Nuclear Experiment

The Beam Energy Scan (BES) program at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) was extended to energies below s NN − − − − √ = 7.7 GeV in 2015 by successful implementation of the fixed-target mode of operation in the STAR (Solenoidal Track At RHIC) experiment. In the fixed-target mode, ions circulate in one ring of the collider and interact with a stationary target at the entrance of the STAR Time Projection Chamber. The first results for Au+Au collisions at s NN − − − − √ = 4.5 GeV are presented, including directed and elliptic flow of identified hadrons, and radii from pion femtoscopy. The proton flow and pion femtoscopy results agree quantitatively with earlier measurements by Alternating Gradient Synchrotron experiments at similar energies. This validates running the STAR experiment in the fixed-target configuration. Pion directed and elliptic flow are presented for the first time at this beam energy. Pion and proton elliptic flow show behavior which hints at constituent quark scaling, but large error bars preclude reliable conclusions. The ongoing second phase of BES (BES-II) will provide fixed-target data sets with 100 times more events at each of several energies down to s NN − − − − √ = 3.0 GeV.

Cross sections for the strongest gamma-ray emission lines produced in alpha-particle reactions with C, Mg, Si, Fe have been measured in the range E_alpha = 50 - 90 MeV at the center for proton therapy at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin. Data for more than 60 different gamma-ray lines were determined, with particular efforts for lines that are in cross section compilations/evaluations with astrophysical purpose, and where data exist at lower projectile energies. The data are compared with predictions of a modern nuclear reaction code and cross-section curves of the latest evaluation for gamma-ray line emission in accelerated-particle interactions in solar flares.

Germanium is the detector material of choice in many rare-event searches looking for low-energy nuclear recoils induced by dark matter particles or neutrinos. We perform a systematic exploration of its quenching factor for sub-keV nuclear recoils, using multiple techniques: photo-neutron sources, recoils from gamma-emission following thermal neutron capture, and a monochromatic filtered neutron beam. Our results point to a marked deviation from the predictions of the Lindhard model in this mostly unexplored energy range. We comment on the compatibility of our data with low-energy processes such as the Migdal effect, and on the impact of our measurements on upcoming searches.

Global polarization of ? and Ω hyperons has been measured for the first time in Au+Au collisions at s NN ????????= 200 GeV. The measurements of the ? ??and ? ¯ + hyperon polarization have been performed by two independent methods, via analysis of the angular distribution of the daughter particles in the parity violating weak decay ??��?? , as well as by measuring the polarization of the daughter ? -hyperon, polarized via polarization transfer from its parent. The polarization, obtained by combining the results from the two methods and averaged over ? ??and ? ¯ + , is measured to be ??P ? ??0.47±0.10 (stat.)±0.23 (syst.)% for the collision centrality 20\%-80\%. The ??P ? ??is found to be slightly larger than the inclusive ? polarization and in reasonable agreement with a multi-phase transport model (AMPT). The ??P ? ??is found to follow the centrality dependence of the vorticity predicted in the model, increasing toward more peripheral collisions. The global polarization of Ω , ??P Ω ??1.11±0.87 (stat.)±1.97 (syst.)% was obtained by measuring the polarization of daughter ? in the decay Ω?��?K , assuming the polarization transfer factor C Ω? =1 .

With new experimental information on nuclei far from stability being available, a systematic investigation of excitation energies and electromagnetic properties along the N=10,11,12 isotones and Z=10,11,12 isotopes is presented. The experimental data are discussed in the context of the appearance and disappearance of shell closures at N=Z=8,14,16,20 , and compared to an effective-interaction approach applied to neutrons and protons in d 2,3,4 5/2 configurations. In spite of its simplicity the model is able to explain the observed properties.

The ground-state properties of neutron-rich 106Nb and its beta decay into 106Mo have been studied using the CARIBU radioactive-ion-beam facility at Argonne National Laboratory. Niobium-106 ions were extracted from a 252Cf fission source and mass separated before being delivered as low-energy beams to the Canadian Penning Trap, as well as the X-Array and SATURN beta-decay-spectroscopy station. The measured 106Nb ground-state mass excess of -66202.0(13) keV is consistent with a recent measurement but has three times better precision; this work also rules out the existence of a second long-lived, beta-decaying state in 106Nb above 5 keV in excitation energy. The decay half-life of 106Nb was measured to be 1.097(21) s, which is 8% longer than the adopted value. The level scheme of the decay progeny, 106Mo, has been expanded up to approximately 4 MeV. The distribution of decay strength and considerable population of excited states in 106Mo of J >= 3 emphasises the need to revise the adopted Jpi = 1- ground-state spin-parity assignment of 106Nb; it is more likely to be J => 3.

The OECD-NEA High Priority Request List (HPRL) is a point of reference to guide and stimulate the improvement of nuclear data for nuclear energy and other applications, and a tool to bridge the gap between data users and producers. The HPRL is application-driven and the requests are submitted by nuclear data users or representatives of the user's communities. A panel of international experts reviews and monitors the requests in the framework of an Expert Group mandated by the NEA Nuclear Science Committee Working Party on International Nuclear Data Evaluation Cooperation (WPEC). After approval, individual requests are classified to three categories: high priority requests, general requests, and special purpose requests (e.g., dosimetry, standards). The HPRL is hosted by the NEA in the form of a relational database publicly available on the web. This paper provides an overview of HPRL entries, status and outlook. Examples of requests successfully completed are given and new requests are described with emphasis on updated nuclear data needs in the fields of nuclear energy, neutron standards and dosimetry.

The strong interaction among hadrons has been measured in the past by scattering experiments. But while this technique was extremely successful in providing information about the nucleon-nucleon and pion-nucleon interactions, when unstable hadrons are considered the experiments become more challenging. In the last few years the analysis of correlations in the momentum space for pairs of stable and unstable hadrons measured in pp and p-Pb collisions by ALICE at the LHC provided a new method to investigate the strong interaction among hadrons. In this article we provide a review of the numerous results recently achieved for hyperon-nucleon, hyperon-hyperon and kaon-nucleon pairs showing that the new method opens the possibility of measuring the residual strong interaction of any hadron pair.

During the second LHC long shutdown (LS2) the Inner Tracking System (ITS) of ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment) will be replaced by seven layers of CMOS Monolithic Active Pixel Sensors (MAPS). The latest innovations in silicon imaging technology allow for the construction of large, ultra-thin silicon wafers which can further improve the capabilities of the ALICE tracker. The research and development studies towards the construction of a novel vertex detector have started. The detector installation has been proposed for the third LHC long shutdown (LS3) during which the three innermost layers shall be replaced by three cylindrical layers of large curved CMOS wafers. This upgrade (ITS3) will further improve the impact parameter resolution and the tracking efficiency of low momentum particles. The innermost layer will be positioned closer to the interaction point and the material budget will be reduced down to 0.05 % X 0 per layer. Monte Carlo simulations of a simplified ITS3 geometry within the ITS2 design indicate an improvement in the impact parameter resolution and the tracking efficiency, which are of crucial importance for measurements of heavy-flavour hadrons. This contribution shows the improved performance for the example of the Λ b , for which the significance of its measurement is extracted based on these MC simulations. A significant improvement by almost a factor of three in the low momentum region compared to the ITS2 is observed.

This article gives an overview of recent highlights from experimental measurements of heavy-ion collisions at ultra-relativistic energies: Measurements of electroweak probes constrain both the initial collision geometry and the nuclear parton distribution functions. Results from soft particle production show that the abundance of light-flavour hadrons from pions up to hypertriton and 4 He can be described by a universal temperature and that these participate in the collective motion of the system. There are hints of these effects also in small systems, which will be further investigated in future to understand the underlying mechanisms. Studies of hard probes, such as heavy quarks and jets show that parton energy loss plays an important role in heavy-ion collisions. Differential measurements of J/ ψ mesons elucidate their production mechanism, i.e.\ regeneration, and give evidence for deconfinement in Pb--Pb collisions at LHC full energy. The large data samples at the LHC enable studies of rare probes such as χ c1 (3872) and top--anti-top production. Further, measurements of antinuclei cross sections can provide input for dark matter searches.