Measurements of thorium and uranium daughters in radioenvironmental samples using γγ-coincidence spectrometry

We present the performance of a γγ-coincidence spectrometer for measuring the activities of thorium and uranium daughters in environmental samples. The spectrometer consists of two NaI(Tl) detectors facing each other inside a low-background passive shield. We present coincidence gating schemes for achieving the best signal-to-noise ratios, coincidence detection efficiencies, background levels, and minimum detectable activities. The spectrometer is simulated using Geant4 to correct sample efficiencies for self-absorption effects. The device is used to measure thorium and uranium daughter activities in Brazil nuts, potting mix, and magazine paper. Our results for Brazil nuts agree with some, but not all, previous measurements. Thorium or uranium daughter activities have previously not been reported for commercial potting mix. For magazine paper, our measured activities are lower than most previously determined values

Thermonuclear reaction rate of Si 30 (p,γ) P 31

Silicon synthesis in high-temperature hydrogen burning environments presents one possible avenue for the study of abundance anomalies in globular clusters. This was suggested in a previous study, which found that the large uncertainties associated with the Si30(p,γ)P31 reaction rate preclude a firm understanding of the stellar conditions that give rise to the Mg-K anticorrelation observed in the globular cluster NGC 2419. In an effort to improve the reaction rate, we present new strength measurements of the Erlab=435 keV and Erlab=501 keV resonances in Si30(p,γ)P31. For the former, which was previously unobserved, we obtain a resonance strength of ωγ=(1.14±0.25) ×10-4 eV. For the latter, we obtain a value of ωγ=(1.88±0.14) ×10-1 eV, which has a smaller uncertainty compared to previously measured strengths. Based on these results, the thermonuclear reaction rate has been re-evaluated. The impact of the new measurements is to lower the reaction rate by a factor of ≈10 at temperatures important to the study of NGC 2419. The rate uncertainty at these temperatures has also been reduced significantly

Rise and demise of the global silver standard

In the early modern period, the world economy gravitated around the expansion of long-distance commerce. Together with navigation improvements, silver was the prime commodity which moved the sails of such trade. The disparate availability and the particular demand for silver across the globe determined the participation of producers, consumers, and intermediaries in a growing global economy. American endowments of silver are a known feature of this process; however, the fact that the supply of silver was in the form of specie is a less known aspect of the integration of the global economy. This chapter surveys the production and export of silver specie out of Spanish America, its intermediation by Europeans, and the reexport to Asia. It describes how the sheer volume produced and the quality and consistency of the coin provided familiarity with, and reliability to, the Spanish American peso which made it current in most world markets. By the eighteenth century, it has become a currency standard for the international economy which grew together with the production and coinage of silver. Implications varied according to the institutional settings to deal with specie and foreign exchange in each intervening economy of that trade. Generalized warfare in late eighteenth-century Europe brought down governance in Spanish America and coinage fragmented along with the political fragmentation of the empire. The emergence of new sovereign republics and the end of minting as known meant the cessation of the silver standard that had contributed to the early modern globalization

A low-background γγ-coincidence spectrometer for radioisotope studies

The performance of a new, low-background NaI(Tl) spectrometer, based on γγ-coincidence counting, is discussed. We present experimental coincidence efficiencies, timing resolutions, background count rates, and minimum detectable activities. The spectrometer has been simulated using Geant4, and the results are used for estimating coincidence efficiencies for volume sources. To test the device, we measured the cosmogenic 26Al activity in a small (17.7 g) meteorite fragment. We find a value of 52.9±7.8dpm∕kg, in agreement with the activity measured previously in a much larger fragment of the same meteorite using a HPGe detector

Development of a variable-energy, high-intensity, pulsed-mode ion source for low-energy nuclear astrophysics studies

The primary challenge in directly measuring nuclear reaction rates near stellar energies is their small cross sections. The signal-to-background ratio in these complex experiments can be significantly improved by employing high-current (mA-range) beams and novel detection techniques. Therefore, the electron cyclotron resonance ion source at the Laboratory for Experimental Nuclear Astrophysics underwent a complete upgrade of its acceleration column and microwave system to obtain high-intensity, pulsed proton beams. The new column uses a compression design with O-ring seals for vacuum integrity. Its voltage gradient between electrode sections is produced by the parallel resistance of channels of chilled, deionized water. It also incorporates alternating, transverse magnetic fields for electron suppression and an axially adjustable beam extraction system. Following this upgrade, the operational bremsstrahlung radiation levels and high-voltage stability of the source were vastly improved, over 3.5 mA of target beam current was achieved, and an order-of-magnitude increase in normalized brightness was measured. Beam optics calculations, structural design, and further performance results for this source are presented

Private trade and monopoly structures : the East India Companies and the commodity trade to Europe in the eighteenth century

Our research is about the trade in material goods from Asia to Europe over this period, and its impact on Europe’s consumer and industrial cultures. It entails a comparative study of Europe’s East India Companies and the private trade from Asia over the period. The commodities trade was heavily dependent on private trade. The historiography to date has left a blind spot in this area, concentrating instead on corruption and malfeasance. Taking a global history approach we investigate the trade in specific consumer goods in many qualities and varieties that linked merchant communities and stimulated information flows. We set out how private trade functioned alongside and in connection with the various European East India companies; we investigate how this changed over time, how it drew on the Company infrastructure, and how it took the risks and developed new and niche markets for specific Asian commodities that the Companies could not sustain