RF–(DOBAA)x–RF] to afford nanometer size-controlled RF–(DOBAA)x–RF oligomers–polythiophene composites [RF–(DOBAA)x–RF/PTh]. RF–(DOBAA)x–RF/PTh nanocomposites thus obtained were demonstrated to have a good dispersibility and stability in methanol to give a transparent brown solution. In addition, these fluorinated nanocomposites were applied to the surface modification of common organic polymers such as poly(methyl methacrylate), and were dispersed regularly above the polymer surface.

A magnetic horn system to be operated at a pulsed current of 320 kA and to survive high-power proton beam operation at 750 kW was developed for the T2K experiment. The first set of T2K magnetic horns was operated for over 12 million pulses during the four years of operation from 2010 to 2013, under a maximum beam power of 230 kW, and $6.63\times10^{20}$ protons were exposed to the production target. No significant damage was observed throughout this period. This successful operation of the T2K magnetic horns led to the discovery of the $\nu_{\mu}\rightarrow\nu_e$ oscillation phenomenon in 2013 by the T2K experiment. In this paper, details of the design, construction, and operation experience of the T2K magnetic horns are described., Comment: 22 pages, 40 figures, also submitted to Nuclear Instrument and Methods in Physics Research, A

In order to explore CP asymmetry in the lepton sector, a power upgrade to the neutrino experimental facility at J-PARC is a key requirement for both the Tokai to Kamioka (T2K) long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment and a future project with Hyper-Kamiokande. Based on five years of operational experience, the facility has achieved stable operation with 230 kW beam power without significant problems on the beam-line apparatus. After successful maintenance works in 2013-2014 to replace all electromagnetic horns and a production target, the facility is now ready to accomodate a 750-kW-rated beam. Also, the possibility of achieving a few to multi-MW beam operation is discussed in detail., Comment: 4 pages, 8 figures, talk presented at the 2nd international symposium on science at J-PARC (J-PARC 2014), Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan on July 2014

In a series of previous papers the present authors and collaborators have shown strong evidence for existence of the long-sought sigma-particle by analyzing the pi pi-scattering and pi pi-production processes, applying, respectively, the IA method and the VMW method. In this paper we examine the relation between the scattering amplitude T and the production amplitude F from the viewpoint of the unitarity and the final state interaction (FSI) theorem by using a simple field theoretical model. As a result it is shown that the amplitudes in the physical state representation are directly represented through the Breit-Wigner amplitudes of the relevant resonances, and the respective forms of T and F coincide with those in the IA and VMW methods, justifying our methods of analyses.

In a previous work, we have reanalyzed the I=0 S-wave \pi\pi-scattering phase-shift through a new method of Interfering Breit-Wigner amplitudes, and have shown the existence of a light scalar, \sigma particle, accompanied by a negative "repulsive core"-type background phase-shift, whose origin may have some correspondence to a ``compensating'' \pi\pi contact interaction. In this work we make further analysis on the phase shift under KKbar threshold from the same standpoint, to determine precise values of \sigma mass and width, so far as present experimental data are concerned.

Recently we have shown an evidence for existence of \sigma-particle in the previous works; where the \pi\pi S-wave phase shift is reanalyzed, by introducing a repulsive background suggested by the chiral symmetry, and by applying a new method of Interfering Breit-Wigner Amplitudes. In this work we also show, reanalyzing the K\pi S-wave phase shift from a similar standpoint, an evidence for existence of \kappa(900), possibly to be a member of \sigma-nonet.

The Tokai-to-Kamioka (T2K) neutrino experiment measures neutrino oscillations by using an almost pure muon neutrino beam produced at the J-PARC accelerator facility. The T2K muon monitor was installed to measure the direction and stability of the muon beam which is produced together with the muon neutrino beam. The systematic error in the muon beam direction measurement was estimated, using data and MC simulation, to be 0.28 mrad. During beam operation, the proton beam has been controlled using measurements from the muon monitor and the direction of the neutrino beam has been tuned to within 0.3 mrad with respect to the designed beam-axis. In order to understand the muon beam properties,measurement of the absolute muon yield at the muon monitor was conducted with an emulsion detector. The number of muon tracks was measured to be $(4.06\pm0.05)\times10^4$ cm$^{-2}$ normalized with $4\times10^{11}$ protons on target with 250 kA horn operation. The result is in agreement with the prediction which is corrected based on hadron production data.

The first results of the K2K(KEK to Kamioka) long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment are presented in this talk. In 1999 7.2x10^18 protons on target were delivered to the experiment. During this period of running there were 3 events fully contained in the Super-Kamiokande inner detector fiducial area which occurred during the beam spill timing window. In the case of no oscillations the expected number of events during this period was 12.3+1.7-1.9. The near detectors located at KEK also have begun detailed measurements of neutrino interactions in water at around 1 GeV., Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, Talk at the 7th Conference On Intersections Between Particle And Nuclear Physics (CIPANP2000), 25-28 May 2000, Quebec, Canada

The relation between scattering and production amplitudes are investigated, using a simple field theoretical model, from the general viewpoint of unitarity and the applicability of final state interaction(FSI-) theorem. The IA-method and VMW-method, which are applied to our phenomenological analyses suggesting the \sigma-existence, are obtained as the physical state representations of scattering and production amplitudes, respectively. Moreover, the VMW-method is shown to be an effective method to obtain the resonance properties from general production processes, while the conventional analyses based on the ``universality'' of \pi\pi-scattering amplitude are powerless for this purpose., Comment: Talk at HADRON'97, the 7th int. conf. on hadron spectroscopy, BNL, August 1997. 4 pages with no figure

Re-analyzing [1,2] the old phase shift data of I=0, ππ(I=1/2,Kπ) scattering, we show an evidence for existence of the σ-particle(κ-particle) with a comparatively light mass, which has been missing for a long time: In the analysis we have applied a new method of interfering Breit-Wigner amplitudes, which makes the scattering amplitude parametrized in terms of only physical quantities, mass and width of resonant particles, in conformity with unitarity. We have introduced phenomenologically a background phase shift δBG of repulsive core type. The χ2-fits of the both ππ- and Kπ-phase shifts are improved greatly with the δBG over the conventional fits without it.

A S-wave ππ resonance below 1 GeV/c2, sigma has been observed in analyses of the phase shift data of ππ scatterings. It is important to observe it in production processes. A huge events of π0π0 below 1 GeV/c2 is seen in the central production of the GAMS experiment. Its mass spectrum is well described by the variant mass and width method (VMW) including f0(980), f2(1270) and a S-wave resonance which might be assigned to be a sigma. We report here that the angular distributions of the π0π0 system are also described with the S-wave resonance interfering with f0(980) and the tail of f2(1270) by VMW. The same method is applied to the π+π− data of J/ψ→ωππ decay, and is shown that not only π+π− mass spectrum but also its cos θπ distributions are described well.