Directional mass transport in an atmospheric pressure surface barrier discharge

In an atmospheric pressure surface barrier discharge the inherent physical separation between the plasma generation region and downstream point of application reduces the flux of reactive chemical species reaching the sample, potentially limiting application efficacy. This contribution explores the impact of manipulating the phase angle of the applied voltage to exert a level of control over the electrohydrodynamic forces generated by the plasma. As these forces produce a convective flow which is the primary mechanism of species transport, the technique facilitates the targeted delivery of reactive species to a downstream point without compromising the underpinning species generation mechanisms. Particle Imaging Velocimetry measurements are used to demonstrate that a phase shift between sinusoidal voltages applied to adjacent electrodes in a surface barrier discharge results in a significant deviation in the direction of the plasma induced gas flow. Using a two-dimensional numerical air plasma model, it is shown that the phase shift impacts the spatial distribution of the deposited charge on the dielectric surface between the adjacent electrodes. The modified surface charge distribution reduces the propagation length of the discharge ignited on the lagging electrode, causing an imbalance in the generated forces and consequently a variation in the direction of the resulting gas flow

Fission of actinides through quasimolecular shapes

International audienceThe potential energy of heavy nuclei has been calculated in the quasimolecular shape path from a generalized liquid drop model including the proximity energy, the charge and mass asymmetries and the microscopic corrections. The potential barriers are multiple-humped. The second maximum is the saddle-point. It corresponds to the transition from compact one-body shapes with a deep neck to two touching ellipsoids. The scission point lies at the end of an energy plateau well below the saddle-point and where the effects of the nuclear attractive forces between two separated fragments vanish. The energy on this plateau is the sum of the kinetic and excitation energies of the fragments. The shell and pairing corrections play an essential role to select the most probable fission path. The potential barrier heights agree with the experimental data and the theoretical half-lives follow the trend of the experimental values. A third peak and a shallow third minimum appear in asymmetric decay paths when one fragment is close to a double magic quasi-spherical nucleus, while the smaller one changes from oblate to prolate shapes

Constraints on the χ_(c1) versus χ_(c2) polarizations in proton-proton collisions at √s = 8 TeV

The polarizations of promptly produced χ_(c1) and χ_(c2) mesons are studied using data collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC, in proton-proton collisions at √s=8  TeV. The χ_c states are reconstructed via their radiative decays χ_c → J/ψγ, with the photons being measured through conversions to e⁺e⁻, which allows the two states to be well resolved. The polarizations are measured in the helicity frame, through the analysis of the χ_(c2) to χ_(c1) yield ratio as a function of the polar or azimuthal angle of the positive muon emitted in the J/ψ → μ⁺μ⁻ decay, in three bins of J/ψ transverse momentum. While no differences are seen between the two states in terms of azimuthal decay angle distributions, they are observed to have significantly different polar anisotropies. The measurement favors a scenario where at least one of the two states is strongly polarized along the helicity quantization axis, in agreement with nonrelativistic quantum chromodynamics predictions. This is the first measurement of significantly polarized quarkonia produced at high transverse momentum