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- Fougeres, Chloe, et al.
(author)
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Search for Na-22 in novae supported by a novel method for measuring femtosecond nuclear lifetimes
- 2023
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In: Nature Communications. - : Springer Nature. - 2041-1723. ; 14:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Classical novae are thermonuclear explosions in stellar binary systems, and important sources of Al-26 and Na-22. While ? rays from the decay of the former radioisotope have been observed throughout the Galaxy, Na-22 remains untraceable. Its half-life (2.6 yr) would allow the observation of its 1.275 MeV ?-ray line from a cosmic source. However, the prediction of such an observation requires good knowledge of its nucleosynthesis. The Na-22(p, ?)Mg-23 reaction remains the only source of large uncertainty about the amount of Na-22 ejected. Its rate is dominated by a single resonance on the short-lived state at 7785.0(7) keV in Mg-23. Here, we propose a combined analysis of particle-particle correlations and velocity-difference profiles to measure femtosecond nuclear lifetimes. The application of this method to the study of the Mg-23 states, places strong limits on the amount of Na-22 produced in novae and constrains its detectability with future space-borne observatories. The authors report a particle-particle correlation and velocity-difference profile method to measure nuclear lifetime. The results obtained for excited states of 23Mg are used to constrain the production of 22Na in the astrophysical novae explosions.
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2. |
- Khaplanov, Anton, 1980-
(author)
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Position-sensitive germanium detectors for gamma-ray tracking, imaging and polarimetry
- 2010
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Modern germanium detectors are often manufactured with two-dimensionally segmented electrical contacts. Signals induced in each segment are read out simultaneously when a photon is detected. Detailed pulse shape analysis (PSA) of these signals allows to resolve positions of individual γ-ray interactions with a precision of at least a few mm. The track of a photon can then be reconstructed using γ-ray tracking. Using these techniques, highly efficient large-volume germanium detectors can replace detector systems where previously highly granulated detector arrays were required, and/or large fractions of photons had to be rejected. The ability to reconstruct the direction of an incoming photon and its scattering path makes it possible to use segmented detectors for γ-ray imaging and polarimetry. Doppler correction of photon energies in experiments where γ rays are emitted from fast ion beams can be greatly improved due to improved determination of the emission angle with respect to the beam. Furthermore, arrays of many detectors can be built without the need for conventional anticoincidence detectors for escape suppression. Instead, photons escaping a detector crystal can be tracked through neighbouring ones.In this work position reconstruction accuracy was evaluated for segmented detectors in a number of geometries in realistic applications. Particular emphasis has been put on the reconstruction of data sets containing events of arbitrary complexity in terms of the number of hit segments and interactions per segment. The imaging and polarization sensitivities of a single planar germanium pixel detector have been evaluated experimentally. In these measurements, photons absorbed in two, often adjacent, segments were reconstructed. Simulated interactions of γ-rays with the detectors of the proposed DESPEC germanium array were analysed yielding the position resolution obtainable in realistic experimental situations, as well as its dependence on photon energy, event complexity, noise and other sources of error.
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