1,549 research outputs found
Fragmentation of spherical radioactive heavy nuclei as a novel probe of transient effects in fission
Peripheral collisions with radioactive heavy-ion beams at relativistic
energies are discussed as an innovative approach for probing the transient
regime experienced by fissile systems evolving towards quasi-equilibrium. A
dedicated experiment using the advanced technical installations of GSI,
Darmstadt, permitted to realize ideal conditions for the investigation of
relaxation effects in the meta-stable well. Combined with a highly sensitive
experimental signature, it provides a measure of the transient effects with
respect to the flux over the fission barrier. Within a two-step reaction
process, 45 proton-rich unstable spherical isotopes produced by
projectile-fragmentation of a stable 238U beam have been used as secondary
projectiles. The fragmentation of the radioactive projectiles on lead results
in nearly spherical compound nuclei which span a wide range in excitation
energy and fissility. The decay of these excited systems by fission is studied
with a dedicated set-up which permits the detection of both fission products in
coincidence and the determination of their atomic numbers with high resolution.
The width of the fission-fragment nuclear charge distribution is shown to be
specifically sensitive to pre-saddle transient effects and is used to establish
a clock for the passage of the saddle point. The comparison of the experimental
results with model calculations points to a fission delay of (3.3+/-0.7).10-21s
for initially spherical compound nuclei, independent of excitation energy and
fissility. This value suggests a nuclear dissipation strength at small
deformation of (4.5+/-0.5).1021s-1. The very specific combination of the
physics and technical equipment exploited in this work sheds light on previous
controversial conclusions.Comment: 38 pages, 15 figure
Production of new neutron-rich isotopes of heavy elements in fragmentation reactions of U projectiles at 1 A GeV
The production of heavy neutron-rich nuclei has been investigated using cold
fragmentation reactions of U projectiles at relativistic energies. The
experiment performed at the high-resolving-power magnetic spectrometer FRS at
GSI allowed to identify 45 new heavy neutron-rich nuclei: Pt,
Au, Hg, Tl, Pb, Bi,
Po, At, Rn and Fr. The production
cross sections of these nuclei were also determined and used to benchmark
reaction codes that predict the production of nuclei far from stability.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure
First experiment on fission transients in highly fissile spherical nuclei produced by fragmentation of radioactive beams
We report on a novel experimental approach for studying the dissipative
spreading of collective motion in a meta-stable nuclear system, using, for the
first time, highly fissile nuclei with spherical shape. This was achieved by
fragmentation of 45 radioactive heavy-ion beams at GSI, Darmstadt. The use of
inverse kinematics and a dedicated experimental set-up allowed for the
identification in atomic number of both fission fragments. From the width of
their charge distributions, a transient time of (3.3 +/- 0.7) 10-21 s is
deduced for initially spherical nuclei.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, background information at
http://www-win.gsi.de/charms
Measurement of residual nucleus cross sections and recoil energies in p + Fe collisions at 300, 500, 750, 1000 and 1500 MeV
The production of residual nuclei in p + Fe collisions has been measured at GSI on the FRS facility by means of the reverse kinematic techniques at 300, 500, 750, 1000 and 1500 MeV/A. The cross-sections larger than 0.01 mb of all isotopes with Z larger than 8 have been obtained. Velocity distributions were also measured. Comparisons to models describing spallation reactions and some empirical formulae often used in astrophysics are presented. These data are directly used to calculate impurety production and DPAs in a thin window as foreseen in spallation sources or accelerator-driven systems
Evaporation residues produced in spallation of 208Pb by protons at 500A MeV
The production cross sections of fragmentation-evaporation residues in the
reaction Pb+p at 500A MeV have been measured using the inverse-kinematics
method and the FRS spectrometer (GSI). Fragments were identified in nuclear
charge using ionisation chambers. The mass identification was performed
event-by-event using the B-rho - TOF - Delta-E technique. Although
partially-unresolved ionic charge states induced an ambiguity on the mass of
some heavy fragments, production rates could be obtained with a high accuracy
by systematically accounting for the polluting ionic charge states. The
contribution of multiple reactions in the target was subtracted using a new,
partly self-consistent code. The isobaric distributions are found to have a
shape very close to the one observed in experiments at higher energy. Kinematic
properties of the fragments were also measured. The total and the isotopic
cross sections, including charge-pickup cross sections, are in good agreement
with previous measurements. The data are discussed in the light of previous
spallation measurements, especially on lead at 1 GeV
Spallation Residues in the Reaction 56Fe + p at 0.3, 0.5, 0.75, 1.0 and 1.5 A GeV
The spallation residues produced in the bombardment of 56}Fe at 1.5, 1.0,
0.75, 0.5 and 0.3 A GeV on a liquid-hydrogen target have been measured using
the reverse kinematics technique and the Fragment Separator at GSI (Darmstadt).
This technique has permitted the full identification in charge and mass of all
isotopes produced with cross-sections larger than 10^{-2} mb down to Z=8. Their
individual production cross-sections and recoil velocities at the five energies
are presented. Production cross-sections are compared to previously existing
data and to empirical parametric formulas, often used in cosmic-ray
astrophysics. The experimental data are also extensively compared to different
combinations of intra-nuclear cascade and de-excitation models. It is shown
that the yields of the lightest isotopes cannot be accounted for by standard
evaporation models. The GEMINI model, which includes an asymmetric fission
decay mode, gives an overall good agreement with the data. These experimental
data can be directly used for the estimation of composition modifications and
damages in materials containing iron in spallation sources. They are also
useful for improving high precision cosmic-ray measurements.Comment: Submited to Phys. Rev. C (10/2006
Measurement of nuclide cross-sections of spallation residues in 1 A GeV 238U + proton collisions
The production of heavy nuclides from the spallation-evaporation reaction of
238U induced by 1 GeV protons was studied in inverse kinematics. The
evaporation residues from tungsten to uranium were identified in-flight in mass
and atomic number. Their production cross-sections and their momentum
distributions were determined. The data are compared with empirical
systematics. A comparison with previous results from the spallation of 208Pb
and 197Au reveals the strong influence of fission in the spallation of 238U.Comment: 20 pages, 10 figures, background information at
http://www-wnt.gsi.de/kschmidt
Engineering the Controlled Assembly of Filamentous Injectisomes in E. coli K-12 for Protein Translocation into Mammalian Cells.
Bacterial pathogens containing type III protein secretion systems (T3SS) assemble large needle-like protein complexes in the bacterial envelope, called injectisomes, for translocation of protein effectors into host cells. The application of these molecular syringes for the injection of proteins into mammalian cells is hindered by their structural and genomic complexity, requiring multiple polypeptides encoded along with effectors in various transcriptional units (TUs) with intricate regulation. In this work, we have rationally designed the controlled expression of the filamentous injectisomes found in enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) in the nonpathogenic strain E. coli K-12. All structural components of EPEC injectisomes, encoded in a genomic island called the locus of enterocyte effacement (LEE), were engineered in five TUs (eLEEs) excluding effectors, promoters and transcriptional regulators. These eLEEs were placed under the control of the IPTG-inducible promoter Ptac and integrated into specific chromosomal sites of E. coli K-12 using a marker-less strategy. The resulting strain, named synthetic injector E. coli (SIEC), assembles filamentous injectisomes similar to those in EPEC. SIEC injectisomes form pores in the host plasma membrane and are able to translocate T3-substrate proteins (e.g., translocated intimin receptor, Tir) into the cytoplasm of HeLa cells reproducing the phenotypes of intimate attachment and polymerization of actin-pedestals elicited by EPEC bacteria. Hence, SIEC strain allows the controlled expression of functional filamentous injectisomes for efficient translocation of proteins with T3S-signals into mammalian cells
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