The Development of the NNBAR Experiment

The NNBAR experiment for the European Spallation Source will search for free neutrons converting to antineutrons with a sensitivity improvement of three orders of magnitude compared to the last such search. This paper describes progress towards a conceptual design report for NNBAR. The design of a moderator, neutron reflector, beamline, shielding and annihilation detector is reported. The simulations used form part of a model which will be used for optimisation of the experiment design and quantification of its sensitivity.Comment: 30 pages, 26 figures, accepted for publication in Journal of Instrumentation (JINST

Development of a High Intensity Neutron Source at the European Spallation Source: The HighNESS project

The European Spallation Source (ESS), presently under construction in Lund, Sweden, is a multidisciplinary international laboratory that will operate the world's most powerful pulsed neutron source. Supported by a 3M Euro Research and Innovation Action within the EU Horizon 2020 program, a design study (HighNESS) is now underway to develop a second neutron source below the spallation target. Compared to the first source, located above the spallation target and designed for high cold and thermal brightness, the new source will provide higher intensity, and a shift to longer wavelengths in the spectral regions of cold (2 /- 20 {\AA}), very cold (VCN, 10 /- 120 {\AA}), and ultra cold (UCN, > 500 {\AA}) neutrons. The core of the second source will consist of a large liquid deuterium moderator to deliver a high flux of cold neutrons and to serve secondary VCN and UCN sources, for which different options are under study. The features of these new sources will boost several areas of condensed matter research and will provide unique opportunities in fundamental physics. Part of the HighNESS project is also dedicated to the development of future instruments that will make use of the new source and will complement the initial suite of instruments in construction at ESS. The HighNESS project started in October 2020. In this paper, the ongoing developments and the results obtained in the first year are described.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures, 14th International Topical Meeting on Nuclear Applications of Accelerators, November 30 to December 4, 2021, Washington, D

Biodiversity effects on ecosystem functioning in a 15-year grassland experiment: Patterns, mechanisms, and open questions

In the past two decades, a large number of studies have investigated the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, most of which focussed on a limited set of ecosystem variables. The Jena Experiment was set up in 2002 to investigate the effects of plant diversity on element cycling and trophic interactions, using a multi-disciplinary approach. Here, we review the results of 15 years of research in the Jena Experiment, focussing on the effects of manipulating plant species richness and plant functional richness. With more than 85,000 measures taken from the plant diversity plots, the Jena Experiment has allowed answering fundamental questions important for functional biodiversity research. First, the question was how general the effect of plant species richness is, regarding the many different processes that take place in an ecosystem. About 45% of different types of ecosystem processes measured in the ‘main experiment’, where plant species richness ranged from 1 to 60 species, were significantly affected by plant species richness, providing strong support for the view that biodiversity is a significant driver of ecosystem functioning. Many measures were not saturating at the 60-species level, but increased linearly with the logarithm of species richness. There was, however, great variability in the strength of response among different processes. One striking pattern was that many processes, in particular belowground processes, took several years to respond to the manipulation of plant species richness, showing that biodiversity experiments have to be long-term, to distinguish trends from transitory patterns. In addition, the results from the Jena Experiment provide further evidence that diversity begets stability, for example stability against invasion of plant species, but unexpectedly some results also suggested the opposite, e.g. when plant communities experience severe perturbations or elevated resource availability. This highlights the need to revisit diversity–stability theory. Second, we explored whether individual plant species or individual plant functional groups, or biodiversity itself is more important for ecosystem functioning, in particular biomass production. We found strong effects of individual species and plant functional groups on biomass production, yet these effects mostly occurred in addition to, but not instead of, effects of plant species richness. Third, the Jena Experiment assessed the effect of diversity on multitrophic interactions. The diversity of most organisms responded positively to increases in plant species richness, and the effect was stronger for above- than for belowground organisms, and stronger for herbivores than for carnivores or detritivores. Thus, diversity begets diversity. In addition, the effect on organismic diversity was stronger than the effect on species abundances. Fourth, the Jena Experiment aimed to assess the effect of diversity on N, P and C cycling and the water balance of the plots, separating between element input into the ecosystem, element turnover, element stocks, and output from the ecosystem. While inputs were generally less affected by plant species richness, measures of element stocks, turnover and output were often positively affected by plant diversity, e.g. carbon storage strongly increased with increasing plant species richness. Variables of the N cycle responded less strongly to plant species richness than variables of the C cycle. Fifth, plant traits are often used to unravel mechanisms underlying the biodiversity–ecosystem functioning relationship. In the Jena Experiment, most investigated plant traits, both above- and belowground, were plastic and trait expression depended on plant diversity in a complex way, suggesting limitation to using database traits for linking plant traits to particular functions. Sixth, plant diversity effects on ecosystem processes are often caused by plant diversity effects on species interactions. Analyses in the Jena Experiment including structural equation modelling suggest complex interactions that changed with diversity, e.g. soil carbon storage and greenhouse gas emission were affected by changes in the composition and activity of the belowground microbial community. Manipulation experiments, in which particular organisms, e.g. belowground invertebrates, were excluded from plots in split-plot experiments, supported the important role of the biotic component for element and water fluxes. Seventh, the Jena Experiment aimed to put the results into the context of agricultural practices in managed grasslands. The effect of increasing plant species richness from 1 to 16 species on plant biomass was, in absolute terms, as strong as the effect of a more intensive grassland management, using fertiliser and increasing mowing frequency. Potential bioenergy production from high-diversity plots was similar to that of conventionally used energy crops. These results suggest that diverse ‘High Nature Value Grasslands’ are multifunctional and can deliver a range of ecosystem services including production-related services. A final task was to assess the importance of potential artefacts in biodiversity–ecosystem functioning relationships, caused by the weeding of the plant community to maintain plant species composition. While the effort (in hours) needed to weed a plot was often negatively related to plant species richness, species richness still affected the majority of ecosystem variables. Weeding also did not negatively affect monoculture performance; rather, monocultures deteriorated over time for a number of biological reasons, as shown in plant-soil feedback experiments. To summarize, the Jena Experiment has allowed for a comprehensive analysis of the functional role of biodiversity in an ecosystem. A main challenge for future biodiversity research is to increase our mechanistic understanding of why the magnitude of biodiversity effects differs among processes and contexts. It is likely that there will be no simple answer. For example, among the multitude of mechanisms suggested to underlie the positive plant species richness effect on biomass, some have received limited support in the Jena Experiment, such as vertical root niche partitioning. However, others could not be rejected in targeted analyses. Thus, from the current results in the Jena Experiment, it seems likely that the positive biodiversity effect results from several mechanisms acting simultaneously in more diverse communities, such as reduced pathogen attack, the presence of more plant growth promoting organisms, less seed limitation, and increased trait differences leading to complementarity in resource uptake. Distinguishing between different mechanisms requires careful testing of competing hypotheses. Biodiversity research has matured such that predictive approaches testing particular mechanisms are now possible

Lifecycle of the ESS Moderator and Reflector System

The European Spallation Source (ESS) will be a 5 MW class spallation neutron research facility. An important part of the target station is the Moderator and Reflector (MR) System including structure and handling. The primary function of the MR Plugs is to efficiently reflect and moderate fast neutrons from the spallation target to thermal and cold neutrons suitable for the neutron scattering systems. However, the MR System need to fulfil many operational functions as well, which include cooling of radiation heat in liquid and metal bodies, positioning and structural support, capability of handling of active components and confinement, shielding and avoidance of streaming. Depending on the design, the accumulated neutron flux and irradiation induced material degradation mechanism limit the lifetime of the MR Plug. At full beam power of 5 MW, the MR Plugs need to be changed yearly. That imposes high demands on logistics, manufacturing and handling on the system. This paper presents the lifetime criteria of the MR System, in view of radiation induced material degradation. The complete MR System lifecycle is presented, which ranges from purchase of raw materials (aluminium alloy, stainless steel and beryllium), manufacturing, factory acceptance test FAT), transport, delivery control, pre-installation test until a new MR System is ready for installation

Liquid hydrogen for cold neutron production at European Spallation Source ERIC

The European Spallation Source (ESS) will be a 5 MW, long-pulsed spallation neutron research facility. One of the key feature is that ESS will use liquid hydrogen as a moderating media for the cold neutrons. The hydrogen operates at cryogenic temperatures at approximately 17K. The challenge for the cryogenic system is to meet the high neutronic heat load and maintain a narrow operational span. To handle the large variations in heat load a special developed pressure control device is designed. To maintain the hydrogen operating temperature, a Helium refrigerator with unique capabilities to control temperature in the hydrogen system is developed. It also has the capacity to react and compensate for a lower heat load than anticipated in the moderator system on short notice. Another key feature is the Ortho-Para catalyst and the in line OP measurement that verifies the high para content at all time, to optimize neutronic performance. This paper describes the process development, planned commissioning and operation of the cryogenic hydrogen and ancillary systems

Conceptual Design of the Liquid Hydrogen Moderator Cooling Circuit for the European Spallation Source

The European Spallation Sourcein Lund, Sweden, will be a 5 MW beam power neutron spallation research center. As subsystem of the target station the moderators play a vital role by slowing down high energy neutrons set free during the spallation process. To provide maximum neutron flux intensities with high availability for scattering experiments a conceptual liquid hydrogen moderator cooling circulation design proposal was developed. Supercritical hydrogen at 17 K will be utilized to absorb energy of the incoming neutrons in two parallel moderator vessels. A helium refrigerator provides the necessary cooling capacity by implementing an additional helium expansion turbine downstream the refrigerator coldbox. Strategies for the mitigation of pressure fluctuations due to beam trips are being presented. Solutions in form of electrical heaters and an accumulator or an expansion vessel are discussed. Different supercritical hydrogen circulator implementation scenarios are being matched to indicate the most reliable setup. For an efficient moderation process parahydrogen concentrations higher than 99% have to be guaranteed at the moderator inlet. Due to potential conversion of parahydrogen to orthohydrogen via irradiation processes the implementation of an ortho-parahydrogen catalyst bed is being evaluated. Methods for a continuous measurement of the apparent parahydrogen concentration at the moderator in- and outlet will be introduced. The arrangement and interaction of the components will be detailed in the paper

The Cryogenic Moderator System Cryostat Design for the European Spallation Source

The European Spallation Source in Lund, Sweden, is going to be a neutron scattering research center that aims to provide around 30 times brighter neutron beams than any other existing facility. As one subsystem of the Target Station, the Moderator & Reflector System slows down high energy neutrons from the spallation process. To gain maximum neutron flux intensities along with high system availability for condensed and soft matter research, an optimized liquid hydrogen Cryogenic Moderator System (CMS) has been developed. Hydrogen with a pressure below critical, an inlet temperature of around 17 K, and a parahydrogen fraction of at least 0.995 will be utilized to interact with neutrons in a unique Moderator vessel arrangement. Two turbo pumps are arranged in series and circulate the cryogen. The pressure stabilization is achieved by an active pressure control buffer in a bypass stream between high pressure and low pressure side. Hydrogen conversion from ortho- to parahydrogen will be controlled and monitored using a catalyst bed in a second bypass line between the high and the low pressure branch of the circuit. A helium refrigerator, the Target Moderator Cryoplant (TMCP), continuously recools the hydrogen mass flow

Design of a hydrogen vent line for ESS cryogenic moderator system

The ESS cryogenic moderator system (CMS) circulates subcooled liquid hydrogen at 17 K and 1 MPa to remove nuclear heating at two hydrogen moderators. All the hydrogen will be safely released to the atmosphere on the roof top of the Target building through a hydrogen vent line (HVL) with a total length of 36 m. Two-phase hydrogen would flow through the HVL because the hydrogen expands by isenthalpic process. The HVL has been designed to avoid decreasing the wall penetration temperature below 253 K and to be sized big enough to limit the backpressure below the design pressure. One-dimensional transient thermohydraulic analysis code that can treat two-phase flow heat transport behavior has been developed. A natural convection heat transfer from air to the cold surface is considered. In this work, the wall temperature reductions and the pressure drop along the HVL during release of cryogenic hydrogen are analyzed. The size and thickness of the HVL have been verified based on the analysis results

Design of an in-situ measurement system for ortho and para liquid hydrogen fractions at ESS

The Cryogenic Moderator System (CMS) is equipped with a catalyst to convert hydrogen from the ortho state to the para state, to keep desirably high parahydrogen fractions in the cold moderators, which is required to deliver a high brightness cold neutron beams to the scientific instruments using neutron scattering. An in-situ measurement system for the ortho and para fractions of liquid hydrogen (OPMS) where a Raman spectroscopy will be used is being developed. The required measurement precision is 0.1% to detect an undesirable shift towards a high orthohydrogen fraction caused by neutron scattering driven para-to-ortho back conversion. The dedicated OPMS sampling line has been designed and is placed in a bypass line from and to the CMS to minimize the hydrogen inventory and to make it physically isolated from the CMS if a sapphire window failure happens. Accident analysis for a hydrogen leak due to the sapphire window failure was carried out using an inhouse-developed simulation code, and the required safety relief size has been determined

Design status of the ESS cryogenic moderator system

The Cryogenic Moderator System (CMS) has been designed to cool high-energy neutrons down to cold neutrons in two cryogenic hydrogen moderators (four ones in the future) by forced flow of subcooled liquid hydrogen at 17 K and 1.0 MPa. At 5 MW proton beam power, an estimated nuclear heating of 6.7 kW (17.3 kW in the future) is generated in the moderators. The subcooled liquid hydrogen is circulated by two pumps arranged in series with a mass flow rate of 1 kg/s to maintain the average temperature rise over each moderator below 3 K and is cooled through a plate fin heat exchanger by a helium refrigerator with a cooling capacity of 30.3 kW at 15 K. The ESS moderator vessels are optimized for maximum cold neutron brightness and pure para-hydrogen, requiring a para concentration of > 99.5 %. An ortho-para-hydrogen convertor is integrated into the loop along with an online para-hydrogen measurement system. The pressure fluctuation caused by unpredictable abrupt changes of nuclear heating will be mitigated using a pressure control buffer with a volume of 65 1