Compound-Nucleus Formation Following Direct Interactions to Highly-Excited Final States (open access)

Compound-Nucleus Formation Following Direct Interactions to Highly-Excited Final States

When direct reactions populate highly excited, unbound configurations in the residual nucleus, the nucleus may further evolve into a compound nucleus. Alternatively, the residual system may decay by emitting particles into the continuum. Understanding the relative weights of these two processes as a function of the angular momentum and parity deposited in the nucleus is important for the surrogate-reaction technique. A particularly interesting case is compound-nucleus formation via the (d, p) reaction, which may be a useful tool for forming compound nuclei off the valley of stability in inverse-kinematics experiments. We present here a study of the compound formation probability for a closely-related direct reaction, direct-semidirect radiative neutron capture.
Date: February 5, 2008
Creator: Dietrich, F S
System: The UNT Digital Library
Non-magnetic compensation in ferromagnetic Ga1-xMnxAs and Ga1-xMnxP synthesized by ion implantation and pulsed-laser melting (open access)

Non-magnetic compensation in ferromagnetic Ga1-xMnxAs and Ga1-xMnxP synthesized by ion implantation and pulsed-laser melting

The electronic and magnetic effects of intentional compensation with non-magnetic donors are investigated in the ferromagnetic semiconductors Ga1-xMnxAs and Ga1-xMnxP synthesized using ion implantation and pulsed-laser melting (II-PLM). It is demonstrated that compensation with non-magnetic donors and MnI have similarqualitative effects on materials properties. With compensation TC decreases, resistivity increases, and stronger magnetoresistance and anomalous Hall effect attributed to skew scattering are observed. Ga1-xMnxAs can be controllably compensated with Te through a metal-insulator transition through which the magnetic and electrical properties vary continuously. The resistivity of insulating Ga1-xMnxAs:Te can be described by thermal activation to the mobility edge and simply-activated hopping transport. Ga1-xMnxP doped with S is insulating at all compositions but shows decreasing TC with compensation. The existence of a ferromagnetic insulating state in Ga1-xMnxAs:Te and Ga1-xMnxP:S having TCs of the same order as the uncompensated materials demonstrates that localized holes are effective at mediating ferromagnetism in ferromagnetic semiconductors through the percolation of ferromagnetic 'puddles' which at low temperatures.
Date: February 5, 2008
Creator: Scarpulla, M. A.; Stone, P. R.; Sharp, I. D.; Haller, E. E.; Dubon, O. D.; Beeman, J. W. et al.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Supersymmetry in Elementary Particle Physics (open access)

Supersymmetry in Elementary Particle Physics

These lectures give a general introduction to supersymmetry, emphasizing its application to models of elementary particle physics at the 100 GeV energy scale. I discuss the following topics: the construction of supersymmetric Lagrangians with scalars, fermions, and gauge bosons, the structure and mass spectrum of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM), the measurement of the parameters of the MSSM at high-energy colliders, and the solutions that the MSSM gives to the problems of electroweak symmetry breaking and dark matter.
Date: February 5, 2008
Creator: Peskin, Michael E.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Evaluation of radioactive background rejection in 76Ge neutrino-lessdouble-beta decay experiments using a highly segmented HPGe detector (open access)

Evaluation of radioactive background rejection in 76Ge neutrino-lessdouble-beta decay experiments using a highly segmented HPGe detector

A highly segmented coaxial HPGe detector was operated in a low background counting facility for over 1 year to experimentally evaluate possible segmentation strategies for the proposed Majorana neutrino-less double-beta decay experiment. Segmentation schemes were evaluated on their ability to reject multi-segment events while retaining single-segment events. To quantify a segmentation scheme's acceptance efficiency the percentage of peak area due to single segment events was calculated for peaks located in the energy region 911-2614 keV. Single interaction site events were represented by the double-escape peak from the 2614 keV decay in {sup 208}Tl located at 1592 keV. In spite of its prototypical nature, the detector performed well under realistic operating conditions and required only minimal human interaction. Though the energy resolution for events with interactions in multiple segments was impacted by inter-segment cross-talk, the implementation of a cross-talk correlation matrix restored acceptable resolution. Additionally, simulations utilizing the MaGe simulation package were performed and found to be in good agreement with experimental observations verifying the external nature of the background radiation.
Date: February 5, 2007
Creator: Chan, Yuen-Dat; Campbell, D. B.; Vetter, K.; Henning, R.; Lesko, K.; Chan, Y. D. et al.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Nuclear World Order and Nonproliferation (open access)

Nuclear World Order and Nonproliferation

The decision by India and Pakistan in May 1998 to conduct nuclear weapon tests and declare themselves as nuclear weapon states challenged South Asian regional stability calculations, US nonproliferation policy, and prevailing assumptions about international security. A decade later, the effects of those tests are still being felt and policies are still adjusting to the changed global conditions. This paper will consider non- and counter-proliferation policy options for the United States and Pakistan as they work as partners to prevent the transfer of nuclear technology and further nuclear proliferation.
Date: February 5, 2007
Creator: Joeck, N
System: The UNT Digital Library
Occupational Medicine Implications of Engineered Nanoscale Particulate Matter (open access)

Occupational Medicine Implications of Engineered Nanoscale Particulate Matter

None
Date: February 5, 2008
Creator: Kelly, Richard & Kelly, Richard J.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Modeling of High Precision Neutron Nonelastic Cross Sections (open access)

Modeling of High Precision Neutron Nonelastic Cross Sections

A new method has been applied to the determination of neutron nonelastic cross sections for iron {sup 56}Fe and lead {sup 208}Pb for energies between 5 and 26 MeV. These data have estimated errors of only a few percent and do not suffer from the ambiguities encountered in earlier nonelastic data. We attempt to fit these high precision data using both a semiclassical single phase shift model (nuclear Ramsauer model) as well as a recent global optical model that well reproduces a wide body of neutron scattering observables. At the 5% uncertainty level, both models produce satisfactory fits. However, neither model gives satisfactory fits to these new precise data. We conclude that fitting precise data, i.e., data with errors of approximately 2% or less, may require a nuclear mass dependence of radii that reflects structure effects such as shell closures.
Date: February 5, 2007
Creator: Dietrich, F. S.; Anderson, J. D.; Bauer, R. W.; Grimes, S. M. & McNabb, D. P.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Adapting high-resolution speckle imaging to moving targets and platforms (open access)

Adapting high-resolution speckle imaging to moving targets and platforms

High-resolution surveillance imaging with apertures greater than a few inches over horizontal or slant paths at optical or infrared wavelengths will typically be limited by atmospheric aberrations. With static targets and static platforms, we have previously demonstrated near-diffraction limited imaging of various targets including personnel and vehicles over horizontal and slant paths ranging from less than a kilometer to many tens of kilometers using adaptations to bispectral speckle imaging techniques. Nominally, these image processing methods require the target to be static with respect to its background during the data acquisition since multiple frames are required. To obtain a sufficient number of frames and also to allow the atmosphere to decorrelate between frames, data acquisition times on the order of one second are needed. Modifications to the original imaging algorithm will be needed to deal with situations where there is relative target to background motion. In this paper, we present an extension of these imaging techniques to accommodate mobile platforms and moving targets.
Date: February 5, 2004
Creator: Carrano, C J & Brase, J M
System: The UNT Digital Library
Statistical Stability and Time-Reversal Imgaing in Random Media (open access)

Statistical Stability and Time-Reversal Imgaing in Random Media

Localization of targets imbedded in a heterogeneous background medium is a common problem in seismic, ultrasonic, and electromagnetic imaging problems. The best imaging techniques make direct use of the eigenfunctions and eigenvalues of the array response matrix, as recent work on time-reversal acoustics has shown. Of the various imaging functionals studied, one that is representative of a preferred class is a time-domain generalization of MUSIC (MUltiple Signal Classification), which is a well-known linear subspace method normally applied only in the frequency domain. Since statistical stability is not characteristic of the frequency domain, a transform back to the time domain after first diagonalizing the array data in the frequency domain takes optimum advantage of both the time-domain stability and the frequency-domain orthogonality of the relevant eigenfunctions.
Date: February 5, 2002
Creator: Berryman, J; Borcea, L; Papanicolaou, G & Tsogka, C
System: The UNT Digital Library
Effect of Small Variation in the Composition of Plates and Weld Filler Wires on the General Corrosion Rate of Ni-Cr-Mo Alloys (open access)

Effect of Small Variation in the Composition of Plates and Weld Filler Wires on the General Corrosion Rate of Ni-Cr-Mo Alloys

The ASTM standard B 575 provides the requirements for the chemical composition of Nickel-Chromium-Molybdenum (Ni-Cr-Mo) alloys such as Alloy 22 (N06022) and Alloy 686 (N06686). The compositions of each element are given in a range. For example, the content of Mo is specified from 12.5 to 14.5 weight percent for Alloy 22 and from 15.0 to 17.0 weight percent for Alloy 686. It was important to determine how the corrosion rate of welded plates of Alloy 22 using Alloy 686 weld filler metal would change if heats of these alloys were prepared using several variations in the composition of the elements even though still in the range specified in B 575. All the material used in this report were especially prepared at Allegheny Ludlum Co. Seven heats of plate were welded with seven heats of wire. Immersion corrosion tests were conducted in a boiling solution of sulfuric acid plus ferric sulfate (ASTM G 28 A) using both as-welded (ASW) coupons and solution heat-treated (SHT) coupons. Results show that the corrosion rate was not affected by the chemistry of the materials within the range of the standards.
Date: February 5, 2005
Creator: Fix, David V.; Estill, John C. & Rebak, Raúl B.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Immobilization of uranium and plutonium into borobasalt, pyroxene and andradite mineral-like compositions (open access)

Immobilization of uranium and plutonium into borobasalt, pyroxene and andradite mineral-like compositions

The immobilization of plutonium-containing wastes into stable solid compositions is one of the problems to be solved in the disposal of radioactive wastes. Research efforts on the selection, preparation with the use of the cold crucible induction melter (CCIM) technology, and investigation of materials that are most suitable for immobilizing plutonium-containing wastes of different origin have been carried out at the All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Inorganic Materials (VNIINM) and the Institute of the Geology of Ore Deposits, Petrography, Mineralogy, and Geochemistry (IGEM), Russian Academy of Sciences within the framework of agreements with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL, USA) regarding material and technical support. This paper presents the data on the synthesis of cerium-, uranium-, and plutonium-containing materials based on borobasalt, pyroxene, and andradite compositions in the muffle furnace and by the CCIM method. Compositions containing up to 15-18 wt% cerium oxide, 8-11 wt% uranium oxide, and 4.6-5.7 wt% plutonium oxide were obtained in laboratory facilities installed in glove boxes. Comparison studies of the materials synthesized in the muffle furnace and CCIM demonstrate the advantages of using the CCIM method. The distribution of components in the materials.
Date: February 5, 2001
Creator: Matyunin, Y I; Jardine, L J & Yudintsev, S V
System: The UNT Digital Library
Stopping and Baryon Transport in Heavy Ion Reactions. (open access)

Stopping and Baryon Transport in Heavy Ion Reactions.

In this report I will give an experimental overview on nuclear stopping in hadron collisions, and relate observations to understanding of baryon transport. Baryon number transport is not only evidenced via net-proton distributions but also by the enhancement of strange baryons near mid-rapidity. Although the focus is on high-energy data obtained from pp and heavy ions from RHIC, relevant data from SPS and ISR will be considered. A discussion how the available data at higher energy relates and gives information on baryon junction, quark-diquark breaking will be made.
Date: February 5, 2005
Creator: Videbaek, F.
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Search for Milky Way Halo Substructure WIMP Annihilations Using the GLAST LAT (open access)

The Search for Milky Way Halo Substructure WIMP Annihilations Using the GLAST LAT

The GLAST LAT Collaboration is one among several experimental groups, covering a wide range of approaches, pursuing the search for the nature of dark matter. The GLAST LAT has the unique ability to find new sources of high energy gamma radiation emanating directly from WIMP annihilations in situ in the universe. Using it's wide band spectral and full sky spatial capabilities, the GLAST LAT can form ''images'' in high energy gamma-rays of dark matter substructures in the gamma-ray sky. We describe a preliminary feasibility study for indirect detection of milky way dark matter satellites using the GLAST LAT.
Date: February 5, 2007
Creator: Wai, Larry
System: The UNT Digital Library
Impact of Small Chemistry Variations in Plate and Weld Filler Metal on the Corrosion Performance of Ni-Cr-Mo Alloys (open access)

Impact of Small Chemistry Variations in Plate and Weld Filler Metal on the Corrosion Performance of Ni-Cr-Mo Alloys

The ASTM standard B 575 provides the requirements for the chemical composition of Nickel-Chromium-Molybdenum (Ni-Cr-Mo) alloys such as Alloy 22 (N06022) and Alloy 686 (N06686). The compositions of each element are given in a range. For example, the content of Mo is specified from 12.5 to 14.5 weight percent for Alloy 22 and from 15.0 to 17.0 weight percent for Alloy 686. It was important to determine how the corrosion rate of welded plates of Alloy 22 using Alloy 686 weld filler metal would change if heats of these alloys were prepared using several variations in the composition of the elements even though still in the range specified in B 575. Seven heats of plate were welded with seven heats of wire. Immersion corrosion tests were conducted in a boiling solution of sulfuric acid plus ferric sulfate (ASTM G 28 A) using both as-welded (ASW) coupons and solution heat-treated (SHT) coupons. Results show that the corrosion rate was not affected by the chemistry of the materials in the range specified in the standard B 575.
Date: February 5, 2006
Creator: Fix, D V & Rebak, R B
System: The UNT Digital Library
Long-Term Corrosion Behavior of Alloy 22 in 5 M CaCl2 at 120?C (open access)

Long-Term Corrosion Behavior of Alloy 22 in 5 M CaCl2 at 120?C

In conditions where tight crevices exist in hot chloride containing solutions Alloy 22 may suffer crevice corrosion. The occurrence (or not) of crevice corrosion in a given environment (e.g. salt concentration and temperature), is governed by the values of the critical potential (E{sub crit}) for crevice corrosion and the corrosion potential (E{sub corr}). This paper discusses the evolution of E{sub corr} and corrosion rate (CR) of creviced Alloy 22 specimens in 5 M calcium chloride (CaCl{sub 2}) at 120 C. Tested specimens included non-creviced rods and multiple creviced assemblies (MCA) both non-welded (wrought) and welded. Results show that Alloy 22 suffers crevice corrosion under the open circuit conditions in the aerated hot CaCl{sub 2} brine. However, after more than a year immersion the propagation of crevice corrosion was not significant. The general corrosion rate decreased or remained unchanged as the immersion time increased. For rods and MCA specimens, the corrosion rate was lower than 100 nm/year after more than a year immersion time.
Date: February 5, 2006
Creator: Estill, J. C.; Hust, G. A.; Evans, K. J.; Stuart, M. L. & Rebak, R. B.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Effect of Chemistry Variations in Plate and Weld Filler Metal on the Corrosion Performance of Ni-Cr-Mo Alloys (open access)

Effect of Chemistry Variations in Plate and Weld Filler Metal on the Corrosion Performance of Ni-Cr-Mo Alloys

The ASTM standard B 575 provides the requirements for the chemical composition of Nickel-Chromium-Molybdenum (Ni-Cr-Mo) alloys such as Alloy 22 (N06022) and Alloy 686 (N06686). The compositions of each element are given in a range. For example, the content of Mo is specified from 12.5 to 14.5 weight percent for Alloy 22 and from 15.0 to 17.0 weight percent for Alloy 686. It was important to determine how the corrosion rate of welded plates of Alloy 22 using Alloy 686 weld filler metal would change if heats of these alloys were prepared using several variations in the composition of the elements even though still in the range specified in B 575. All the material used in this report were especially prepared at Allegheny Ludlum Co. Seven heats of plate were welded with seven heats of wire. Immersion corrosion tests were conducted in a boiling solution of sulfuric acid plus ferric sulfate (ASTM G 28 A) using both as-welded (ASW) coupons and solution heat-treated (SHT) coupons. Results show that the corrosion rate was not affected by the chemistry of the materials in the range of the standards.
Date: February 5, 2006
Creator: Fix, D V & Rebak, R B
System: The UNT Digital Library
International Benchmarking and Conference on Women in Physics (open access)

International Benchmarking and Conference on Women in Physics

International benchmarking and conference on women in physics.
Date: February 5, 2003
Creator: Franz, Judy R.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Electrochemical Testing of Gas Tungsten Arc Welded and Reduced Pressure Electron Beam Welded Alloy 22 (open access)

Electrochemical Testing of Gas Tungsten Arc Welded and Reduced Pressure Electron Beam Welded Alloy 22

Alloy 22 (N06022) is the material selected for the fabrication of the outer shell of the nuclear waste containers for the Yucca Mountain high-level nuclear waste repository site. A key technical issue in the waste package program has been the integrity of the container weld joints. The currently selected welding process for fabricating and sealing the containers is the traditional gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) or TIG method. An appealing faster alternative technique is reduced pressure electron beam (RPEB) welding. It was of interest to compare the corrosion properties of specimens prepared using both types of welding techniques. Standard electrochemical tests were carried on GTAW and RPEB welds as well as on base metal (non-welded) to determine their relative corrosion behavior in simulated concentrated water (SCW) at 90 C (alkaline), 1 M HCl at 60 C (acidic) and 1 M NaCl at 90 C (neutral) solutions. Results show that for all practical purposes, the three tested materials had the same electrochemical behavior in the three tested electrolytes.
Date: February 5, 2006
Creator: Day, S. D.; Wong, F. G.; Gordon, S. R.; Wong, L. L. & Rebak, R. B.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Finding Text Information in the Ocean of Electronic Documents (open access)

Finding Text Information in the Ocean of Electronic Documents

Information management in natural resources has become an overwhelming task. A massive amount of electronic documents and data is now available for creating informed decisions. The problem is finding the relevant information to support the decision-making process. Determining gaps in knowledge in order to propose new studies or to determine which proposals to fund for maximum potential is a time-consuming and difficult task. Additionally, available data stores are increasing in complexity; they now may include not only text and numerical data, but also images, sounds, and video recordings. Information visualization specialists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) have software tools for exploring electronic data stores and for discovering and exploiting relationships within data sets. These provide capabilities for unstructured text explorations, the use of data signatures (a compact format for the essence of a set of scientific data) for visualization (Wong et al 2000), visualizations for multiple query results (Havre et al. 2001), and others (http://www.pnl.gov/infoviz ). We will focus on IN-SPIRE, a MS Windows vision of PNNL’s SPIRE (Spatial Paradigm for Information Retrieval and Exploration). IN-SPIRE was developed to assist information analysts find and discover information in huge masses of text documents.
Date: February 5, 2003
Creator: Medvick, Patricia A. & Calapristi, Augustin J.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Dark Matter Searches With GLAST (open access)

Dark Matter Searches With GLAST

Indirect detection of particle dark matter relies upon pair annihilation of Weakly Interaction Massive Particles (WIMPs), which is complementary to the well known techniques of direct detection (WIMP-nucleus scattering) and collider production (WIMP pair production). Pair annihilation of WIMPs results in the production of gamma-rays, neutrinos, and anti-matter. Of the various experiments sensitive to indirect detection of dark matter, the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) may play the most crucial role in the next few years. After launch in late 2007, The GLAST Large Area Telescope (LAT) will survey the gamma-ray sky in the energy range of 20MeV-300GeV. By eliminating charged particle background above 100 MeV, GLAST may be sensitive to as yet to be observed Milky Way dark matter subhalos, as well as WIMP pair annihilation spectral lines from the Milky Way halo. Discovery of gamma-ray signals from dark matter in the Milky Way would not only demonstrate the particle nature of dark matter; it would also open a new observational window on galactic dark matter substructure. Location of new dark matter sources by GLAST would dramatically alter the experimental landscape; ground based gamma ray telescopes could follow up on the new GLAST sources with precision measurements of …
Date: February 5, 2007
Creator: Wai, Lawrence & Nuss, E.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Preserving Nuclear Grade Knowledge (open access)

Preserving Nuclear Grade Knowledge

When people think of the government they think of the President, or Congress, or the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), but there are thousands of people in government-related jobs doing things most don’t really notice everyday. You can find them everywhere, from the space science folks at NASA, to the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) watching out for the bad guys. There are Rangers, and Social Workers, Nurses and Agricultural Managers. They are people working to keep the many facets of the USA rolling. One very diverse bunch is The Department of Energy (DOE) , a group who is expanding the ways we make and save energy to power our cars, homes, and businesses. Tucked away under the DOE is the National Nuclear Security Administration, the NNSA is an agency that maintains the safety, security, and reliability of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile. It works to reduce global danger from weapons of mass destruction. It provides the U.S. Navy with safe nuclear propulsion, and it responds to nuclear and radiological emergencies in the United States and abroad, and it supports efforts in science and technology*. (* DOE/NNSA/KCP website info)
Date: February 5, 2008
Creator: Lange, Bob
System: The UNT Digital Library
Photovoltaic Devices Employing Ternary PbSxSe1-x Nanocrystals (open access)

Photovoltaic Devices Employing Ternary PbSxSe1-x Nanocrystals

We report solar cells based on highly confined nanocrystals of the ternary compound PbSxSe1-x. Crystalline, monodisperse alloyed nanocrystals are obtained using a one-pot, hot injection reaction. Rutherford back scattering and energy filtered transmission electron microscopy suggest that the S and Se anions are uniformly distributed in the alloy nanoparticles. Photovoltaic devices made using ternary nanoparticles are more efficient than either pure PbS or pure PbSe based nanocrystal devices.
Date: February 5, 2009
Creator: Ma, Wanli; Luther, Joseph; Zheng, Haimei; Wu, Yue & Alivisatos, A. Paul
System: The UNT Digital Library
High-rate Plastic Deformation of Nanocrystalline Tantalum to Large Strains: Molecular Dynamics Simulation (open access)

High-rate Plastic Deformation of Nanocrystalline Tantalum to Large Strains: Molecular Dynamics Simulation

Recent advances in the ability to generate extremes of pressure and temperature in dynamic experiments and to probe the response of materials has motivated the need for special materials optimized for those conditions as well as a need for a much deeper understanding of the behavior of materials subjected to high pressure and/or temperature. Of particular importance is the understanding of rate effects at the extremely high rates encountered in those experiments, especially with the next generation of laser drives such as at the National Ignition Facility. Here we use large-scale molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of the high-rate deformation of nanocrystalline tantalum to investigate the processes associated with plastic deformation for strains up to 100%. We use initial atomic configurations that were produced through simulations of solidification in the work of Streitz et al [Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, (2006) 225701]. These 3D polycrystalline systems have typical grain sizes of 10-20 nm. We also study a rapidly quenched liquid (amorphous solid) tantalum. We apply a constant volume (isochoric), constant temperature (isothermal) shear deformation over a range of strain rates, and compute the resulting stress-strain curves to large strains for both uniaxial and biaxial compression. We study the rate dependence and identify …
Date: February 5, 2009
Creator: Rudd, R E
System: The UNT Digital Library
Pedestal, SOL and Divertor Plasma Properties in DIII-D RMP ELM-Suppressed Discharges at ITER Relevant Edge Collisionality (open access)

Pedestal, SOL and Divertor Plasma Properties in DIII-D RMP ELM-Suppressed Discharges at ITER Relevant Edge Collisionality

None
Date: February 5, 2007
Creator: Fenstermacher, M. E.; Evans, T. E.; Moyer, R. A.; Porter, G. D.; Boedo, J. A.; Burrell, K. H. et al.
System: The UNT Digital Library