Generation of quasi continuous-wave electron beams in an L-band normal conducting pulsed RF injector for laboratory astrophysics experiments

We report on an approach to produce quasi continuous-wave (cw) electron beams with an average beam current of milliamperes and a mean beam energy of a few MeV in a pulsed RF injector. Potential applications are in the planned laboratory astrophysics programs at DESY. The beam generation is based on field emission from a specially designed metallic field emitter. A quasi cw beam profile is formed over subsequent RF cycles at the resonance frequency of the gun cavity. This is realized by debunching in a cut disk structure accelerating cavity (booster) downstream of the gun. The peak and average beam currents can be tuned in beam dynamics simulations by adjusting operation conditions of the booster cavity. Optimization of the transverse beam size at specific positions (e.g., entrance of the plasma experiment) is performed by applying magnetic focusing fields provided by solenoids along the beam line. In this paper, the design of a microtip field emitter is introduced and characterized in electromagnetic field simulations in the gun cavity. A series of particle tracking simulations are conducted for multi-parametric optimization of the parameters of the produced quasi cw electron beams. The obtained results will be presented and discussed. In addition, measurements of the parasitic field emission (PFE) current (dark current) in the PITZ gun will be exemplarily shown to distinguish its order of magnitude from the produced beam current by the designed field emitter.Comment: 23 pages, 17 figure

Association between investigator-measured body-mass index and colorectal adenoma: a systematic review and meta-analysis of 168,201 subjects

The objective of this meta-analysis is to evaluate the odds of colorectal adenoma (CRA) in colorectal cancer screening participants with different body mass index (BMI) levels, and examine if this association was different according to gender and ethnicity. The EMBASE and MEDLINE were searched to enroll high quality observational studies that examined the association between investigator-measured BMI and colonoscopy-diagnosed CRA. Data were independently extracted by two reviewers. A random-effects meta-analysis was conducted to estimate the summary odds ratio (SOR) for the association between BMI and CRA. The Cochran’s Q statistic and I2 analyses were used to assess the heterogeneity. A total of 17 studies (168,201 subjects) were included. When compared with subjects having BMI < 25, individuals with BMI 25–30 had significantly higher risk of CRA (SOR 1.44, 95% CI 1.30–1.61; I2 = 43.0%). Subjects with BMI ≥ 30 had similarly higher risk of CRA (SOR 1.42, 95% CI 1.24–1.63; I2 = 18.5%). The heterogeneity was mild to moderate among studies. The associations were significantly higher than estimates by previous meta-analyses. There was no publication bias detected (Egger’s regression test, p = 0.584). Subgroup analysis showed that the magnitude of association was significantly higher in female than male subjects (SOR 1.43, 95% CI 1.30–1.58 vs. SOR 1.16, 95% CI 1.07–1.24; different among different ethnic groups (SOR 1.72, 1.44 and 0.88 in White, Asians and Africans, respectively) being insignificant in Africans; and no difference exists among different study designs. In summary, the risk conferred by BMI for CRA was significantly higher than that reported previously. These findings bear implications in CRA risk estimation

First Ground Observations of OI5577 Green Line Emission over the Taiwan Area

Worldwide ground observations of upper atmospheric airglow with particular emphasis on the OI 557.7 and 630 nm emissions have been conducted since 1960s. This study reports the first ground observations of OI 557.7 nm green line emission over the Taiwan area. For comparison, the background continuum at 530 nm was also measured by the same system. The experiments were conducted during the period of Aug - Dec, 2004 at various locations in Taiwan using a self-developed photometer instrument. Daily height integrated intensity of the night-time green line emission may vary in the range of 80 - 210 Rayleighs and twilight enhancement is also identified. The observational results may serve as a useful reference for follow-up sounding rocket measurements of OI 557.7 nm airglow emission over the Taiwan area

An Improved Electron Beam Dynamics Design for Laboratory Plasma-Astrophysical Studies: a Technical Note

A technical note is given regarding our previous laboratory plasma-astrophysical studies [C.-S. Jao et al., High Energy Density Physics 32, 31-43 (2019) and Y. Chen et al., Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res., Sect. A 903, 119 (2018)]. In this note, an upgraded accelerator beamline design is proposed based on a feasible experimental setup in a realistic laboratory environment. The improved design aims to provide milliampere (mA) mega-electron-volt (MeV) quasi-continuous (cw) electron beams for plasma-astrophysical applications. Such a design utilizes a so-called mixed-guiding-field magnetic system right after the cut disk structure (CDS) booster cavity to provide a periodic longitudinal focusing field. The transportation of the produced cw beam with large energy spread to the plasma cell location is improved. The magnetic field serves as well as a seeding field in the plasma environment for the growth of electromagnetic instabilities. In conjunction with the appliance of a circular collimator at the exit of the CDS, the new design allows production of quasi-cw beams with a three orders higher number density at the entrance of the plasma cell compared to the previous design for a seeding magnetic field of about 50 mT while the locally enhanced electric field at the cathode is up to 8 GV/m. The associated beam dynamics simulation results are presented. As proof of principle studies, the produced electron beams are applied in nonlinear plasma-astrophysical simulations for exploring the growth of the instabilities. The extracted parameters and/or distributions from the generated electron beams in the laboratory environment are used in these particle-in-cell simulations. The obtained results are presented and discussed

Wake formation behind Langmuir probes in ionospheric plasmas

This paper presents a simulation study of the wake formation behind a Langmuir probe thinner than the Debye Length in the space environments such as the ionosphere’s F region. We find that the wakes formed in plasma density and electric potential behind the positively biased probe can extend up to 15 Debye lengths in the subsonic plasma flow. Higher electric bias and flow velocity can further enhance the plasma wake perturbations. With an external magnetic field parallel to the object’s axis, the plasma wake becomes asymmetric and more extensive than for the unmagnetized case. The wing structures in the electron and ion densities are also observed along the background magnetic field in the case of subsonic plasma flow. The quantitative results in this paper may provide a practical reference for data processing and the future design of the Langmuir probe instrument flying in the F region on such as sounding rockets and low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite missions. In particular, since the Langmuir probe instrument may comprise two or more biased Debye-scale Langmuir probes, the plasma wake formed behind a single probe may influence the measurements from other instruments onboard

Using groEL as the target for identification of Enterococcus faecium clades and 7 clinically relevant Enterococcus species

Background/Purpose: Accurate identification is important for effective treatment because Enterococcus species have talents to cope with various antibiotics either by intrinsic resistance or by acquisition of mobile genetic elements. The groEL gene is a permissive target in identification of bacteria. We aimed to develop simple assays based on groEL for identification of enterococci. Results: We continued our previous work and determined groEL gene sequences of Enterococcus species isolated from clinical specimens. Phylogenetic analysis based on groEL revealed that each strain clustered well with their reference strains (bootstrap value 100%), in which Enterococcus faecium and Enterococcus gallinarum could be split into two clades. The divergence of E. faecium was coincident with hospital-associated clade, known as clade A, and community-associated clade, known as clade B. A PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) assay was therefore designed to differentiate the two E. faecium clades, based on the specific RsaI cutting sites present in the two clades. To differentiate 7 clinical relevant Enterococcus species, the multiplex PCR assay was designed to identify Enterococcus avium, Enterococcus casseliflavus, Enterococcus faecalis, E. faecium, E. gallinarum, Enterococcus hirae and Enterococcus raffinosus. Specificity was tested with other Enterococcus species including Enterococcus cecorum, Enterococcus durans and Enterococcus mundtii. None of these bacterial species generated products of similar size to those of the seven Enterococcus species. Conclusion: The simple PCR-RFLP and multiplex PCR assays on the basis of groEL gene provided an alternative way to identify Enterococcus species. Keywords: Enterococcus, PCR-RFLP, Multiplex PCR, groE