380 research outputs found
Impurity effects on the melting of Ni clusters
We demonstrate that the addition of a single carbon impurity leads to
significant changes in the thermodynamic properties of Ni clusters consisting
of more than a hundred atoms. The magnitude of the change induced is dependent
upon the parameters of the Ni-C interaction. Hence, thermodynamic properties of
Ni clusters can be effectively tuned by the addition of an impurity of a
particular type. We also show that the presence of a carbon impurity
considerably changes the mobility and diffusion of atoms in the Ni cluster at
temperatures close to its melting point. The calculated diffusion coefficients
of the carbon impurity in the Ni cluster can be used for a reliable estimate of
the growth rate of carbon nanotubes.Comment: 27 pages, 13 figure
Rigorous treatment of electrostatics for spatially varying dielectrics based on energy minimization
A novel energy minimization formulation of electrostatics that allows
computation of the electrostatic energy and forces to any desired accuracy in a
system with arbitrary dielectric properties is presented. An integral equation
for the scalar charge density is derived from an energy functional of the
polarization vector field. This energy functional represents the true energy of
the system even in non-equilibrium states. Arbitrary accuracy is achieved by
solving the integral equation for the charge density via a series expansion in
terms of the equation's kernel, which depends only on the geometry of the
dielectrics. The streamlined formalism operates with volume charge
distributions only, not resorting to introducing surface charges by hand.
Therefore, it can be applied to any spatial variation of the dielectric
susceptibility, which is of particular importance in applications to
biomolecular systems. The simplicity of application of the formalism to real
problems is shown with analytical and numerical examples.Comment: 27 pages, 5 figure
The Waveform Digitiser of the Double Chooz Experiment: Performance and Quantisation Effects on PhotoMultiplier Tube Signals
We present the waveform digitiser used in the Double Chooz experiment. We
describe the hardware and the custom-built firmware specifically developed for
the experiment. The performance of the device is tested with regards to
digitising low light level signals from photomultiplier tubes and measuring
pulse charge. This highlights the role of quantisation effects and leads to
some general recommendations on the design and use of waveform digitisers.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in JINS
Molecular dynamics study of accelerated ion-induced shock waves in biological media
We present a molecular dynamics study of the effects of carbon- and iron-ion induced shock waves in DNA duplexes in liquid water. We use the CHARMM force field implemented within the MBN Explorer simulation package to optimize and equilibrate DNA duplexes in liquid water boxes of different sizes and shapes. The translational and vibrational degrees of freedom of water molecules are excited according to the energy deposited by the ions and the subsequent shock waves in liquid water are simulated. The pressure waves generated are studied and compared with an analytical hydrodynamics model which serves as a benchmark for evaluating the suitability of the simulation boxes. The energy deposition in the DNA backbone bonds is also monitored as an estimation of biological damage, something which is not possible with the analytical model
Rearrangement of cluster structure during fission processes
Results of molecular dynamics simulations of fission reactions and are presented. Dependence
of the fission barriers on isomer structure of the parent cluster is analyzed.
It is demonstrated that the energy necessary for removing homothetic groups of
atoms from the parent cluster is largely independent of the isomer form of the
parent cluster. Importance of rearrangement of the cluster structure during the
fission process is elucidated. This rearrangement may include transition to
another isomer state of the parent cluster before actual separation of the
daughter fragments begins and/or forming a "neck" between the separating
fragments
Limits on Neutrino Oscillations from the CHOOZ Experiment
We present new results based on the entire CHOOZ data sample. We find (at 90%
confidence level) no evidence for neutrino oscillations in the anti_nue
disappearance mode, for the parameter region given by approximately Delta m**2
> 7 x 10**-4 eV^2 for maximum mixing, and sin**2(2 theta) = 0.10 for large
Delta m**2. Lower sensitivity results, based only on the comparison of the
positron spectra from the two different-distance nuclear reactors, are also
presented; these are independent of the absolute normalization of the anti_nue
flux, the cross section, the number of target protons and the detector
efficiencies.Comment: 19 pages, 11 figures, Latex fil
Search for neutrino oscillations on a long base-line at the CHOOZ nuclear power station
This final article about the CHOOZ experiment presents a complete description
of the electron antineutrino source and detector, the calibration methods and
stability checks, the event reconstruction procedures and the Monte Carlo
simulation. The data analysis, systematic effects and the methods used to reach
our conclusions are fully discussed. Some new remarks are presented on the
deduction of the confidence limits and on the correct treatment of systematic
errors.Comment: 41 pages, 59 figures, Latex file, accepted for publication by
Eur.Phys.J.
Initial Results from the CHOOZ Long Baseline Reactor Neutrino Oscillation Experiment
Initial results are presented from CHOOZ, a long-baseline reactor-neutrino
vacuum-oscillation experiment. Electron antineutrinos were detected by a liquid
scintillation calorimeter located at a distance of about 1 km. The detector was
constructed in a tunnel protected from cosmic rays by a 300 MWE rock
overburden. This massive shielding strongly reduced potentially troublesome
backgrounds due to cosmic-ray muons, leading to a background rate of about one
event per day, more than an order of magnitude smaller than the observed
neutrino signal. From the statistical agreement between detected and expected
neutrino event rates, we find (at 90% confidence level) no evidence for
neutrino oscillations in the electron antineutrino disappearance mode for the
parameter region given approximately by deltam**2 > 0.9 10**(-3) eV**2 for
maximum mixing and (sin(2 theta)**2) > 0.18 for large deltam**2.Comment: 13 pages, Latex, submitted to Physics Letters
Muon and Cosmogenic Neutron Detection in Borexino
Borexino, a liquid scintillator detector at LNGS, is designed for the
detection of neutrinos and antineutrinos from the Sun, supernovae, nuclear
reactors, and the Earth. The feeble nature of these signals requires a strong
suppression of backgrounds below a few MeV. Very low intrinsic radiogenic
contamination of all detector components needs to be accompanied by the
efficient identification of muons and of muon-induced backgrounds. Muons
produce unstable nuclei by spallation processes along their trajectory through
the detector whose decays can mimic the expected signals; for isotopes with
half-lives longer than a few seconds, the dead time induced by a muon-related
veto becomes unacceptably long, unless its application can be restricted to a
sub-volume along the muon track. Consequently, not only the identification of
muons with very high efficiency but also a precise reconstruction of their
tracks is of primary importance for the physics program of the experiment. The
Borexino inner detector is surrounded by an outer water-Cherenkov detector that
plays a fundamental role in accomplishing this task. The detector design
principles and their implementation are described. The strategies adopted to
identify muons are reviewed and their efficiency is evaluated. The overall muon
veto efficiency is found to be 99.992% or better. Ad-hoc track reconstruction
algorithms developed are presented. Their performance is tested against muon
events of known direction such as those from the CNGS neutrino beam, test
tracks available from a dedicated External Muon Tracker and cosmic muons whose
angular distribution reflects the local overburden profile. The achieved
angular resolution is 3-5 deg and the lateral resolution is 35-50 cm, depending
on the impact parameter of the crossing muon. The methods implemented to
efficiently tag cosmogenic neutrons are also presented.Comment: 42 pages. 32 figures on 37 files. Uses JINST.cls. 1 auxiliary file
(defines.tex) with TEX macros. submitted to Journal of Instrumentatio
Recommended from our members
Measurement of geo-neutrinos from 1353 days of Borexino
We present a measurement of the geo--neutrino signal obtained from 1353 days
of data with the Borexino detector at Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso in
Italy. With a fiducial exposure of (3.69 0.16) proton
year after all selection cuts and background subtraction, we detected
(14.3 4.4) geo-neutrino events assuming a fixed chondritic mass Th/U
ratio of 3.9. This corresponds to a geo-neutrino signal = (38.8
12.0) TNU with just a 6 probability for a null geo-neutrino
measurement. With U and Th left as free parameters in the fit, the relative
signals are = (10.6 12.7) TNU and =
(26.5 19.5) TNU. Borexino data alone are compatible with a mantle
geo--neutrino signal of (15.4 12.3) TNU, while a combined analysis with
the KamLAND data allows to extract a mantle signal of (14.1 8.1) TNU. Our
measurement of a reactor anti--neutrino signal =
84.5 TNU is in agreement with expectations in the presence of
neutrino oscillations.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figure
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