Energy-Loss Particle Identification in 2-D Silicon Drift Detectors

A relatively new type of transducer known as the Silicon Drift Detector (SDD) has been fabricated onto thin silicon wafers. SDD operates like a miniature, high-resolution, 2-D Time-projection chamber. One of these devices can detect two dimensions of an ionizing particle\u27s position, and its integrated electrical charge output level isproportional to the particle\u27s energy loss through the silicon. An array ofSDD\u27s, arranged in three coaxial cylinders, is being considered as part of an instrument surrounding the beam pipe of highly-relativistic colliding beam facility, where it would be used to simultaneously track individual paths of thousands of charged particles emerging from each primary collision. Energy-loss data from the (x,y) pixels of each track allow individual particle identification as an electron, pion, kaon or proton. CERN\u27s Monte Carlo modeling program, GEANT, is being used to predict energy loss at high statistical accuracy to account for high-energy tailing of the more prevalent pions. GEANT has been installed on a Linux workstation in Little Rock. Speeding up the modeling process is being investigated using parallel virtual memory techniques and groupings of Linux workstations

Drift Chamber Utilizing Microstrip Readout for Testing a New Micro TPC Concept

A drift chamber type radiation detector is being used to examine design criteria for a new type of detector called a micro Time Projection Chamber (micro TPC) which is being proposed for use in high energy nuclear physics experiments. The main advantage of the micro TPC detector is its very low radiation thickness compared to its silicon counterpart. The micro TPC is a charged-particle detector which willbe optimized for good two track resolution which is needed inahigh track density environment. Such performance requires low electron diffusion and high resolution readout. The diffusion willbe reduced bylimiting the drift distance to 15 cm and by using a low diffusion gas such as dimethyl ether. High resolution willbe obtained by using a new readout technology called microstrips. Microstrips are a recent development using photolithography techniques that allow the creation of anodes a few microns in width with submicron precision. The main purpose of this test chamber is to demonstrate the feasibility of a micro TPC design using a low diffusion gas and to insure the sufficient signal remains after electron attenuation. The driftchamber design and the proposed testingprocedures are described

Examining Neolithic Building and Activity Areas through Historic Cultural Heritage in Jordan: A Combined Ethnographic, Phytolith and Geochemical Investigation

The INEA project (Identifying activity areas in Neolithic sites through Ethnographic Analysis of phytoliths and geochemical residues, https://research.bournemouth. ac.uk/2014/07/inea-project-2/) develops and applies a method that combines the analysis of plant remains (silica phytoliths) and geochemical residues to inform on construction methods and the use of space in recently abandoned historical villages and Neolithic settlements. It is a collaborative project based at Bournemouth University, in partnership with the Council for British Research in the Levant

Occupying wide open spaces? Late Pleistocene hunter–gatherer activities in the Eastern Levant

With a specific focus on eastern Jordan, the Epipalaeolithic Foragers in Azraq Project explores changing hunter-gatherer strategies, behaviours and adaptations to this vast area throughout the Late Pleistocene. In particular, we examine how lifeways here (may have) differed from surrounding areas and what circumstances drew human and animal populations to the region. Integrating multiple material cultural and environmental datasets, we explore some of the strategies of these eastern Jordanian groups that resulted in changes in settlement, subsistence and interaction and, in some areas, the occupation of substantial aggregation sites. Five years of excavation at the aggregation site of Kharaneh IV suggest some very intriguing technological and social on-site activities, as well as adaptations to a dynamic landscape unlike that of today. Here we discuss particular aspects of the Kharaneh IV material record within the context of ongoing palaeoenvironmental reconstructions and place these findings in the wider spatial and temporal narratives of the Azraq Basin

Stable carbon Isotope evidence for neolithic and bronze age crop water management in the eastern mediterranean and southwest asia

In a large study on early crop water management, stable carbon isotope discrimination was determined for 275 charred grain samples from nine archaeological sites, dating primarily to the Neolithic and Bronze Age, from the Eastern Mediterranean and Western Asia. This has revealed that wheat (Triticum spp.) was regularly grown in wetter conditions than barley (Hordeum sp.), indicating systematic preferential treatment of wheat that may reflect a cultural preference for wheat over barley. Isotopic analysis of pulse crops (Lens culinaris, Pisum sativum and Vicia ervilia) indicates cultivation in highly varied water conditions at some sites, possibly as a result of opportunistic watering practices. The results have also provided evidence for local land-use and changing agricultural practices

The 25Mg(p,g)Al reaction at low astrophysical energies

In the present work we report on a new measurement of resonance strengths in the reaction 25Mg(p,gamma)26Al at E_cm= 92 and 189 keV. This study was performed at the LUNA facility in the Gran Sasso underground laboratory using a 4pi BGO summing crystal. For the first time the 92 keV resonance was directly observed and a resonance strength omega-gamma=(2.9+/-0.6)x10E-10 eV was determined. Additionally, the gamma-ray branchings and strength of the 189 keV resonance were studied with a high resolution HPGe detector yielding an omega-gamma value in agreement with the BGO measurement, but 20% larger compared to previous works.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Physics Letters

The environmental setting of Epipalaeolithic aggregation site Kharaneh IV

The archaeological site of Kharaneh IV in Jordan's Azraq Basin, and its relatively near neighbour Jilat 6 show evidence of sustained occupation of substantial size through the Early to Middle Epipalaeolithic (c. 24,000 - 15,000 cal BP). Here we review the geomorphological evidence for the environmental setting in which Kharaneh IV was established. The on-site stratigraphy is clearly differentiated from surrounding sediments, marked visually as well as by higher magnetic susceptibility values. Dating and analysis of off-site sediments show that a significant wetland existed at the site prior to and during early site occupation (~ 23,000 - 19,000 BP). This may explain why such a substantial site existed at this location. This wetland dating to the Last Glacial Maximum also provides important information on the palaeoenvironments and potential palaeoclimatic scenarios for today's eastern Jordanian desert, from where such evidence is scarce

Estimating population size, density and dynamics of Pre-Pottery Neolithic villages in the central and southern Levant: an analysis of Beidha, southern Jordan

The Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) of the central and southern Levant played an integral role in the Neolithic Demographic Transition (NDT) from mobile hunter-gatherer to village-based, agro-pastoralist societies. An understanding of population dynamics is essential for reconstructing the trajectories of these early village societies. However, few investigations have produced absolute estimates of population parameters for these villages and those which have base estimates on a limited methodological framework. This research examines the methodological and theoretical basis for existing estimates, and explores a range of methodologies in order to derive more empirically-robust demographic data. Results reveal that commonly utilized methodologies and population density coefficients employed for estimating PPN village populations require re-evaluation. This article presents the application of methodologies to the PPNB site of Beidha in southern Jordan

Twenty Thousand-Year-Old Huts at a Hunter-Gatherer Settlement in Eastern Jordan

Ten thousand years before Neolithic farmers settled in permanent villages, hunter-gatherer groups of the Epipalaeolithic period (c. 22–11,600 cal BP) inhabited much of southwest Asia. The latest Epipalaeolithic phase (Natufian) is well-known for the appearance of stone-built houses, complex site organization, a sedentary lifestyle and social complexity—precursors for a Neolithic way of life. In contrast, pre-Natufian sites are much less well known and generally considered as campsites for small groups of seasonally-mobile hunter-gatherers. Work at the Early and Middle Epipalaeolithic aggregation site of Kharaneh IV in eastern Jordan highlights that some of these earlier sites were large aggregation base camps not unlike those of the Natufian and contributes to ongoing debates on their duration of occupation. Here we discuss the excavation of two 20,000-year-old hut structures at Kharaneh IV that pre-date the renowned stone houses of the Natufian. Exceptionally dense and extensive occupational deposits exhibit repeated habitation over prolonged periods, and contain structural remains associated with exotic and potentially symbolic caches of objects (shell, red ochre, and burnt horn cores) that indicate substantial settlement of the site pre-dating the Natufian and outside of the Natufian homeland as currently understood