Performance engineering for microservices and serverless applications: the RADON approach

Microservices and serverless are becoming integral parts of mod-ern cloud-based applications. Tailored performance engineering isneeded for assuring that the applications meet their requirementsfor quality attributes such as timeliness, resource efficiency, andelasticity. A novel DevOps-based framework for developing mi-croservices and serverless applications is being developed in theRADON project. RADON contributes to performance engineeringby including novel approaches for modeling, deployment optimiza-tion, testing, and runtime management. This paper summarizes thecontents of our tutorial presented at the 11th ACM/SPEC Interna-tional Conference on Performance Engineering (ICPE)

Q value and half-life of double-electron capture in Os-184

Os-184 has been excluded as a promising candidate for the search of neutrinoless double-electron capture. High-precision mass measurements with the Penning-trap mass spectrometer TRIGA-TRAP resulted in a marginal resonant enhancement with = -8.89(58) keV excess energy to the 1322.152(22) keV 0+ excited state in W-184. State-of-the-art energy density functional calculations are applied for the evaluation of the nuclear matrix elements to the excited states predicting a strong suppression due to the large deformation of mother and daughter states. The half-life of the transition in Os-184 exceeds T_{1/2} > 1.3 10^{29} years for an effective neutrino mass of 1 eV.Comment: accepted in Phys. Rev.

Prospects for the discovery of the next new element: Influence of projectiles with Z > 20

The possibility of forming new superheavy elements with projectiles having Z > 20 is discussed. Current research has focused on the fusion of 48Ca with actinides targets, but these reactions cannot be used for new element discoveries in the future due to a lack of available target material. The influence on reaction cross sections of projectiles with Z > 20 have been studied in so-called analog reactions, which utilize lanthanide targets carefully chosen to create compound nuclei with energetics similar to those found in superheavy element production. The reactions 48Ca, 45Sc, 50Ti, 54Cr + 159Tb, 162Dy have been studied at the Cyclotron Institute at Texas A&M University using the Momentum Achromat Recoil Spectrometer. The results of these experimental studies are discussed in terms of the influence of collective enhancements to level density for compound nuclei near closed shells, and the implications for the production of superheavy elements. We have observed no evidence to contradict theoretical predictions that the maximum cross section for the 249Cf(50Ti, 4n)295120 and 248Cm(54Cr, 4n)298120 reactions should be in the range of 10-100 fb.Comment: An invited talk given by Charles M. Folden III at the 11th International Conference on Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions (NN2012), San Antonio, Texas, USA, May 27-June 1, 2012. Also contains information presented by Dmitriy A. Mayorov and Tyler A. Werke in separate contributions to the conference. This contribution will appear in the NN2012 Proceedings in Journal of Physics: Conference Series (JPCS

Future of superheavy element research: Which nuclei could be synthesized within the next few years?

Low values of the fusion cross sections and very short half-lives of nuclei with Z$>$120 put obstacles in synthesis of new elements. Different nuclear reactions (fusion of stable and radioactive nuclei, multi-nucleon transfers and neutron capture), which could be used for the production of new isotopes of superheavy (SH) elements, are discussed in the paper. The gap of unknown SH nuclei, located between the isotopes which were produced earlier in the cold and hot fusion reactions, can be filled in fusion reactions of $^{48}$Ca with available lighter isotopes of Pu, Am, and Cm. Cross sections for the production of these nuclei are predicted to be rather large, and the corresponding experiments can be easily performed at existing facilities. For the first time, a narrow pathway is found to the middle of the island of stability owing to possible $\beta^+$-decay of SH isotopes which can be formed in ordinary fusion reactions of stable nuclei. Multi-nucleon transfer processes at near barrier collisions of heavy (and very heavy, U-like) ions are shown to be quite realistic reaction mechanism allowing us to produce new neutron enriched heavy nuclei located in the unexplored upper part of the nuclear map. Neutron capture reactions can be also used for the production of the long-living neutron rich SH nuclei. Strong neutron fluxes might be provided by pulsed nuclear reactors and by nuclear explosions in laboratory conditions and by supernova explosions in nature. All these possibilities are discussed in the paper.Comment: An Invited Plenary Talk given by Valeriy I. Zagrebaev at the 11th International Conference on Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions (NN2012), San Antonio, Texas, USA, May 27-June 1, 2012. To appear in the NN2012 Proceedings in Journal of Physics: Conference Series (JPCS

Thermal (n, γ) cross section and resonance integral of 171Tm

Background: About 50% of the heavy elements are produced in stars during the slow neutron capture process. The analysis of branching points allows us to set constraints on the temperature and the neutron density in the interior of stars. Purpose: The temperature dependence of the branch point 171Tm is weak. Hence, the 171Tm neutron capture cross section can be used to constrain the neutron density during the main component of the s process in thermally pulsing asymptotic giant branch (TP-AGB) stars. Methods: A 171Tm sample produced at the ILL was activated with thermal and epithermal neutrons at the TRIGA research reactor at the Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz. Results: The thermal neutron capture cross section and the resonance integral have been measured for the first time to be σth = 9.9 ± 0.9 b and σRI = 193 ± 14 b. Conclusions: Based on our results, new estimations of the direct capture components’ impact on the Maxwellian-nAveraged cross sections (MACS) are possible.European Unions’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP/2007-2013

POOL development status and production experience

The pool of persistent objects for LHC (POOL) project, part of the large Hadron collider (LHC) computing grid (LCG), is now entering its third year of active development. POOL provides the baseline persistency framework for three LHC experiments. It is based on a strict component model, insulating experiment software from a variety of storage technologies. This paper gives a brief overview of the POOL architecture, its main design principles and the experience gained with integration into LHC experiment frameworks. It also presents recent developments in the POOL works areas of relational database abstraction and object storage into relational database management systems (RDBMS) systems

The possible existence of Hs in nature from a geochemical point of view

A hypothesis of the existence of a long-lived isotope 271Hs in natural molybdenites and osmirides is considered from a geochemical point of view. It is shown that the presence of Hs in these minerals can be explained only by making an additional ad hoc assumption on the existence of an isobaric pair of 271Bh-271Hs. This assumption could be tested by mass-spectrometric measurements of U, Pb, Kr, Xe, and Zr isotopic shifts.Comment: 5 pages, no figures. Physics of Particles and Nuclei Letters, 2006, Vol. 3, No. 3, pp. 165-168 in pres

Research of the NUSTAR departments : SHE departments and HIM SHE section

The SHE departments devoted to the research of superheavy elements, operate the recoil separators SHIP and TASCA and their ancillary installations including SHIPTRAP and a laser spectroscopy setup at SHIP as well as chemistry and nuclear spectroscopy setups at TASCA. In 2019, the activities at GSI focused on the UNILAC beamtime within the FAIR Phase-0 program and on the analysis of data obtained in prior beamtimes. At HIM, the advancement of actinide sample preparation, manipulation, and characterization for various applications was most central. In addition, technical developments, for example for single-ion mass measurements, have been performed

High-resolution and low-background 163^{163}Ho spectrum: interpretation of the resonance tails

The determination of the effective electron neutrino mass via kinematic analysis of beta and electron capture spectra is considered to be model-independent since it relies on energy and momentum conservation. At the same time the precise description of the expected spectrum goes beyond the simple phase space term. In particular for electron capture processes, many-body electron-electron interactions lead to additional structures besides the main resonances in calorimetrically measured spectra. A precise description of the $^{163}$Ho spectrum is fundamental for understanding the impact of low intensity structures at the endpoint region where a finite neutrino mass affects the shape most strongly. We present a low-background and high-energy resolution measurement of the $^{163}$Ho spectrum obtained in the framework of the ECHo experiment. We study the line shape of the main resonances and multiplets with intensities spanning three orders of magnitude. We discuss the need to introduce an asymmetric line shape contribution due to Auger–Meitner decay of states above the auto-ionisation threshold. With this we determine an enhancement of count rate at the endpoint region of about a factor of 2, which in turn leads to an equal reduction in the required exposure of the experiment to achieve a given sensitivity on the effective electron neutrino mass