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The accurate knowledge of the neutron-induced fission cross-sections of actinides and other isotopes involved in the nuclear fuel cycle is essential for the design of advanced nuclear systems, such as Generation-IV nuclear reactors. Such experimental data can also provide the necessary feedback for the adjustment of nuclear model parameters used in the evaluation process, resulting in the further development of nuclear fission models. In the present work, the 240Pu(n,f) cross-section was measured at CERN's n_TOF facility relative to the well-known 235U(n,f) cross section, over a wide range of neutron energies, from meV to almost MeV, using the time-of-flight technique and a set-up based on Micromegas detectors. This measurement was the first experiment to be performed at n_TOF's new experimental area (EAR-2), which offers a significantly higher neutron flux compared to the already existing experimental area (EAR-1). Preliminary results as well as the experimental procedure, including a description of the facility and the data handling and analysis, are presented.
Neutron-induced fission cross sections of isotopes involved in the nuclear fuel cycle are vital for the design and safe operation of advanced nuclear systems. Such experimental data can also provide additional constraints for the adjustment of nuclear model parameters used in the evaluation process, resulting in the further development of fission models. In the present work, the 237Np(n,f) cross section was studied at the EAR2 vertical beam-line at CERN's n_TOF facility, over a wide range of neutron energies, from meV to MeV, using the time-of-flight technique and a set-up based on Micromegas detectors, in an attempt to provide accurate experimental data. Preliminary results in the 200 keV – 14 MeV neutron energy range as well as the experimental procedure, including a description of the facility and the data handling and analysis, will be presented.
Transmembrane proteins play crucial roles in biological systems as active or passive channels and receptors. Experimentally only few structures could be determined so far. Gaining structural insights enables besides a general understanding of biological mechanisms also further processing such as in drug design. Due to the lack of experimental data, reliable theoretical predictions would be of high value. However, for the same reason, missing data, the knowledge-based class of prediction methods that is well established for soluble proteins can not be applied. The goal of predicting transmembrane protein structures with ab initio methods demands locating the free energy minimum. Main difficulties here are, first, the computational costs of explicitly calculating all involved interactions and, second, providing an algorithm that is capable of finding the minimum within an extremely complex and rugged energy landscape. We have developed promising energy functions that describe the interactions of amino acids on a residue level, reducing computational costs while still containing most information on the atomistic level. We have also found a way to describe the interaction of the residues with its surrounding in a realistic manner by distinguishing residues exposed to the environment from those buried within helices using a sphere algorithm. The sphere algorithm can also be applied for a different purpose: one can measure how densely sidechains are packed for certain helical conformations, and thereby get an estimate of the sidechain entropy. In addition, overcrowding effects can be identified which are not well-described by the energy functions due to the pairwise calculation. To determine the absolute free energy minimum, we assume the helices to be located on an equidistance grid with slightly larger distances than to be expected. Optimizing the helices on the grid provides a starting point that should enable common minimizing algorithms, gradient-based or not, to find the absolute minimum beyond the grid. To simulate the dynamics of the helices on large time scales, we split them into rigid body dynamics and internal dynamics in terms of the dihedrals. The former one is well-known with its inherent problem of numerical drift and plenty of approaches to it, among which we have chosen the quaternions to represent the rotation of the rigid bodies. The latter one requires a detailed analysis of the torque size exerted on the dihedrals caused by the forces acting on the residues.
In this thesis, we present a detailed consideration of both qualitative and quantitative properties of static spherically symmetric solutions of the Einstein equations with self-interacting scalar fields. Our focus is on solutions with naked singularities. We study the qualitative properties of the solutions of the Einstein equations with real static self-interacting $N$ scalar fields, making some assumptions on self-interaction. We provide a rigorous proof that the corresponding solutions will be regular up to $r=0$. Furthermore, we find the rigorous form of asymptotic solutions near the singularity and at spatial infinity. We construct some examples of spherical-like naked singularities at $r=r_s\neq0$ in curvature coordinates.
We analyze the stability of the previously considered solutions against odd-parity gravitational perturbations and also examine the fundamental quasi-normal modes spectra. For the general class of the self-interaction potential, we demonstrate well-posedness of the initial problem and stability for positively defined potentials. As an example, we numerically study the case of the scalar field with power-law self-interaction potential and find the fundamental quasi-normal modes frequencies. We demonstrate that they differ from the standard Schwarzschild black hole case.
We study in detail the motion of particles in the vicinity of previously considered solutions. Mainly, we are interested in considering properties of the distribution of stable circular orbits around the corresponding configurations and images of the accretion disk for a distant observer. For all cases, we find possible types of stable circular orbit distributions and domains of parameters where they are realized.
We also demonstrate that the presence of self-interaction can lead to a new type of circular orbit distributions, which is absent in the linear massless scalar field case. We build Keplerian disk images in the plane of a distant observer and demonstrate the possibility to mimic the shadows of black holes.
The topic of this thesis is the theoretical description of the hadron gas stages in heavy-ion collisions. The overall addressed question hereby is: How does the hadronic medium evolve i.e. what are the relevant microscopic reaction mechanisms and the properties of the involved degrees of freedom? The main goal is to address this question specifically for hadronic multi-particle interactions. For this goal, the hadronic transport approach SMASH is extended with stochastic rates, which allow to include detailed balance fulfilling multi-particle reactions in the approach. Three types of reactions are newly-accounted for: 3-to-1, 3-to-2 and 5-to-2 reactions. After extensive verifications of the stochastic rates approach, they are used to study the effect of multi-particle interactions, particularly in afterburner calculations.
These studies follow complementary results for the dilepton and strangeness production with only binary reactions, which show that hadronic transport approaches are capable of describing observables when employed for the entire evolution of low-energy heavy-ion collisions. This is illustrated by the agreement of dilepton and strangeness production for smaller systems with SMASH calculations. It is, in particular, possible to match the measured strangeness production of phi and Xi hadrons via additional heavy nucleon resonance decay channels. For larger systems or higher energies, hadronic transport cascade calculations with vacuum resonance properties can point to medium effects. This is demonstrated extensively for the dilepton emission in comparisons to the full set of HADES dielectron data. The dilepton invariant mass spectra are sensitive to a medium modification of the vector meson spectral function for large collision systems already at low beam energies. The sensitivity to medium modifications is mapped out in detail by comparisons to a coarse-graining approach, which employs medium-modified spectral functions and is based on the same evolution.
The theoretical foundation of stochastic rates are collision probabilities derived from the Boltzmann equation's collision term with the assumption of a constant matrix element. This derivation is presented in a comprehensive and pedagogical fashion. The derived collision probabilities are employed for a stochastic collision criterion and various detailed-balance fulfilling multi-particle reactions: the mesonic Dalitz decay back-reaction (3-to-1), the deuteron catalysis (3-to-2) and the proton-antiproton annihilation back-reaction (5-to-2). The introduced stochastic rates approach is extensively verified by studies of the numerical stability and comparisons to previous results and analytic expectations. The stochastic rates results agree perfectly with the respective analytic results.
Physically, multi-particle reactions are demonstrated to be significant for different observables, most notably the yield of the partaking particles, even in the late dilute stage of heavy-ion reactions. They lead to a faster equilibration of the system than equivalent binary multi-step treatments. The difference in equilibration consequently influences the yield in afterburner calculations. Interestingly, the interpretation of results is not dependent on employing multi-particle or multi-step treatments, which a posteriori validates the latter.
As the first test case of multi-particle reactions in heavy-ion reactions, the mesonic 3-to-1 Dalitz decay is found to be dominated by the omega Dalitz decay back-reaction. While the effect on the medium is found to be negligible overall, the regeneration is found to be sizable: up to a quarter of Dalitz decays are regenerated.
Non-equilibrium rescattering effects are shown to be relevant for late collision stages for two particle species: deuteron and protons. In both cases, the relevant rescatterings involve multiple particles.
The deuteron pion and nucleon catalysis reactions equilibrate quickly in the afterburner stage at intermediate energies. The constant formation and destruction keeps the yield constant and microscopically explains the "snowballs in hell"-paradox. The yield is also generated with no d present at early times, which explains why coalescence models can also match the multiplicity.
New is the study of the 5-body back-reaction of proton-antiproton annihilations. This work marks the first realization of microscopic 5-body reactions in a transport approach to fulfill detailed balance for such reactions. A sizable regeneration due to the back-reaction of up to half of the proton-antiproton pairs lost due to annihilations is found. Consequently, both annihilation and regeneration in the late non-equilibrium stage are shown to have a significant effect on the p yield.
The elliptic flow for Lambda hyperons and K0s mesons was measured by the NA49 experiment in semicentral Pb+Pb collisions at 158A GeV. The standard method of correlating particles with an event plane has been used. Measurements of v2 near mid-rapidity are reported as a function of centrality, rapidity and transverse momentum. Elliptic flow of Lambda and K0s particles increases both with the impact parameter and with the transverse momentum. It is compared with v2 for pions and protons as well as with various model predictions. The NA49 results are compared with data from NA45/CERES and STAR experiments.
The electron-positron pairs observed in heavy-ion collisions at Gesellschaft für Schwerionen-forschung Darmstadt mbH have been interpreted as the decay products of yet unknown particles with masses around 1.8 MeV. The negative results of resonant Bhabha scattering experiments, however, do not support such an interpretation. Therefore we focus on a more complex decay scenario, where the e+e- lines result from a two-collision process. We discuss the induced decay of a metastable 1++ state into e+e- pairs. For most realizations of a 1++ state such a decay in leading order can only take place in the Coulomb field of a target atom. This fact has the attractive consequence that for such a state the Bhabha bounds are no longer valid. However, the absolute value of the e+e- production cross section turns out to be unacceptably small.
Simulating Many Accelerated Strongly-interacting Hadrons (SMASH) is a new hadronic transport approach designed to describe the non-equilibrium evolution of heavy-ion collisions. The production of strange particles in such systems is enhanced compared to elementary reactions (Blume and Markert 2011), providing an interesting signal to study. Two different strangeness production mechanisms are discussed: one based on resonances and another using forced canonical thermalization. Comparisons to experimental data from elementary collisions are shown.
We present results on hadronic resonance production in high energy nuclear collisions from the UrQMD hybrid model. In particular we are interested in the effect of the final hadronic stage on the properties of resonances observable at RHIC and LHC experiments. We investigate weather these observable properties can be used to pinpoint the transition energy density from the QGP phase to the hadronic phase.
We apply a coupled transport-hydrodynamics model to discuss the production of multi-strange meta-stable objects in Pb + Pb reactions at the FAIR facility. In addition to making predictions for yields of these particles we are able to calculate particle dependent rapidity and momentum distributions. We argue that the FAIR energy regime is the optimal place to search for multi-strange baryonic object (due to the high baryon density, favoring a distillation of strangeness). Additionally, we show results for strangeness and baryon density fluctuations. Using the UrQMD model we calculate the strangeness separation in phase space which might lead to an enhanced production of MEMOs compared to models that assume global thermalization.
Results on proton and Λ flow, calculated with the UrQMD model that incorporates different realistic density dependent equations of state, are presented. It is shown that the proton and hyperon flow shows sensitivity to the equation of state and especially to the appearance of a phase transition at densities below 4n0. Even though qualitatively hyperons and protons exhibit the same beam energy dependence of the flow, the quantitative results are different. In this context it is suggested that the hyperon measurements can be used to study the density dependence of the hyperon interaction in high density QCD matter.
The coordinate and momentum space configurations of the net baryon number in heavy ion collisions that undergo spinodal decomposition, due to a first-order phase transition, are investigated using state-of-the-art machine-learning methods. Coordinate space clumping, which appears in the spinodal decomposition, leaves strong characteristic imprints on the spatial net density distribution in nearly every event which can be detected by modern machine learning techniques. On the other hand, the corresponding features in the momentum distributions cannot clearly be detected, by the same machine learning methods, in individual events. Only a small subset of events can be systematically differ- entiated if only the momentum space information is available. This is due to the strong similarity of the two event classes, with and without spinodal decomposition. In such sce- narios, conventional event-averaged observables like the baryon number cumulants signal a spinodal non-equilibrium phase transition. Indeed the third-order cumulant, the skewness, does exhibit a peak at the beam energy (Elab = 3–4 A GeV), where the transient hot and dense system created in the heavy ion collision reaches the first-order phase transition.
We show how repulsive interactions of deconfined quarks as well as confined hadrons have an influence on the baryon number susceptibilities and the curvature of the chiral pseudo-critical line in effective models of QCD. We discuss implications and constraints for the vector interaction strength from comparisons to lattice QCD and comment on earlier constraints, extracted from the curvature of the transition line of QCD and compact star observables. Our results clearly point to a strong vector repulsion in the hadronic phase and near-zero repulsion in the deconfined phase.
We study the correlation between the distributions of the net-charge, net-kaon, net-baryon and net-proton number at hadronization and after the final hadronic decoupling by simulating ultra relativistic heavy ion collisions with the hybrid version of the ultrarelativistic quantum molecular dynamics (UrQMD) model. We find that due to the hadronic rescattering these distributions are not strongly correlated. The calculated change of the correlation, during the hadronic expansion stage, does not support the recent paradigm, namely that the measured final moments of the experimentally observed distributions do give directly the values of those distributions at earlier times, when the system had been closer to the QCD crossover.
The effect of nuclear interactions on measurable net-proton number fluctuations in heavy ion collisions at the SIS18/GSI accelerator is investigated. The state of the art UrQMD model including interaction potentials is employed. It is found that the nuclear forces enhance the baryon number cumulants, as predicted from grand canonical thermodynamical models. The effect however is smeared out for proton number fluctuations due to iso-spin randomization and global baryon number conservation, which decreases the cumulant ratios. For a rapidity acceptance window larger than Δy > 0.4 the effects of global baryon number conservation dominate and all cumulant ratios are significantly smaller than 1.
The aim of this work is to develop an effective equation of state for QCD, having the correct asymptotic degrees of freedom, to be used as input for dynamical studies of heavy ion collisions. We present an approach for modeling an EoS that respects the symmetries underlying QCD, and includes the correct asymptotic degrees of freedom, i.e. quarks and gluons at high temperature and hadrons in the low-temperature limit. We achieve this by including quarks degrees of freedom and the thermal contribution of the Polyakov loop in a hadronic chiral sigma-omega model. The hadronic part of the model is a nonlinear realization of an sigma-omega model. As the fundamental symmetries of QCD should also be present in its hadronic states such an approach is widely used to describe hadron properties below and around Tc. The quarks are introduced as thermal quasi particles, coupling to the Polyakov loop, while the dynamics of the Polyakov loop are controlled by a potential term which is fitted to reproduce pure gauge lattice data. In this model the sigma field serves a the order parameter for chiral restoration and the Polyakov loop as order parameter for deconfinement. The hadrons are suppressed at high densities by excluded volume corrections. As a next step, we introduce our new HQ model equation of state in a microscopic+macroscopic hybrid approach to heavy ion collisions. This hybrid approach is based on the Ultra-relativistic Quantum Molecular Dynamics (UrQMD) transport approach with an intermediate hydrodynamical evolution for the hot and dense stage of the collision. The present implementation allows to compare pure microscopic transport calculations with hydrodynamic calculations using exactly the same initial conditions and freeze-out procedure. The effects of the change in the underlying dynamics - ideal fluid dynamics vs. non-equilibrium transport theory - are explored. The final pion and proton multiplicities are lower in the hybrid model calculation due to the isentropic hydrodynamic expansion while the yields for strange particles are enhanced due to the local equilibrium in the hydrodynamic evolution. The elliptic and directed flow are shown to be not sensitive to changes in the EoS while the smaller mean free path in the hydrodynamic evolution reflects directly in higher flow results which are consistent with the experimental data. This finding indicates qualitatively that physical mechanisms like viscosity and other non equilibrium effects play an essentially more important role than the EoS when bulk observables like flow are investigated. In the last chapter, results for the thermal production of MEMOs in nucleus-nucleus collisions from a combined micro+macro approach are presented. Multiplicities, rapidity and transverse momentum spectra are predicted for Pb+Pb interaction at different beam energies. The presented excitation functions for various MEMO multiplicities show a clear maximum at the upper FAIR energy regime making this facility the ideal place to study the production of these exotic forms of multistrange objects.
We discuss the effects of the final hadronic state, in ultra-relativistic nuclear collisions, on hadronic resonance properties and measurable production rates. In particular we will compare our results with recent ALICE data on resonance production. We show that the hadronic phase of the system evolution has a considerable impact on the measured resonance ratios and pT spectra. We also discuss some of the remaining uncertainties in the model and how they may be addressed in future studies.
Spinodal crumbling
(2013)
Extending a previously developed two-phase equation of state, we simulate head-on relativistic lead-lead collisions with fluid dynamics, augmented with a finite-range term, and study the effects of the phase structure on the evolution of the baryon density. For collision energies that bring the bulk of the system into the mechanically unstable spinodal region of the phase diagram, the density irregularities are being amplified significantly. We also present results for the associated clump size distribution.
In this talk we discuss the effects of the hadronic rescattering on final state observables in high energy nuclear collisions. We do so by employing the UrQMD transport model for a realistic description of the hadronic decoupling process. The rescattering of hadrons modifies every hadronic bulk observable. For example apparent multiplicity of resonances is suppressed as compared to a chemical equilibrium freeze-out model. Stable and unstable particles change their momentum distribution by more than 30% through rescattering. The hadronic rescattering also leads to a substantial decorrelation of the conserved charge distributions. These findings show that it is all but trivial to conclude from the final state observables on the properties of the system at an earlier time where it may have been in or close to local equilibrium.
Time resolved measurements of the biased disk effect at an Electron Cyclotron Resonance Ion Source
(1999)
First results are reported from time resolved measurements of ion currents extracted from the Frankfurt 14 GHz Electron Cyclotron Resonance Ion Source with pulsed biased-disk voltage. It was found that the ion currents react promptly to changes of the bias. From the experimental results it is concluded that the biased disk effect is mainly due to improvements of the extraction conditions for the source and/or an enhanced transport of ions into the extraction area. By pulsing the disk voltage, short current pulses of highly charged ions can be generated with amplitudes significantly higher than the currents obtained in continuous mode.
We investigate the phase structure of strongly interacting matter at non-vanishing isospin before the onset of pion condensation in the framework of the unquenched Polyakov–Quark-Meson model with 2+1 quark flavors. We show results for the order parameters and all relevant thermodynamic quantities. In particular, we obtain a moderate change of the pressure with isospin at vanishing baryon chemical potential, whereas the chiral condensate decreases more appreciably. We compare the effective model to recent lattice data for the decrease of the pseudo-critical temperature with the isospin chemical potential. We also demonstrate the major role played by the value of the pion mass in the curvature of the transition line, and the need for lattice results with a physical pion mass. Limitations of the model at nonzero chemical potential are also discussed.
Strangeness enhancement is discussed as a feature specific to relativistic nuclear collisions which create a fireball of strongly interacting matter at high energy density. At very high energy this is suggested to be partonic matter, but at lower energy it should consist of yet unknown hadronic degrees of freedom. The freeze-out of this high density state to a hadron gas can tell us about properties of fireball matter. The hadron gas at the instant of its formation captures conditions directly at the QCD phase boundary at top SPS and RHIC energy, chiefly the critical temperature and energy density.
A steep maximum occurs in the Wroblewski ratio between strange and non-strange quarks created in central nucleus-nucleus collisions, of about A=200, at the lower SPS energy square root s approximately equal to 7 GeV. By analyzing hadronic multiplicities within the grand canonical statistical hadronization model this maximum is shown to occur at a baryochemical potential of about 450 MeV. In comparison, recent QCD lattice calculations at finite baryochemical potential suggest a steep maximum of the light quark susceptibility, to occur at similar mu B, indicative of "critical fluctuation" expected to occur at or near the QCD critical endpoint. This endpoint hat not been firmly pinned down but should occur in the 300 MeV < mu c B < 700 MeV interval. It is argued that central collisions within the low SPS energy range should exhibit a turning point between compression/heating, and expansion/cooling at energy density, temperature and mu B close to the suspected critical point. Whereas from top SPS to RHIC energy the primordial dynamics create a turning point far above in epsilon and T, and far below in mu B. And at lower AGS energies the dynamical trajectory stays below the phase boundary. Thus, the observed sharp strangeness maximum might coincide with the critical square root s at which the dynamics settles at, or near the QCD endpoint.
A selection of recent data referring to Pb+Pb collisions at the SPS CERN energy of 158 GeV per nucleon is presented which might describe the state of highly excited strongly interacting matter both above and below the deconfinement to hadronization (phase) transition predicted by lattice QCD. A tentative picture emerges in which a partonic state is indeed formed in central Pb+Pb collisions which hadronizes at about T = 185 MeV, and expands its volume more than tenfold, cooling to about 120 MeV before hadronic collisions cease. We suggest further that all SPS collisions, from central S+S onward, reach that partonic phase, the maximum energy density increasing with more massive collision systems.
Hadronic yields and yield ratios observed in Pb+Pb collisions at the SPS energy of 158 GeV per nucleon are known to resemble a thermal equilibrium population at T=180 +/- 10 MeV, also observed in elementary e+ + e- to hadron data at LEP. We argue that this is the universal consequence of the QCD parton to hadron phase transition populating the maximum entropy state. This state is shown to survive the hadronic rescattering and expansion phase, freezing in right after hadronization due to the very rapid longitudinal and transverse expansion that is inferred from Bose-Einstein pion correlation analysis of central Pb+Pb collisions.
With new data available from the SPS, at 40 and 80 GeV/A, I review the systematics of bulk hadron multiplicities, with prime focus on strangeness production. The classical concept of strangeness enhancement in central AA collisions is reviewed, in view of the statistical hadronization model which suggests to understand strangeness enhancement to arise chiefly in the transition from the canonical to the grand canonical version of that model. I. e. enhancement results from the fading away of canonical suppression. The model also captures the striking strangeness maximum observed in the vicinity of sqrt s approx 8 GeV. A puzzle remains in the understanding of apparent grand canonical order at the lower SPS, and at AGS energies.
Relativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions create a "fireball" of strongly interacting matter at high energy density. At very high energy this is suggested to be partonic matter, but at lower energy it should consist of yet unknown hadronic, perhaps coherent degrees of freedom. The freeze-out of this high density state to a hadron gas can tell us about properties of fireball matter. Date (v1): Thu, 19 Dec 2002 12:52:34 GMT (146kb) Date (revised v2): Thu, 16 Jan 2003 15:11:47 GMT (146kb) Date (revised v3): Wed, 14 May 2003 12:49:35 GMT (146kb)
The multiplicity of hadronic species created in elementary, and in nucleus-nucleus collisions, are known to be well reproduced by the statistical hadronization model, in its canonical and grand-canonical versions.To understand the origin of the implied equilibrium we revisit the hadronization models developed for e+e- annihilation to hadrons which imply spatial color pre-confinement clusters forming at the end of the pQCD evolution, which decays into on-shell hadrons/resonances. The classical ensemble description arises as a consequence of decoherence and phase space dominance during cluster formation, and decay.For A+A collisions we assume that hadronization occurs from similar singlet clusters which will overlap spatially owing to the extreme density. This is imaged in the transition to the grand-canonical ensemble.This transition sets in with increasing A and collision centrality. It can be described by a percolation model.
We analyze hadrochemical freeze-out in central Pb+Pb collisions at CERN SPS and LHC energies. Employing the UrQMD hybrid transport model we study the effects of the final hadron/resonance expansion phase on the hadron multiplicities established at hadronization. The bulk meson yields freeze out directly at hadronization whereas the baryon-antibaryon sector is subject to significant alterations, due to annihilation and regeneration processes. We quantify the latter changes by survival factors for each species which are applied to modify the statistical model predictions for the data. The modified SM analysis recovers the hadronization points, which coincide with the recent lattice QCD predictions of the parton-hadron transition line at finite baryochemical potential.
In high multiplicity nucleus-nucleus collisions baryon-antibaryon annihilation and regeneration occur during the final hadronic expansion phase, thus distorting the initial equilibrium multiplicity ratios. We quantify the modifications employing the hybrid UrQMD transport model and apply them to the grand canonical partition functions of the Statistical Hadronization Model(SHM). We analyze minimum bias and central Pb+Pb collision data at SPS and LHC energy. We explain the Pion to Proton ratio puzzle. We also reproduce the deuteron to proton ratio at LHC energy by the SHM, and by UrQMD after attaching a phase space coalescence process. We discuss the resulting (T,μB) diagram.
The negative-pion multiplicity is measured for central collisions of 40Ar with KCl at eight energies from 0.36 to 1.8 GeV/nucleon and for 4He on KCl and 40Ar on BaI2 at 977 and 772 MeV/nucleon, respectively. A systematic discrepancy with a cascade-model calculation which fits proton- and pion-nucleus cross sections but omits potential-energy effects is used to derive the energy going into bulk compression of the system. A value of the incompressibility constant of K=240 MeV is extracted in a parabolic form of the nuclear-matter equation of state.
The elastic alpha scattering to backward angles has been studied for 40,42,44,48Ca between 40.7 and 72.3 MeV. The cross sections for 40Ca are larger than those for the higher isotopes up to the highest energies. They show backward increases that disappear above 50 MeV. The enhancement factor for 40Ca over 42,44Ca varies smoothly with energy. 48Ca does also show a backward cross-section enhancement over 42,44Ca. alpha -cluster rotational bands in the 44Ti compound state, four-nucleon correlations in 40Ca, and the l-dependent optical model are discussed as approaches to understand the anomaly. The rotator model appears to agree qualitatively with the experimental data. It involves rotational bands extending at least up to J=16 in 44Ti.
Proton emission in relativistic nuclear collisions is examined for events of low and high multiplicity, corresponding to large and small impact parameters. Peripheral reactions exhibit distributions of protons in agreement with spectator-participant decay modes. Central collisions of equal-size nuclei are dominated by the formation and decay of a fireball system. Central collisions of light projectiles with heavy targets exhibit an enhancement in sideward emission which is predicted by recent hydrodynamical calculations.
Angular distributions for elastic and inelastic transitions in 20Ne + 16O scattering have been measured at E(20Ne)=50 MeV. For the 0+, 2+, and 4+ members of the 20Ne ground-state rotational band, the angular distributions exhibit pronounced backward peaking characteristic of an alpha -cluster exchange mechanism. The analysis of the ground-state transition in the first-order elastic transfer model yields no satisfactory fit although microscopic cluster form factors and full recoil corrections are employed. A coupled channels calculation for the 0+, 2+, and 4+ transitions reveals very strong coupling effects, indicating that the coherent superposition of first-order optical model and distorted-wave Born-approximation amplitudes may not be an adequate model for these reactions. NUCLEAR REACTIONS 16O(20Ne, 16O) and 16O(20Ne, 20Ne), elastic and inelastic transfer; E=50MeV; measured sigma (Ef , theta ); optical model + DWBA, and CCBA analyses.
The ALICE experiment at the LHC investigates the properties of the hot and dense nuclear matter created in heavy-ion collisions. By comparing the particle production in pp and p-Pb collisions, possible nuclear initial state effects can be isolated. Measurements of the ω meson pT-spectra in pp and p-Pb collisions not only allow for a determination of the nuclear modification factor RpPb, but also provide insight into the fragmentation process and serve as vital input for decay background simulations for direct photons. In this contribution, measurements of the ω meson production in pp and p-Pb collisions at √sNN=5.02 TeV are presented. This includes the signal extraction and various corrections of the ω meson yields, leading to their production cross sections and the first measured nuclear modification factor RpPb of the ω meson at LHC energies.
The ALICE experiment at the LHC investigates the properties of the hot and dense nuclear matter created in heavy-ion collisions. By comparing the particle production in pp and p-Pb collisions, possible nuclear initial state effects can be isolated. Measurements of the ω meson pT-spectra in pp and p-Pb collisions not only allow for a determination of the nuclear modification factor RpPb, but also provide insight into the fragmentation process and serve as vital input for decay background simulations for direct photons. In this contribution, measurements of the ω meson production in pp and p-Pb collisions at √sNN=5.02 TeV are presented. This includes the signal extraction and various corrections of the ω meson yields, leading to their production cross sections and the first measured nuclear modification factor RpPb of the ω meson at LHC energies.
Electron tomography was used to investigate membrane proteins in a variety of contexts. A high-angle tilt holder, suitable for electron tomography was designed, constructed and characterised. 2D crystals of membrane proteins, NhaA and YidC, were examined as a resolution test, and a method established for determining planarity of crystals. A model for specific gold binding to NhaA crystals was also presented. ATP synthase, a membrane protein complex in mitochondria, were imaged in a frozen hydrated state. They were found to form ribbons of dimers at highly curved regions of the membrane. Dimers from bovine heart and rat liver were excised from the tomographic volumes and averaged. Based on the location of the dimers in the mitochondrion, a model was established whereby ATP synthase, a molecular motor driven by the proton motive force, benefits from the high curvature that it induces in the membrane. Whole yeast mitochondria, imaged by electron cryo-tomography, also contained long ribbons of dimeric ATP synthase. Multiple copies of an unknown membrane protein complex were visualised by electron cryo-tomography, excised and averaged. A general method for the identification of unknown proteins was presented to deal with this inevitable issue, as native tissues and organelles are imaged, and the structures of complexes determined in situ.
The time dependent Hartree-Fock approximation is used to study the dynamical formation of long-lived superheavy nuclear complexes. The effects of long-range Coulomb polarization are treated in terms of a classical quadrupole polarization model. Our calculations show the existence of "resonantlike" structures over a narrow range of bombarding energies near the Coulomb barrier. Calculations of 238U + 238U are presented and the consequences of these results for supercritical positron emission are discussed. NUCLEAR REACTIONS 238U + 238U collisions as a function of bombarding energy, in the time-dependent Hartree-Fock approximation. Superheavy molecules and strongly damped collisions.
The phenomenon of magnetism has been known to humankind for at least over 2500 years and many useful applications of magnetism have been developed since then, starting from the compass to modern information storage and processing devices. While technological applications are an important part of the continuing interest in magnetic materials, their fundamental properties are still being studied, leading to new physical insights at the forefront of physics. The magnetism of magnetic materials is a pure quantum effect due to the electrons that carry an intrinsic spin of 1/2. The physics of interacting quantum spins in magnetic insulators is the main subject of this thesis.We focus here on a theoretical description of the antiferromagnetic insulator Cs2CuCl4. This material is highly interesting because it is a nearly ideal realization of the two-dimensional antiferromagnetic spin-1/2 Heisenberg model on an anisotropic triangular lattice, where the Cu(2+) ions carry a spin of 1/2 and the spins interact via exchange couplings. Due to the geometric frustration of the triangular lattice, there exists a spin-liquid phase with fractional excitations (spinons) at finite temperatures in Cs2CuCl4. This spin-liquid phase is characterized by strong short-range spin correlations without long-range order. From an experimental point of view, Cs2CuCl4 is also very interesting because the exchange couplings are relatively weak leading to a saturation field of only B_c=8.5 T. All relevant parts of the phase diagram are therefore experimentally accessible. A recurring theme in this thesis will be the use of bosonic or fermionic representations of the spin operators which each offer in different situations suitable starting points for an approximate treatment of the spin interactions. The methods which we develop in this thesis are not restricted to Cs2CuCl4 but can also be applied to other materials that can be described by the spin-1/2 Heisenberg model on a triangular lattice; one important example is the material class Cs2Cu(Cl{4-x}Br{x}) where chlorine is partially substituted by bromine which changes the strength of the exchange couplings and the degree of frustration.
Our first topic is the finite-temperature spin-liquid phase in Cs2CuCl4. We study this regime by using a Majorana fermion representation of the spin-1/2 operators motivated by theoretical and experimental evidence for fermionic excitations in this spin-liquid phase. Within a mean-field theory for the Majorana fermions, we determine the magnetic field dependence of the critical temperature for the crossover from spin-liquid to paramagnetic behavior and we calculate the specific heat and magnetic susceptibility in zero magnetic field. We find that the Majorana fermions can only propagate in one dimension along the direction of the strongest exchange coupling; this reduction of the effective dimensionality of excitations is known as dimensional reduction.
The second topic is the behavior of ultrasound propagation and attenuation in the spin-liquid phase of Cs2CuCl4, where we consider longitudinal sound waves along the direction of the strongest exchange coupling. Due to the dimensional reduction of the excitations in the spin-liquid phase, we expect that we can describe the ultrasound physics by a one-dimensional Heisenberg model coupled to the lattice degrees of freedom via the exchange-striction mechanism. For this one-dimensional problem we use the Jordan-Wigner transformation to map the spin-1/2 operators to spinless fermions. We treat the fermions within the self-consistent Hartree-Fock approximation and we calculate the change of the sound velocity and attenuation as a function of magnetic field using a perturbative expansion in the spin-phonon couplings. We compare our theoretical results with experimental data from ultrasound experiments, where we find good agreement between theory and experiment.
Our final topic is the behavior of Cs2CuCl4 in high magnetic fields larger than the saturation field B_c=8.5 T. At zero temperature, Cs2CuCl4 is then fully magnetized and the ground state is therefore a ferromagnet where the excitations have an energy gap. The elementary excitations of this ferromagnetic state are spin-flips (magnons) which behave as hard-core bosons. At finite temperatures there will be thermally excited magnons that interact via the hard-core interaction and via additional exchange interactions. We describe the thermodynamic properties of Cs2CuCl4 at finite temperatures and calculate experimentally observable quantities, e.g., magnetic susceptibility and specific heat. Our approach is based on a mapping of the spin-1/2 operators to hard-core bosons, where we treat the hard-core interaction by the self-consistent ladder approximation and the exchange interactions by the self-consistent Hartree-Fock approximation. We find that our theoretical results for the specific heat are in good agreement with the available experimental data.
This thesis presented the measurement of antideuteron and antihelium-3 production in central AuAu collisions at V SNN = 200 GeV center-of-mass energy at RHIC. The analysis is based on STAR data, about 3 x 10 high 6 events at top 10% centrality. Within the data sample a total number of about 5000 antideuterons and 193 antihelium-3 were observed in the STARTPC at mid-rapidity. The specific energy loss measurement in the TPC provides antideuteron identification only in a small momentum window, antihelium-3 however can be identified nearly background free with almost complete momentum range coverage. Following the statistical analysis of the hadronic composition at chemical freeze-out of the fireball, the antinuclei abundances were analyzed in terms of the same statistical description. Now applied to the clusterization of the fireball, the statistical analysis yields a fireball temperature of (135+-10) MeV and chemical potential of (5+-10) MeV at kinetic freeze-out. In the same way as the hadronization, the clusterization process is phase-space dominated and clusters are born into a state of maximum entropy. The large sample of observed antihelium-3 allowed for the first time in heavy-ion physics to calculate a differential multiplicity and invariant cross section as a function of transverse momentum. As expected, the collective transverse flow in the fireball flattens the shape of the transverse momentum spectrum and leads to the high inverse slope parameter of (950+-140) MeV of the antihelium-3 spectrum. With the extracted mean transverse momentum of antihelium-3, the collective flow velocity in transverse direction could be estimated. As the average thermal velocity is small compared to the mean collective flow velocity for heavy particles, the mean transverse momentum of antihelium-3 by itself constrains the flow velocity. Here, a simple ideal-gas approximation was fitted to the distribution of the mean transverse momentum as a function of particle mass and provided direct access to the kinetic freeze-out temperature and the flow velocity. A concept, which is complementary to the combined analysis of momentum spectra and two-particle HBT correlation methods commonly used to extract these parameters, and a cross check for the statistical analysis. The upper limit for the transverse collective flow velocity from the antihelium-3 measurement alone is v flow <= (0.68+-0.06)c, whereas the ideal-gas approximation yields a temperature of (130+-40) MeV and v flow = (0.46+-0.08)c. The results indicate, that the kinetic freeze-out conditions at SPS and RHIC are very similar, except for a smaller baryon chemical potential at RHIC. The simultaneous inclusive measurement of antiprotons allowed to study the cluster production in terms of the coalescence picture. With the large momentum coverage of the antihelium-3 momentum spectrum, the coalescence parameter could be calculated as a function of transverse momentum. Due to the difference between antiproton and antihelium-3 inverse slopes, increases with increasing transverse momentum - again a direct consequence of collective transverse flow. Both B2 and B3 follow the common behavior of decreasing coalescence parameters as a function of collision energy. According to the simple thermodynamic coalescence model, this indicates an increasing freeze-out volume for higher energies and is confirmed by the interpretation of the coalescence parameters in the framework of Scheibl and Heinz. Their model includes a dynamically expanding source in a quantum mechanical description of the coalescence process and expresses the coalescence parameter as a function of the homogeneity volume V hom accessible also in two-particle HBT correlation analyzes. The values for the antideuteron and antihelium-3 results agree well with the homogeneity volume from pion-pion correlations, but do not seem to follow the same transverse mass dependence. A comparison with proton-proton correlations may clarify this point and provide an important cross check for this analysis. Compared to SPS the homogeneity volume increases nearly by a factor of two. The analysis of the antinuclei emission at RHIC allowed to study the kinetic freeze-out of the created fireball. The results show, that the temperature and mean transverse velocity in the expanding system does not change significantly, when the collision energy increases by one order of magnitude. Only the source volume, i.e. the homogeneity volume, increases. That leaves open questions for the theoreticians to the details of the system evolution from the initial hot and dense phase - the initial energy density is a factor of two to three higher at RHIC than at SPS - to the final kinetic freeze-out with similar conditions. At the same time, the results are important constraints for the theoretical descriptions. The successful implementation of the Level-3 trigger system in STAR opens the door for the measurement of very rare signals. Indeed, in the coalescence physics perspective, the first observations of anti-alpha 4 He nuclei and antihypertritons 3/Delta H will come within the reach of STAR, in addition to a high statistics sample of antihelium-3.
An event by event analysis is carried out for all charged particles observed in central collisions of 40Ar + KCl and 40Ar + Pb at 1.808 and 0.772 GeV/nucleon, respectively. Total transverse energy is used for impact parameter selection within the central trigger condition. The central Ar + KCl reaction exhibits a forward-backward oriented momentum flux. The flux distribution of the most central Ar + Pb events is approximately isotropic in the fireball center of mass.
In this work, the complex structure of ionization and dissociation pathways on the potential energy curves in small molecules were investigated that are initiated by the absorption of a sequence of multi-color pulses in the XUV, VUV, and IR spectrum. Femtosecond pump-probe spectroscopy was used to track the evolution of nuclear dynamics in neutral hydrogen molecules. Previously unpublished excitation and ionization pathways leading to the dissociative ionization of hydrogen molecules were investigated by employing 3D momentum imaging spectroscopy. These studies were extended to oxygen molecules where an XUV attosecond pulse train coherently ionized several electronic states of O2+ followed by the dissociation of the molecule via multiple pathways. The infrared electric field of the driving laser was then used to couple the electronic and nuclear wave-packets, thus, manipulating the dissociation dynamics of the molecule on an attosecond time scale.
In order to perform the experiments presented here, a novel experimental setup was developed and constructed. It combines an existing high-flux High Harmonic Generation light source that delivers attosecond pulse trains in the VUV and XUV spectrum with a state-of-the-art 3D momentum imaging apparatus (COLTRIMS), as well as a beamline consisting of several experimental tools enabling the selection, characterization, and propagation of the photon spectrum.
We discuss the present collective flow signals for the phase transition to the quark-gluon plasma (QGP) and the collective flow as a barometer for the equation of state (EoS). We emphasize the importance of the flow excitation function from 1 to 50A GeV: here the hydrodynamicmodel has predicted the collapse of the v1-flow at ~ 10A GeV and of the v2-flow at ~ 40A GeV. In the latter case, this has recently been observed by the NA49 collaboration. Since hadronic rescattering models predict much larger flow than observed at this energy, we interpret this observation as potential evidence for a first order phase transition at high baryon density pB.
A critical discussion of the present status of the CERN experiments on charm dynamics and hadron collective flow is given. We emphasize the importance of the flow excitation function from 1 to 50 A·GeV: here the hydrodynamic model has predicted the collapse of the v1-flow and of the v2-flow at 10 A·GeV; at 40 A·GeV it has been recently observed by the NA49 collaboration. Since hadronic rescattering models predict much larger flow than observed at this energy we interpret this observation as potential evidence for a first order phase transition at high baryon density B. A detailed discussion of the collective flow as a barometer for the equation of state (EoS) of hot dense matter at RHIC follows. Here, hadronic rescattering models can explain < 30% of the observed elliptic flow, v2, for pT > 2 GeV/c. This is interpreted as evidence for the production of superdense matter at RHIC with initial pressure far above hadronic pressure, p > 1 GeV/fm3. We suggest that the fluctuations in the flow, v1 and v2, should be measured in future since ideal hydrodynamics predicts that they are larger than 50 % due to initial state fluctuations. Furthermore, the QGP coe cient of viscosity may be determined experimentally from the fluctuations observed. The connection of v2 to jet suppression is examined. It is proven experimentally that the collective flow is not faked by minijet fragmentation. Additionally, detailed transport studies show that the awayside jet suppression can only partially (< 50%) be due to hadronic rescattering. We, finally, propose upgrades and second generation experiments at RHIC which inspect the first order phase transition in the fragmentation region, i.e. at µB 400 MeV (y 4 5), where the collapse of the proton flow should be seen in analogy to the 40 A·GeV data. The study of Jet-Wake-riding potentials and Bow shocks caused by jets in the QGP formed at RHIC can give further information on the equation of state (EoS) and transport coe cients of the Quark Gluon Plasma (QGP).
Results from various theoretical approaches and ideas presented at this exciting meeting (summary talk at the 5th International Conference on Physics and Astrophysics of Quark Gluon Plasma (ICPAQGP - 2005)) are reviewed. I also point towards future directions, in particular hydrodynamic behaviour induced by jets traveling through the quark-gluon plasma, which might be worth looking at in more detail.
The experimental signatures of TeV-mass black hole (BH) formation in heavy ion collisions at the LHC is examined. We find that the black hole production results in a complete disappearance of all very high p_T (> 500 GeV) back-to-back correlated di-jets of total mass M > M_f ~ 1 TeV. We show that the subsequent Hawking-decay produces multiple hard mono-jets and discuss their detection. We study the possibility of cold black hole remnant (BHR) formation of mass ~ M_f and the experimental distinguishability of scenarios with BHRs and those with complete black hole decay. Due to the rather moderate luminosity in the first year of LHC running the least chance for the observation of BHs or BHRs at this early stage will be by ionizing tracks in the ALICE TPC. Finally we point out that stable BHRs would be interesting candidates for energy production by conversion of mass to Hawking radiation.
The production of Large Extra Dimension (LXD) Black Holes (BHs), with a new, fundamental mass scale of M_f = 1 TeV, has been predicted to occur at the Large Hadron Collider, LHC, with the formidable rate of 10^8 per year in p-p collisions at full energy, 14 TeV, and at full luminosity. We show that such LXD-BH formation will be experimentally observable at the LHC by the complete disappearance of all very high p_t (> 500 GeV) back-to-back correlated Di-Jets of total mass M > M_f = 1 TeV. We suggest to complement this clear cut-off signal at M > 2*500 GeV in the di-jet-correlation function by detecting the subsequent, Hawking-decay products of the LXD-BHs, namely either multiple high energy (> 100 GeV) SM Mono-Jets (i.e. away-side jet missing), sprayed off the evaporating BHs isentropically into all directions or the thermalization of the multiple overlapping Hawking-radiation in a eckler-Kapusta-Plasma. Microcanonical quantum statistical calculations of the Hawking evaporation process for these LXD-BHs show that cold black hole remnants (BHRs) of Mass sim M_f remain leftover as the ashes of these spectacular Di-Jet-suppressed events. Strong Di-Jet suppression is also expected with Heavy Ion beams at the LHC, due to Quark-Gluon-Plasma induced jet attenuation at medium to low jet energies, p_t < 200 GeV. The (Mono-)Jets in these events can be used to trigger for Tsunami-emission of secondary compressed QCD-matter at well defined Mach-angles, both at the trigger side and at the awayside (missing) jet. The Machshock-angles allow for a direct measurement of both the equation of state EoS and the speed of sound c_s via supersonic bang in the "big bang" matter. We discuss the importance of the underlying strong collective flow - the gluon storm - of the QCD- matter for the formation and evolution of these Machshock cones. We predict a significant deformation of Mach shocks from the gluon storm in central Au+Au collisions at RHIC and LHC energies, as compared to the case of weakly coupled jets propagating through a static medium. A possible complete stopping of pt > 50 GeV jets at the LHC in 2-3 fm yields nonlinear high density Mach shocks in he quark gluon plasma, which can be studied in the complex emission and disintegration pattern of the possibly supercooled matter. We report on first full 3-dimensional fluid dynamical studies of the strong effects of a first order phase transition on the evolution and the Tsunami-like Mach shock emission of the QCD matter.