Synthesis, Structure and Electrical Properties of Li+-doped Pyrochlore Gd2Zr2O7

Received: 08.04.2020. Accepted: 20.05.2020. Published: 30.06.2020.The pyrochlore Gd1.55Li0.45Zr2O6.55 was prepared by the solution and solidstate methods. The introduction of lithium in the Gd-sublattice led to decrease in the lattice parameter a = 10.4830(8) Å in comparison with Gd2Zr2O7 (a =10.5346(2) Å). Monitoring of the lithium content in the sample during heat treatments showed a loss of lithium at temperatures above 1100 °C, so, to maintain the stoichiometry of lithium the low temperature sintering methods are required. The sample Gd1.55Li0.45Zr2O6.55 exhibited a predominant oxygen-ion transport over a wide range of temperatures. Although doping did not lead to an increase in the oxygen-ion conductivity compared to Gd2Zr2O7, it caused the suppression of the hole conductivity.The reported study was funded by RFBR and Sverdlovsk region, project number 20‑43‑660033a

Области энергетической оптимальности схем экстрактивной ректификации смеси метанол - н-пропилацетат - толуол с анилином

This work is devoted for investigation of isocriterial manifolds and isocriterial fields arrangement into initial feed composition simplex. That fields and manifolds dividing of them are formed at methanol - n-propylacetat - toluene with aniline extractive distillation. Initial mixture contains one binary azeotrop with minimum boiling point (in methanol - toluene pair) and one tangential azeotrop in methanol - n-propylacetat pair near the pure n-propylacetat. In the capacity of the optimization criteria was chosen heating capacities on the distillation columns reboilers.Настоящая работа посвящена исследованию расположения изокритериальных много-образий и областей энергетической оптимальности комплексов экстрактивной ректификации смеси метанол-н-пропилацетат-толуол в симплексе исходных сос-тавов питания. Разделяемая смесь содержит один бинарный азеотроп с минимумом температуры кипения (в бинарной паре метанол-толуол) и один тангенциальный азеотроп вблизи чистого н-пропилацетата (в паре метанол - н-пропилацетат)

Electrical Properties of Li+-Substituted Solid Solutions Based on Gd2Zr2O7

Abstract: Solid solution (Formula presented.) with a pyrochlore structure is synthesized for the first time. The cationic composition is confirmed via chemical analysis and nuclear reactions. It is found that the stoichiometry with respect to lithium is retained up to 1100°C. The lattice parameter diminishes in the homogeneity range 0 ≤ x ≤ 0.30, while the free volume of migration grows. Introducing lithium into the Gd sublattice raises oxygen–ion conductivity, due to the emergence of oxygen vacancies and enhancement of their mobility. Maximum conductivity is reached for composition with х = 0.10 (~1 × 10−3 Ω−1 cm−1, 650°C). An assumption is made about the formation of associates of the type (Formula presented.) at high contents of the dopant (x = 0.30), accompanied by an increase in the activation energy of conductivity. © 2021, The Author(s).This work was performed with a grant from the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, project no. 20-43-660033, and financial support from the State Atomic Energy Corporation ROSATOM (State Contract no. Н.4о.241.19.21.1070 of April 16, 2021; electronic identifier 07731000003210000330001)

Prospects for the measurement of muon-neutrino disappearance at the FNAL-Booster

Neutrino physics is nowadays receiving more and more attention as a possible source of information for the long-standing problem of new physics beyond the Standard Model. The recent measurement of the mixing angle $\theta_{13}$ in the standard mixing oscillation scenario encourages us to pursue the still missing results on leptonic CP violation and absolute neutrino masses. However, puzzling measurements exist that deserve an exhaustive evaluation. The NESSiE Collaboration has been setup to undertake conclusive experiments to clarify the muon-neutrino disappearance measurements at small $L/E$, which will be able to put severe constraints to models with more than the three-standard neutrinos, or even to robustly measure the presence of a new kind of neutrino oscillation for the first time. To this aim the use of the current FNAL-Booster neutrino beam for a Short-Baseline experiment has been carefully evaluated. This proposal refers to the use of magnetic spectrometers at two different sites, Near and Far. Their positions have been extensively studied, together with the possible performances of two OPERA-like spectrometers. The proposal is constrained by availability of existing hardware and a time-schedule compatible with the CERN project for a new more performant neutrino beam, which will nicely extend the physics results achievable at the Booster. The possible FNAL experiment will allow to clarify the current $\nu_{\mu}$ disappearance tension with $\nu_e$ appearance and disappearance at the eV mass scale. Instead, a new CERN neutrino beam would allow a further span in the parameter space together with a refined control of systematics and, more relevant, the measurement of the antineutrino sector, by upgrading the spectrometer with detectors currently under R&D study.Comment: 76 pages, 52 figure

Learning from tau appearance

The study of numu->nutau oscillation and the explicit observation of the nutau through the identification of the final-state tau lepton ("direct appearance search") represent the most straightforward test of the oscillation phenomenon. It is, nonetheless, the most challenging from the experimental point of view. In this paper we discuss the current empirical evidence for direct appearance of tau neutrinos at the atmospheric scale and the perspectives for the next few years, up to the completion of the CNGS physics programme. We investigate the relevance of this specific oscillation channel to gain insight into neutrino physics within the standard three-family framework. Finally, we discuss the opportunities offered by precision studies of numu->nutau transitions in the occurrence of more exotic scenarios emerging from additional sterile neutrinos or non-standard interactions.Comment: 26 pages, 7 figures, to appear in NJ

Study of the Process of Interaction of Gd2-xMgxZr2O7-δ Ceramics with LiCl-Li2O and LiF-NaF-KF Melts

Oxygen-ion conductor gadolinium zirconate doped with magnesium is a high-density ceramic material, which shows the absence of interaction in the oxide-halide environment of lithium melts

Determination of the muon charge sign with the dipolar spectrometers of the OPERA experiment

The OPERA long-baseline neutrino-oscillation experiment has observed the direct appearance of $\nu_\tau$ in the CNGS $\nu_\mu$ beam. Two large muon magnetic spectrometers are used to identify muons produced in the $\tau$ leptonic decay and in $\nu_\mu^{CC}$ interactions by measuring their charge and momentum. Besides the kinematic analysis of the $\tau$ decays, background resulting from the decay of charmed particles produced in $\nu_\mu^{CC}$ interactions is reduced by efficiently identifying the muon track. A new method for the charge sign determination has been applied, via a weighted angular matching of the straight track-segments reconstructed in the different parts of the dipole magnets. Results obtained for Monte Carlo and real data are presented. Comparison with a method where no matching is used shows a significant reduction of up to 40\% of the fraction of wrongly determined charges.Comment: 10 pages. Improvements in the tex

Limits on muon-neutrino to tau-neutrino oscillations induced by a sterile neutrino state obtained by OPERA at the CNGS beam

The OPERA experiment, exposed to the CERN to Gran Sasso $\nu_\mu$ beam, collected data from 2008 to 2012. Four oscillated $\nu_\tau$ Charged Current interaction candidates have been detected in appearance mode, which are consistent with $\nu_\mu \to \nu_\tau$ oscillations at the atmospheric $\Delta m^2$ within the "standard" three-neutrino framework. In this paper, the OPERA $\nu_\tau$ appearance results are used to derive limits on the mixing parameters of a massive sterile neutrino.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures; reference to Planck result updated in the Introduction. Submitted to JHE

Evidence for νμ→ντ\nu_\mu \to \nu_\tau appearance in the CNGS neutrino beam with the OPERA experiment

The OPERA experiment is designed to search for $\nu_{\mu} \rightarrow \nu_{\tau}$ oscillations in appearance mode i.e. through the direct observation of the $\tau$ lepton in $\nu_{\tau}$ charged current interactions. The experiment has taken data for five years, since 2008, with the CERN Neutrino to Gran Sasso beam. Previously, two $\nu_{\tau}$ candidates with a $\tau$ decaying into hadrons were observed in a sub-sample of data of the 2008-2011 runs. Here we report the observation of a third $\nu_\tau$ candidate in the $\tau^-\to\mu^-$ decay channel coming from the analysis of a sub-sample of the 2012 run. Taking into account the estimated background, the absence of $\nu_{\mu} \rightarrow \nu_{\tau}$ oscillations is excluded at the 3.4 $\sigma$ level.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, 1 table

Observation of nu_tau appearance in the CNGS beam with the OPERA experiment

The OPERA experiment is searching for nu_mu -> nu_tau oscillations in appearance mode i.e. via the direct detection of tau leptons in nu_tau charged current interactions. The evidence of nu_mu -> nu_tau appearance has been previously reported with three nu_tau candidate events using a sub-sample of data from the 2008-2012 runs. We report here a fourth nu_tau candidate event, with the tau decaying into a hadron, found after adding the 2012 run events without any muon in the final state to the data sample. Given the number of analysed events and the low background, nu_mu -> nu_tau oscillations are established with a significance of 4.2sigma.Comment: Submitted to Progress of Theoretical and Experimental Physics (PTEP