Energy and Charged Particle Flow in 10.8 A GeV/c Au+Au Collisions

Experimental results and a detailed analysis are presented of the transverse energy and charged particle azimuthal distributions measured by the E877 collaboration for different centralities of Au+Au collisions at a beam momentum of 10.8 A GeV/c. The anisotropy of these distributions is studied with respect to the reaction plane reconstructed on an event-by-event basis using the transverse energy distribution measured by calorimeters. Results are corrected for the reaction plane resolution. For semicentral events we observe directed flow signals of up to ten percent. We observe a stronger anisotropy for slow charged particles. For both the charged particle and transverse energy distributions we observe a small but non zero elliptic anisotropy with the major axis pointing into the reaction plane. Combining the information on transverse energy and charged particle flow we obtain information on the flow of nucleons and pions. The data are compared to event generators and the need to introduce a mean field or nucleon-nucleon potential is discussed.Comment: RevTex, 25 pages, 13 figures included as one Postscript file, submitted to Phys. Rev.

DESIGN OF AN ON-LINE, MULTI-SPECTROMETER FISSION PRODUCT MONITORING SYSTEM (FPMS) TO SUPPORT ADVANCED GAS REACTOR (AGR) FUEL TESTING AND QUALIFICATION IN THE ADVANCED TEST REACTOR

The US Department of Energy (DOE) is embarking on a series of tests of coated-particle reactor fuel for the Advanced Gas Reactor (AGR). As one part of this fuel development program a series of eight (8) fuel irradiation tests are planned for the Idaho National Laboratory’s (INL’s) Advanced Test Reactor (ATR). The first test in this series (AGR-1) will incorporate six separate “capsules” irradiated simultaneously, each containing about 51,000 TRISO-coated fuel particles supported in a graphite matrix and continuously swept with inert gas during irradiation. The effluent gas from each of the six capsules must be independently monitored in near real time and the activity of various fission gas nuclides determined and reported. A set of seven heavily-shielded high-purity germanium (HPGe) gamma-ray spectrometers and sodium iodide [NaI(Tl)] scintillation detector-based total radiation detectors have been designed, and are being configured and tested for use during the AGR-1 experiment. The AGR-1 test specification requires that the AGR-1 fission product measurement system (FPMS) have sufficient sensitivity to detect the failure of a single coated fuel particle and sufficient range to allow it to “count” multiple (up to 250) successive particle failures. This paper describes the design and expected performance of the AGR-1 FPMS

DETERMINATION OF THE AGR-1 CAPSULE TO FPMS SPECTROMETER TRANSPORT VOLUMES FROM LEADOUT FLOW TEST DATA

The AGR-1 experiment is a fueled multiple-capsule irradiation experiment being conducted in the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) in support of the Advanced Gas Reactor (AGR) Fuel Development and Qualification Program. A flow experiment conducted during the AGR-1 irradiation provided data that included the effect of flow rate changes on the decay of a short-lived radionuclide (23Ne). This data has been analyzed to determine the capsule-specific downstream transport volume through which the capsule effluents must pass before arrival at the fission product monitoring system spectrometers. These resultant transport volumes when coupled with capsule outlet flow rates determine the transport times from capsule-to-detector. In this work an analysis protocol is developed and applied in order to determine capsule-specific transport volumes to precisions of better than +/- 7%

DETERMINATION OF THE QUANTITY OF I-135 RELEASED FROM THE AGR-1 TEST FUELS AT THE END OF ATR OPERATING CYCLE 138B

The AGR-1 experiment is a multiple fueled-capsule irradiation experiment being conducted in the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) in support of the Advanced Gas Reactor (AGR) Fuel Development and Qualification Program. The experiment began irradiation in the ATR with a cycle that reached full power on December 26, 2006 and ended with shutdown of the reactor for a brief outage on February 10, 2007 at 0900. The AGR-1 experiment will continue cyclical irradiation for about 2.5 years. In order to allow estimation of the amount of radioiodine released during the first cycle, purge gas flow to all capsules continued for about 4 days after reactor shutdown. The FPMS data acquired during part of that shutdown flow period has been analyzed to elucidate the level of 135I released during the operating cycle

Preliminary Results of an On-Line, Multi-Spectrometer Fission Product Monitoring System to Support Advanced Gas Reactor Fuel Testing and Qualification in the Advanced Test Reactor at the Idaho National Laboratory

The Advanced Gas Reactor -1 (AGR-1) experiment is the first experiment in a series of eight separate low enriched uranium (LEU) oxycarbide (UCO) tri-isotropic (TRISO) particle fuel (in compact form) experiments scheduled for placement in the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) located at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL). The experiment began irradiation in the ATR with a cycle that reached full power on December 26, 2006 and will continue irradiation for about 2.5 years. During this time six separate capsules, will be irradiated in an inert sweep gas atmosphere with individual on-line fission product monitoring on its effluent to track performance of the fuel in each individual capsule during irradiation. The goals of the irradiation experiment is to provide irradiation performance data to support fuel process development, to qualify fuel for normal operating conditions, to support development and validation of fuel, and to provide irradiated fuel and materials for post irradiation examination (PIE) and safety testing. This paper presents the preliminary test details of the fuel performance, as measured by the control and acquisition software

Two-pion correlations in Au+Au collisions at 10.8 GeV/c per nucleon

Two-particle correlation functions for positive and negative pions have been measured in Au+Au collisions at 10.8~GeV/c per nucleon. The data were analyzed using one- and three-dimensional correlation functions. From the results of the three-dimensional fit the phase space density of pions was calculated. It is consistent with local thermal equilibrium.Comment: 5 pages RevTeX (including 3 Figures

Spectroscopy of 194^{194}Po

Prompt, in-beam $\gamma$ rays following the reaction $^{170}$Yb + 142 MeV $^{28}$Si were measured at the ATLAS facility using 10 Compton-suppressed Ge detectors and the Fragment Mass Analyzer. Transitions in $^{194}$Po were identified and placed using $\gamma$-ray singles and coincidence data gated on the mass of the evaporation residues. A level spectrum up to J$\approx$10$\hbar$ was established. The structure of $^{194}$Po is more collective than that observed in the heavier polonium isotopes and indicates that the structure has started to evolve towards the more collective nature expected for deformed nuclei.Comment: 8 pages, revtex 3.0, 4 figs. available upon reques

Directed flow of antiprotons in Au+Au collisions at AGS

Directed flow of antiprotons is studied in Au+Au collisions at a beam momentum of 11.5A GeV/c. It is shown that antiproton directed flow is anti-correlated to proton flow. The measured transverse momentum dependence of the antiproton flow is compared with predictions of the RQMD event generator.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figure

Proton and Pion Production in Au+Au Collisions at 10.8A GeV/c

We present proton and pion tranverse momentum spectra and rapidity distributions for Au+Au collisions at 10.8A GeV/c. The proton spectra exhibit collective transverse flow effects. Evidence of the influence of the Coulomb interaction from the fireball is found in the pion transverse momentum spectra. The data are compared with the predictions of the RQMD event generator.Comment: plain tex (revtex), 24 pages Submitted to Phys. Rev.