429 research outputs found
Frequency shifts in noble-gas magnetometers
Polarized nuclei are a powerful tool in nuclear spin studies and in searches
for beyond-the-standard model physics. Noble-gas comagnetometer systems, which
compare two nuclear species, have thus far been limited by anomalous frequency
variations of unknown origin. We studied the self-interactions in a
He-Xe system by independently addressing, controlling and measuring
the influence of each component of the nuclear spin polarization. Our results
directly rule out prior explanations of the shifts, and demonstrate
experimentally that they can be explained by species dependent
self-interactions. We also report the first gas phase frequency shift induced
by Xe on He.Comment: v.
Neutral pion production in solar flares
The Gamma-Ray Spectrometer (GRS) on SMM has detected more than 130 flares with emission approx 300 keV. More than 10 of these flares were detected at photon energies 10 MeV. Although the majority of the emission at 10 MeV must be from electron bremsstrahlung, at least two of the flares have spectral properties 40 MeV that require gamma rays from the decay of neutral pions. It is found that pion production can occur early in the impulsive phase as defined by hard X-rays near 100 keV. It is also found in one of these flares that a significant portion of this high-energy emission is produced well after the impulsive phase. This extended production phase, most clearly observed at high energies, may be a signature of the acceleration process which produces solar energetic particles (SEP's) in space
Particle acceleration
Data is compiled from Solar Maximum Mission and Hinothori satellites, particle detectors in several satellites, ground based instruments, and balloon flights in order to answer fundamental questions relating to: (1) the requirements for the coronal magnetic field structure in the vicinity of the energization source; (2) the height (above the photosphere) of the energization source; (3) the time of energization; (4) transistion between coronal heating and flares; (5) evidence for purely thermal, purely nonthermal and hybrid type flares; (6) the time characteristics of the energization source; (7) whether every flare accelerates protons; (8) the location of the interaction site of the ions and relativistic electrons; (9) the energy spectra for ions and relativistic electrons; (10) the relationship between particles at the Sun and interplanetary space; (11) evidence for more than one acceleration mechanism; (12) whether there is single mechanism that will accelerate particles to all energies and also heat the plasma; and (13) how fast the existing mechanisms accelerate electrons up to several MeV and ions to 1 GeV
Time extended production of neutrons during a solar flare
The most energetic neutral emissions expected from solar flares are gamma rays (10 MeV) from relativistic primary and secondary electron bremsstrahlung,from approx 0 meson decay, and from neutrons ( 50 MeV). Bremsstrahlung photon energies extend to that of the highest energy electron present, but the shape of the pi sup 0 gamma ray spectrum, peaking at 69 MeV, does not depend strongly on the proton spectrum above threshold, which is approx. 292 MeV for meson production on protons. The highest energy neutrons observed indicate directly the highest energy ions which interact at the Sun, and the presence or absence of anergy cutoff in the acceleration process. The high-energy proton spectrum shape can be determined from the neutron spectrum
Neutron Beam Effects on Spin Exchange Polarized He-3
We have observed depolarization effects when high intensity cold neutron
beams are incident on alkali-metal-spin-exchange polarized He-3 cells used as
neutron spin filters. This was first observed as a reduction of the maximum
attainable He-3 polarization and was attributed to a decrease of alkali-metal
polarization, which led us to directly measure alkali-metal polarization and
spin relaxation over a range of neutron fluxes at LANSCE and ILL. The data
reveal a new alkali-metal spin-relaxation mechanism that approximately scales
as the square root of the neutron capture-flux density incident on the cell.
This is consistent with an effect proportional to the recombination-limited ion
concentration, but is much larger than expected from earlier work.Comment: submitted to Physical Review Letter
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