Microscopic Enhancement of Heavy-Element Production

Realistic fusion barriers are calculated in a macroscopic-microscopic model for several soft-fusion heavy-ion reactions leading to heavy and superheavy elements. The results obtained in such a realistic picture are very different from those obtained in a purely macroscopic model. For reactions on 208:Pb targets, shell effects in the entrance channel result in fusion-barrier energies at the touching point that are only a few MeV higher than the ground state for compound systems near Z = 110. The entrance-channel fragment-shell effects remain far inside the touching point, almost to configurations only slightly more elongated than the ground-state configuration, where the fusion barrier has risen to about 10 MeV above the ground-state energy. Calculated single-particle level diagrams show that few level crossings occur until the peak in the fusion barrier very close to the ground-state shape is reached, which indicates that dissipation is negligible until very late in the fusion process. Whereas the fission valley in a macroscopic picture is several tens of MeV lower in energy than is the fusion valley, we find in the macroscopic-microscopic picture that the fission valley is only about 5 MeV lower than the fusion valley for soft-fusion reactions leading to compound systems near Z = 110. These results show that no significant ``extra-extra-push'' energy is needed to bring the system inside the fission saddle point and that the typical reaction energies for maximum cross section in heavy-element synthesis correspond to only a few MeV above the maximum in the fusion barrier.Comment: 7 pages. LaTeX. Submitted to Zeitschrift fur Physik A. 5 figures not included here. Complete preprint, including device-independent (dvi), PostScript, and LaTeX versions of the text, plus PostScript files of the figures, available at http://t2.lanl.gov/publications/publications.html or at ftp://t2.lanl.gov/pub/publications/mehe

Broken symmetries and pattern formation in two-frequency forced Faraday waves

We exploit the presence of approximate (broken) symmetries to obtain general scaling laws governing the process of pattern formation in weakly damped Faraday waves. Specifically, we consider a two-frequency forcing function and trace the effects of time translation, time reversal and Hamiltonian structure for three illustrative examples: hexagons, two-mode superlattices, and two-mode rhomboids. By means of explicit parameter symmetries, we show how the size of various three-wave resonant interactions depends on the frequency ratio m:n and on the relative temporal phase of the two driving terms. These symmetry-based predictions are verified for numerically calculated coefficients, and help explain the results of recent experiments.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figure

Isotopic and velocity distributions of Bi produced in charge-pickup reactions of 208Pb at 1 A GeV

Isotopically resolved cross sections and velocity distributions have been measured in charge-pickup reactions of 1 A GeV 208Pb with proton, deuterium and titanium target. The total and partial charge-pickup cross sections in the reactions 208Pb + 1H and 208Pb + 2H are measured to be the same in the limits of the error bars. A weak increase in the total charge-pickup cross section is seen in the reaction of 208Pb with the titanium target. The measured velocity distributions show different contributions - quasi-elastic scattering and Delta-resonance excitation - to the charge-pickup production. Data on total and partial charge-pickup cross sections from these three reactions are compared with other existing data and also with model calculations based on the coupling of different intra-nuclear cascade codes and an evaporation code.Comment: 20 pages, 12 figures, background information on http://www-w2k.gsi.de/kschmidt

Safety and efficacy of xenon in routine use as an inhalational anaesthetic

Abstract 40 patients (24 male, 16 female, aged 21-59 years) of American Society of Anesthesiologists class I or II who were undergoing routine surgery took part in a randomised, double-blind comparison of the anaesthetic efficacy and potency of xenon and nitrous oxide and their effects on the circulatory and respiratory systems. During anaesthesia, for each rise in blood pressure of more than 20% of the preanaesthetic (baseline) value, the patient received 0·1 mg fentanyl. The total amount of fentanyl required per patient was used as an index of the anaesthetic potency of the study gases. Patients in the xenon group required on average only 0·05 mg fentanyl, whereas those in the nitrous oxide group required 0·24 mg fentanyl; the duration of anaesthesia was similar in the two groups. Changes in blood pressure were significantly greater throughout the study in the nitrous oxide than in the xenon group. Thorax-lung compliance fell during the study period in the nitrous oxide group but not in the xenon group. Thus, xenon is a potent and effective anaesthetic which can be safely used under routine conditions

Decay of polarized muon at rest as a source of polarized neutrino beam

In this paper, we indicate the theoretical possibility of using the decay of polarized muons at rest as a source of the transversely polarized electron antineutrino beam. Such a beam can be used to probe new effects beyond standard model. We mean here new tests concerning CP violation, Lorentz structure and chirality structure of the charged current weak interactions. The main goal is to show how the energy and angular distribution of the electron antineutrinos in the muon rest frame depends on the transverse components of the antineutrino beam polarization. Our analysis is model-independent and consistent with the current upper limits on the non-standard couplings. The results are presented in a limit of infinitesimally small mass for all particles produced in the decay.Comment: elsart style, 11 pages, 2 eps figures, submitted do publicatio

Search for long lived heaviest nuclei beyond the valley of stability

The existence of long lived superheavy nuclei (SHN) is controlled mainly by spontaneous fission and $\alpha$-decay processes. According to microscopic nuclear theory, spherical shell effects at Z=114, 120, 126 and N=184 provide the extra stability to such SHN to have long enough lifetime to be observed. To investigate whether the so-called "stability island" could really exist around the above Z, N values, the $\alpha$-decay half lives along with the spontaneous fission and $\beta$-decay half lives of such nuclei are studied. The $\alpha$-decay half lives of SHN with Z=102-120 are calculated in a quantum tunneling model with DDM3Y effective nuclear interaction using $Q_\alpha$ values from three different mass formulae prescribed by Koura, Uno, Tachibana, Yamada (KUTY), Myers, Swiatecki (MS) and Muntian, Hofmann, Patyk, Sobiczewski (MMM). Calculation of spontaneous fission (SF) half lives for the same SHN are carried out using a phenomenological formula and compared with SF half lives predicted by Smolanczuk {\it et al}. Possible source of discrepancy between the calculated $\alpha$-decay half lives of some nuclei and the experimental data of GSI, JINR-FLNR, RIKEN are discussed. In the region of Z=106-108 with N$\sim$ 160-164, the $\beta$-stable SHN $^{268}_{106}Sg_{162}$ is predicted to have highest $\alpha$-decay half life ($T_\alpha \sim 3.2hrs$) using $Q_\alpha$ value from MMM. Interestingly, it is much greater than the recently measured $T_\alpha$ ($\sim 22s$) of deformed doubly magic $^{270}_{108}Hs_{162}$ nucleus. A few fission-survived long-lived SHN which are either $\beta$-stable or having large $\beta$-decay half lives are predicted to exist near $^{294}110_{184}$, $^{293}110_{183}$, $^{296}112_{184}$ and $^{298}114_{184}$. These nuclei might decay predominantly through $\alpha$-particle emission.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures, 1 tabl

Search for the Hypothetical pi -> mu x Decay

The KARMEN collaboration has reported the possible observation of a hitherto unknown neutral and weakly interacting particle x, which is produced in the decay pi -> mu + x with a mass m(x) = 33.9 MeV. We have searched for this hypothetical decay branch by studying muons from pion decay in flight with the LEPS spectrometer at the piE3 channel at PSI and find branching ratios BR(pi- to mu- anti-x) < 4e-7 and BR(pi+ to mu+ x) < 7e-8 (95\% C.L.). Together with the limit BR > 2e-8 derived in a recent theoretical paper our result would leave only a narrow region for the existence of x if it is a heavy neutrino.Comment: 10 pages, TeX (uses epsf), 3 Postscript figures uu-encode

Subharmonic bifurcation cascade of pattern oscillations caused by winding number increasing entrainment

Convection structures in binary fluid mixtures are investigated for positive Soret coupling in the driving regime where solutal and thermal contributions to the buoyancy forces compete. Bifurcation properties of stable and unstable stationary square, roll, and crossroll (CR) structures and the oscillatory competition between rolls and squares are determined numerically as a function of fluid parameters. A novel type of subharmonic bifurcation cascade (SC) where the oscillation period grows in integer steps as $n (2\pi)/(\omega)$ is found and elucidated to be an entrainment process.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure