160 research outputs found
Simulation of charged particle trajectories in the neutron decay correlation experiment abBA
The proposed neutron decay correlation experiment, abBA, will directly detect the direction of emission of decay protons and electrons as well as providing spectroscopic information for both particles. In order to provide this information, the abBA experiment incorporates spatially varying electric and magnetic fields. We report on detailed simulations of the decay particle trajectories in order to assess the impact of various systematic effects on the experimental observables. These include among others; adiabaticity of particle orbits, tracking of orbits, reversal of low energy protons due to inhomogeneous electric field, and accuracy of proton time of flight measurements. Several simulation methods were used including commercial software (Simion), custom software, as well as analytical tools based on the use of adiabatic invariants. Our results indicate that the proposed field geometry of the abBA spectrometer will be substantially immune to most systematic effects and that transport calculations using adiabatic invariants agree well with solution of the full equations of motion
The Enemy Within: A Commentary on The Exploding Problem Of Employee Theft
Few companies recognize the big bite that thefts, both large and small, take out of their profit margin. It is estimated that theft in some form absorbs 5 percent of all business revenues, which translates into about $652 billion in losses per year. Small businesses take a disproportionate share of the hit. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the rapidly expanding scope of the employee theft problem and to suggest common sense Risk Management techniques that companies can use to prevent losses and to reduce the damages from those that occur. In many cases, the loss control measures are inexpensive and easy to implement
Nano Catalysts for Diesel Engine Emission Remediation
The objective of this project was to develop durable zeolite nanocatalysts with broader operating temperature windows to treat diesel engine emissions to enable diesel engine based equipment and vehicles to meet future regulatory requirements. A second objective was to improve hydrothermal durability of zeolite catalysts to at least 675 C. The results presented in this report show that we have successfully achieved both objectives. Since it is accepted that the first step in NO{sub x} conversion under SCR (selective catalytic reduction) conditions involves NO oxidation to NO{sub 2}, we reasoned that catalyst modification that can enhance NO oxidation at low-temperatures should facilitate NO{sub x} reduction at low temperatures. Considering that Cu-ZSM-5 is a more efficient catalyst than Fe-ZSM-5 at low-temperature, we chose to modify Cu-ZSM-5. It is important to point out that the poor low-temperature efficiency of Fe-ZSM-5 has been shown to be due to selective absorption of NH{sub 3} at low-temperatures rather than poor NO oxidation activity. In view of this, we also reasoned that an increased electron density on copper in Cu-ZSM-5 would inhibit any bonding with NH{sub 3} at low-temperatures. In addition to modified Cu-ZSM-5, we synthesized a series of new heterobimetallic zeolites, by incorporating a secondary metal cation M (Sc{sup 3+}, Fe{sup 3+}, In{sup 3+}, and La{sup 3+}) in Cu exchanged ZSM-5, zeolite-beta, and SSZ-13 zeolites under carefully controlled experimental conditions. Characterization by diffuse-reflectance ultra-violet-visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), extended X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy (EXAFS) and electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy (EPR) does not permit conclusive structural determination but supports the proposal that M{sup 3+} has been incorporated in the vicinity of Cu(II). The protocols for degreening catalysts, testing under various operating conditions, and accelerated aging conditions were provided by our collaborators at John Deere Power Systems. Among various zeolites reported here, CuFe-SSZ-13 offers the best NO{sub x} conversion activity in 150-650 C range and is hydrothermally stable when tested under accelerated aging conditions. It is important to note that Cu-SSZ-13 is now a commercial catalyst for NO{sub x} treatment on diesel passenger vehicles. Thus, our catalyst performs better than the commercial catalyst under fast SCR conditions. We initially focused on fast SCR tests to enable us to screen catalysts rapidly. Only the catalysts that exhibit high NO{sub x} conversion at low temperatures are selected for screening under varying NO{sub 2}:NO{sub x} ratio. The detailed tests of CuFe-SSZ-13 show that CuFe-SSZ-13 is more effective than commercial Cu-SSZ-13 even at NO{sub 2}:NO{sub x} ratio of 0.1. The mechanistic studies, employing stop-flow diffuse reflectance FTIR spectroscopy (DRIFTS), suggest that high concentration of NO{sup +}, generated by heterobimetallic zeolites, is probably responsible for their superior low temperature NO{sub x} activity. The results described in this report clearly show that we have successfully completed the first step in a new emission treatment catalyst which is synthesis and laboratory testing employing simulated exhaust. The next step in the catalyst development is engine testing. Efforts are in progress to obtain follow-on funding to carry out scale-up and engine testing to facilitate commercialization of this technology
New measurement of the scattering cross section of slow neutrons on liquid parahydrogen from neutron transmission
Liquid hydrogen is a dense Bose fluid whose equilibrium properties are both
calculable from first principles using various theoretical approaches and of
interest for the understanding of a wide range of questions in many body
physics. Unfortunately, the pair correlation function inferred from
neutron scattering measurements of the differential cross section from different measurements reported in the literature are
inconsistent. We have measured the energy dependence of the total cross section
and the scattering cross section for slow neutrons with energies between
0.43~meV and 16.1~meV on liquid hydrogen at 15.6~K (which is dominated by the
parahydrogen component) using neutron transmission measurements on the hydrogen
target of the NPDGamma collaboration at the Spallation Neutron Source at Oak
Ridge National Laboratory. The relationship between the neutron transmission
measurement we perform and the total cross section is unambiguous, and the
energy range accesses length scales where the pair correlation function is
rapidly varying. At 1~meV our measurement is a factor of 3 below the data from
previous work. We present evidence that these previous measurements of the
hydrogen cross section, which assumed that the equilibrium value for the ratio
of orthohydrogen and parahydrogen has been reached in the target liquid, were
in fact contaminated with an extra non-equilibrium component of orthohydrogen.
Liquid parahydrogen is also a widely-used neutron moderator medium, and an
accurate knowledge of its slow neutron cross section is essential for the
design and optimization of intense slow neutron sources. We describe our
measurements and compare them with previous work.Comment: Edited for submission to Physical Review
Recommended from our members
Nano Catalysts for Diesel Engine Emission Remediation
The objective of this project was to develop durable zeolite nanocatalysts with broader operating temperature windows to treat diesel engine emissions to enable diesel engine based equipment and vehicles to meet future regulatory requirements. A second objective was to improve hydrothermal durability of zeolite catalysts to at least 675 C. The results presented in this report show that we have successfully achieved both objectives. Since it is accepted that the first step in NO{sub x} conversion under SCR (selective catalytic reduction) conditions involves NO oxidation to NO{sub 2}, we reasoned that catalyst modification that can enhance NO oxidation at low-temperatures should facilitate NO{sub x} reduction at low temperatures. Considering that Cu-ZSM-5 is a more efficient catalyst than Fe-ZSM-5 at low-temperature, we chose to modify Cu-ZSM-5. It is important to point out that the poor low-temperature efficiency of Fe-ZSM-5 has been shown to be due to selective absorption of NH{sub 3} at low-temperatures rather than poor NO oxidation activity. In view of this, we also reasoned that an increased electron density on copper in Cu-ZSM-5 would inhibit any bonding with NH{sub 3} at low-temperatures. In addition to modified Cu-ZSM-5, we synthesized a series of new heterobimetallic zeolites, by incorporating a secondary metal cation M (Sc{sup 3+}, Fe{sup 3+}, In{sup 3+}, and La{sup 3+}) in Cu exchanged ZSM-5, zeolite-beta, and SSZ-13 zeolites under carefully controlled experimental conditions. Characterization by diffuse-reflectance ultra-violet-visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), extended X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy (EXAFS) and electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy (EPR) does not permit conclusive structural determination but supports the proposal that M{sup 3+} has been incorporated in the vicinity of Cu(II). The protocols for degreening catalysts, testing under various operating conditions, and accelerated aging conditions were provided by our collaborators at John Deere Power Systems. Among various zeolites reported here, CuFe-SSZ-13 offers the best NO{sub x} conversion activity in 150-650 C range and is hydrothermally stable when tested under accelerated aging conditions. It is important to note that Cu-SSZ-13 is now a commercial catalyst for NO{sub x} treatment on diesel passenger vehicles. Thus, our catalyst performs better than the commercial catalyst under fast SCR conditions. We initially focused on fast SCR tests to enable us to screen catalysts rapidly. Only the catalysts that exhibit high NO{sub x} conversion at low temperatures are selected for screening under varying NO{sub 2}:NO{sub x} ratio. The detailed tests of CuFe-SSZ-13 show that CuFe-SSZ-13 is more effective than commercial Cu-SSZ-13 even at NO{sub 2}:NO{sub x} ratio of 0.1. The mechanistic studies, employing stop-flow diffuse reflectance FTIR spectroscopy (DRIFTS), suggest that high concentration of NO{sup +}, generated by heterobimetallic zeolites, is probably responsible for their superior low temperature NO{sub x} activity. The results described in this report clearly show that we have successfully completed the first step in a new emission treatment catalyst which is synthesis and laboratory testing employing simulated exhaust. The next step in the catalyst development is engine testing. Efforts are in progress to obtain follow-on funding to carry out scale-up and engine testing to facilitate commercialization of this technology
Precision Measurement of PArity Violation in Polarized Cold Neutron Capture on the Proton: the NPDGamma Experiment
The NPDGamma experiment at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE) is
dedicated to measure with high precision the parity violating asymmetry in the
emission after capture of spin polarized cold neutrons in
para-hydrogen. The measurement will determine unambiguously the weak
pion-nucleon-nucleon () coupling constant {\it f}Comment: Proceedings of the PANIC'05 Conference, Santa Fe, NM, USA, October
24-28, 2005, 3 pages, 2 figure
First Observation of -odd Asymmetry in Polarized Neutron Capture on Hydrogen
We report the first observation of the parity-violating 2.2 MeV gamma-ray
asymmetry in neutron-proton capture using polarized cold
neutrons incident on a liquid parahydrogen target at the Spallation Neutron
Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. isolates the , \mbox{} component of the weak
nucleon-nucleon interaction, which is dominated by pion exchange and can be
directly related to a single coupling constant in either the DDH meson exchange
model or pionless EFT. We measured , which implies a DDH weak coupling of
and a pionless
EFT constant of MeV. We describe the experiment, data
analysis, systematic uncertainties, and the implications of the result.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure
High-Efficiency Resonant RF Spin Rotator with Broad Phase Space Acceptance for Pulsed Polarized Cold Neutron Beams
We have developed a radio-frequency resonant spin rotator to reverse the
neutron polarization in a 9.5 cm x 9.5 cm pulsed cold neutron beam with high
efficiency over a broad cold neutron energy range. The effect of the spin
reversal by the rotator on the neutron beam phase space is compared
qualitatively to RF neutron spin flippers based on adiabatic fast passage. The
spin rotator does not change the kinetic energy of the neutrons and leaves the
neutron beam phase space unchanged to high precision. We discuss the design of
the spin rotator and describe two types of transmission-based neutron spin-flip
efficiency measurements where the neutron beam was both polarized and analyzed
by optically-polarized 3He neutron spin filters. The efficiency of the spin
rotator was measured to be 98.0+/-0.8% on resonance for neutron energies from
3.3 to 18.4 meV over the full phase space of the beam. As an example of the
application of this device to an experiment we describe the integration of the
RF spin rotator into an apparatus to search for the small parity-violating
asymmetry A_gamma in polarized cold neutron capture on para-hydrogen by the
NPDGamma collaboration at LANSCE
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