Ish Mukul

The Soreq Applied Research Accelerator Facility (SARAF) - Overview, Research Programs and Future Plans

Abstract.The Soreq Applied Research Accelerator Facility (SARAF) is under construction in the Soreq Nuclear Research Center at Yavne, Israel. When completed at the beginning of the next decade, SARAF will be a user facility for basic and applied nuclear physics, based on a 40 MeV, 5 mA CW proton/deuteron superconducting linear accelerator. Phase I of SARAF (SARAF-I, 4 MeV, 2 mA CW protons, 5 MeV 1 mA CW deuterons) is already in operation, generating scientific results in several fields of interest. The main ongoing program at SARAF-I is the production of 30 keV neutrons and measurement of Maxwellian Averaged Cross Sections (MACS), important for the astrophysical s-process. The world leading Maxwellian epithermal neutron yield at SARAF-I (

Research Programs And Plans At The Soreq Applied Research Accelerator Facility - SARAF

5 \times 10^{10}

Decoupling the effect of temperature on GDR widths in excited compound nucleus 144Sm

5×1010 epithermal neutrons/s), generated by a novel Liquid-Lithium Target (LiLiT), enables improved precision of known MACSs, and new measurements of low-abundance and radioactive isotopes. Research plans for SARAF-II span several disciplines: precision studies of beyond-Standard-Model effects by trapping light exotic radioisotopes, such as 6He, 8Li and 18, 19, 23Ne, in unprecedented amounts (including meaningful studies already at SARAF-I); extended nuclear astrophysics research with higher energy neutrons, including generation and studies of exotic neutron-rich isotopes relevant to the rapid (r-) process; nuclear structure of exotic isotopes; high energy neutron cross sections for basic nuclear physics and material science research, including neutron induced radiation damage; neutron based imaging and therapy; and novel radiopharmaceuticals development and production. In this paper we present a technical overview of SARAF-I and II, including a description of the accelerator and its irradiation targets; a survey of existing research programs at SARAF-I; and the research potential at the completed facility (SARAF-II).

Beta spectrum of unique first-forbidden decays as a novel test for fundamental symmetries

The Soreq Applied Research Accelerator Facility (SARAF) is under construction at the Soreq Nuclear Research Center, Yavne, Israel. When completed at the beginning of the next decade, SARAF will be a user facility based on a 40 MeV, 5 mA CW proton/deuteron superconducting linear accelerator. Phase I of SARAF (4 MeV, 2 mA CW protons, 5 MeV 1 mA pulsed deuterons) is already in operation. By use of a novel liquid lithium jet target (LiLiT), we generated up to 5×10^10 epithermal neutrons/sec, mainly for nuclear astrophysics research of slow neutron capture processes (s-process). We present a survey of research programs and plans at the completed SARAF, which span several disciplines: Precision studies of beyond-Standard-Model effects by trapping light exotic isotopes, such as 6He, 8Li and Ne isotopes, in unprecedented amounts (including meaningful studies already at Phase I); extended nuclear astrophysics research with higher energy neutrons, including generation and studies of exotic neutron-rich isotopes relevant to the rapid (r-) process; high energy neutrons cross section measurements for basic nuclear physics and material science research, including neutron induced radiation damage; neutron based imaging and therapy; and novel radio-pharmaceuticals development and production.

Evidence of quasifission in asymmetric reactions forming the250Cf compound system

We measured giant dipole resonance (GDR) γ-rays in the 28Si + 116Cd reaction at ~105 and 120 MeV excitation energies. The resonance widths were extracted as a function of temperature at different angular momentum values to decouple the effect of these two variables on resonance widths. The high energy GDR γ-rays from the decay of compound nucleus (CN) 144Sm were measured using a large NaI(Tl) detector in coincidence with a sum-spin multiplicity filter. The experimental data were analyzed under the framework of statistical decay of CN. The GDR cross sections were also calculated with a thermal shape fluctuation model (TSFM), which incorporates the temperature and spin dependent shell corrections within the Nilsson–Strutinsky approach. The GDR widths were extracted in the temperature range 1.5–2.2 MeV. The measured widths indicate that the increase of GDR widths with temperature at different average spin values follows a similar trend and is borne out by theoretical calculations. Present calculation shows that TSFM satisfactorily reproduces the GDR cross section as well as widths in the temperature range 1–2.2 MeV over a wide range of angular momentum.

Measurement of evaporation residue excitation functions for theF19+Pt194,196,198reactions

Abstract Within the Standard Model, the weak interaction of quarks and leptons is characterized by certain symmetry properties, such as maximal breaking of parity and favored helicity. These are related to the V − A structure of the weak interaction. These characteristics were discovered by studying correlations in the directions of the outgoing leptons in nuclear beta decays. Presently, correlation measurements in nuclear beta decays are intensively studied to probe for signatures for deviations from these couplings, which are an indication of Beyond Standard Model physics. We show that the structure of the energy spectrum of emitted electrons in unique first-forbidden β -decays is sensitive to the symmetries of the weak interaction, and thus can be used as a novel probe of physics beyond the standard model. Furthermore, the energy spectrum gives constraints both in the case of right and left couplings of the new beyond standard model currents. We show that a measurement with modest energy resolution of ≈ 20 keV is expected to lead to new constraints on beyond the standard model interactions with tensor couplings.