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At least 415 records · Page 23
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2022

Neutron elastic and inelastic cross section measurements on silicon from 0.8--8 MeV

Neutron elastic and inelastic scattering differential cross sections were measured at angles between 30° and 155° with incident neutron energies between 0.8 and 8 MeV. The measured differential scattering cross sections are compared to existing measurements and the ENDF/B-VIII.0, the JEFF-3.3, and the JENDL-4.0 data evaluations, as well as theoretical calculations from the TALYS-1.95 nuclear reaction code. Our results are reasonably well described by values from the ENDF/B-VIII.0 and JEFF-3.3 compilations. However, below 4 MeV, our backward-angle elastic scattering results tend to be lower than database/calculated values, suggesting that less recoil damage would occur than expected. Above 6 MeV, larger backward-angle cross sections are observed suggesting the opposite. Deexcitation γ rays produced in the inelastic scattering process were also studied for neutron energies between 1.9 and 4.5 MeV. Inelastic neutron scattering cross sections deduced from 28 Si(n,n1γ) γ-ray projection cross sections confirm our 28 Si(n,n1) results. To the extent that data from GELINA and our experimental results can be compared, we have excellent agreement between the inelastic neutron scattering cross sections.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2026

59 Co(p,X) spallation reaction cross sections for 250 MeV to 2 GeV protons

Cobalt is an advantageous target for probing the physics of nuclear spallation, because it is a naturally mono-isotopic element ( 59 Co), and its per-nucleon binding energy (BE/A = 8.768 MeV) is near the maximum value for all nuclei. We measured nuclear spallation cross sections for the 59 Co(p,X) reaction at five kinetic energies ranging from 250 MeV to 2 GeV. Cross sections for the production of 58 Co, 57 Co, 57 Mn, 56 Co, 56 Mn, 56 Cr, 55 Fe, 53 Fe, 54 Mn, 52 Mn, 51 Cr, 49 Cr, 48 V, 47 Sc, 46 Sc, 44 Sc, and 44 Scm are reported. Where comparable data exist in the EXFOR reaction database, we find that our measured cross sections generally agree. In many cases, we provide data for reactions or energies not currently reported in EXFOR. Our cross sections also provide evidence for the presence of α-clusters within the 59 Co nucleus, a surprising result given the asymmetry in Z (27) and N (32) for this nucleus. Finally, we use our measurements to evaluate the accuracy of spallation cross section simulations from GEANT4-based radiation transport toolkit, performed with the INCLXX-, Bertini-, and Binary-ion-cascade (BIC) based physics lists. This benchmarking activity revealed that the simulations overestimated the cross sections by a factor of ∼2–4 on average, and that the INCL-XX physics list provides the most reliable results. This evaluation informs the selection of the GEANT4 physics lists used for the analysis of data from NASA’s Psyche mission, which will measure γ rays and neutrons resulting from spallation reactions occurring on the surface of an asteroid whose surface is thought to be rich in iron-nickel metal.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2012

Cross sections of charge exchange and ionization in O{sup 8+}+H collision in Debye plasmas

Charge exchange and ionization processes in O{sup 8+}+H collision system in a Debye plasma are studied using the classical trajectory Monte Carlo (CTMC) method in the collision energy ranging from 1 keV/amu to 500 keV/amu. Total charge exchange and ionization cross sections have been determined in both screening and unscreening environments. In the unscreened case, partial cross sections for transfer into individual n shells of the projectile have also been determined. An interesting and remarkable feature of sudden increase in the ionization cross sections at lower velocities is discussed in terms of the CTMC framework. Results are analyzed in light of available theoretical and experimental results. The cross sections dependencies on Debye screening lengths have been investigated, and plasma screening effect on charge exchange and ionization cross sections has been found throughout the collision energies range, but is particularly pronounced at low projectile collision energies. The sudden rise in the ionization cross sections towards lower energies is explained qualitatively in terms of the multiple encounter model.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2013

Krypton charge exchange cross sections for Hall effect thruster models

Following discharge from a Hall effect thruster, charge exchange occurs between ions and un-ionized propellant atoms. The low-energy cations produced can disturb operation of onboard instrumentation or the thruster itself. Charge-exchange cross sections for both singly and doubly charged propellant atoms are required to model these interactions. While xenon is the most common propellant currently used in Hall effect thrusters, other propellants are being considered, in particular, krypton. We present here guided-ion beam measurements and comparisons to semiclassical calculations for Kr{sup +} + Kr and Kr{sup 2+} + Kr cross sections. The measurements of symmetric Kr{sup +} + Kr charge exchange are in good agreement with both the calculations including spin-orbit effects and previous measurements. For the symmetric Kr{sup 2+} + Kr reaction, we present cross section measurements for center-of-mass energies between 1 eV and 300 eV, which spans energies not previously examined experimentally. These cross section measurements compare well with a simple one-electron transfer model. Finally, cross sections for the asymmetric Kr{sup 2+} + Kr {yields} Kr{sup +} + Kr{sup +} reaction show an onset near 12 eV, reaching cross sections near constant value of 1.6 A{sup 2} with an exception near 70-80 eV.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2015

Influence of electron-neutral collisions on the Compton scattering cross section and the Salpeter structure factor in warm collisional plasmas

The electron-neutral collision effects on the Compton scattering process are investigated in warm collisional plasmas. The Compton scattering cross section in warm collisional plasmas is obtained by the Salpeter structure factor with the fluctuation-dissipation theorem and the plasma dielectric function as a function of the electron-neutral collision frequency, Debye length, and wave number. It is shown that the influence of electron-neutral collision strongly suppresses the Compton scattering cross section in warm collisional plasmas. It is also found that the electron-neutral collision effect on the differential Compton scattering cross section is more significant in forward scattering directions. We show that the differential Compton scattering cross section has a maximum at the scattering angle φ=π/2. In addition, we find that the electron-neutral collision effect on the total Compton scattering cross section increases with increasing Debye length and wave number. The variation of the Compton scattering cross section due to the change of collision frequency and plasma parameters is also discussed.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Elastic and total cross sections for simple biomolecules in the intermediate energy range

The elastic and total cross sections for formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, acetone, 2-butanone and formamide are calculated using the spherical complex optical potential formalism in the intermediate energy range from 50 eV to 10 keV. These cross sections find application to various fields like radiation damage and biological sciences. The present results are compared with the available experimental and theoretical data and are found to give excellent agreement. The elastic cross sections reported for most of the targets in the present energy range are done for the first time. The energy dependence of the contribution of ionization and elastic cross section with respect to the total cross section and the correlation of total cross section with polarizability of the molecules are also studied.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2016

Absolute cross sections for electronic excitation of pyrimidine by electron impact

We measured differential cross sections for electron-impact electronic excitation of pyrimidine, both as a function of electron energy up to 18 eV, and of scattering angle up to 180°. The emphasis of the present work is on recording detailed excitation functions revealing resonances in the excitation process. The differential cross sections were summed to obtain integral cross sections. These are compared to results of R-matrix calculations, which successfully reproduce both the magnitude of the cross section and the major resonant features. Comparison of the experiment to the calculated contributions of different symmetries to the integral cross section permitted assignment of several features to specific core-excited resonances. Comparison of the resonant structure of pyrimidine with that of benzene revealed pronounced similarities and thus a dominant role of π–π{sup ∗} excited states and resonances. Electron energy loss spectra were measured as a preparation for the cross section measurements and vibrational structure was observed for some of the triplet states. A detailed analysis of the electronic excited states of pyrimidine is also presented.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2016

Effects of cross-section on mechanical properties of Au nanowire

The aim of this paper is study of the effects of multiple cross-section of Au nanowire on mechanical properties. Different cross-section models of Au nanowires including circular, hexagonal, pentagonal and rectangular were simulated by finite element modeling using ABAQUS. In this study, the bending technique was applied so that both ends of the model were clamped with mid-span under loading condition. The cross-sections had the length of 400 nm and the diameter of 40 nm, except the circular cross-section while the rest of the cross-sections had an equivalent diameter. Von Misses stresses distribution were used to define the stress distribution in the cross-section under loading condition, and elastic deformation was analyzed by the beam theory. The results disclosed that the circular and the rectangular models had highest and lowest strengths against plastic deformation, respectively.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2016

Calculation of total and ionization cross sections for electron scattering by primary benzene compounds

The total and ionization cross sections for electron scattering by benzene, halobenzenes, toluene, aniline, and phenol are reported over a wide energy domain. The multi-scattering centre spherical complex optical potential method has been employed to find the total elastic and inelastic cross sections. The total ionization cross section is estimated from total inelastic cross section using the complex scattering potential-ionization contribution method. In the present article, the first theoretical calculations for electron impact total and ionization cross section have been performed for most of the targets having numerous practical applications. A reasonable agreement is obtained compared to existing experimental observations for all the targets reported here, especially for the total cross section.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2024

New constraint on the Np 237 ( n , γ ) Np 238 integral cross section using the Godiva-IV critical assembly

Accurate knowledge of the 237 Np(n, γ) 238 Np cross section at fast neutron energies is important for applied nuclear science. The presently available experimental data has large disagreements in the fast neutron region. Perform a model-independent measurement of the 237 Np(n, γ) 238 Np integral cross section using a well characterized fast neutron source and compare the result with previous measurements and current nuclear data evaluations. Provide an integral measurement that can be used as a benchmark for current evaluations. Multiple samples of 237 Np were irradiated in the Godiva-IV critical assembly. Following the irradiation, the samples placed in a γ-ray counting setup and the γ-rays emitted from the decay of 238 Np were measured over a time period of approximately 7 days. Multiple γ-ray decay branches of 238 Np were observed. The observed activity of 238 Np was used to calculate the amount of 238 Np produced during the irradiation via the 237 Np(n, γ) 238 Np reaction and an integral cross section of 342(11) mb was measured for the Godiva-IV neutron spectrum. Further, the 238 Np half-life has been measured with a result of 50.31(5) hours. The 237 Np(n, γ) 238 Np integral cross section measured in this work is in agreement with overlapping 1σ error bands to ENDF/B-VIII.0. However, the measured value is 3σ away from the calculated integral cross section using JENDL-5. This measurement offers a reliable benchmark for future 237 Np(n, γ) 238 Np cross section evaluations.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Electron collisional excitation cross-section measurements and modeling for select Ni-like to Ge-like gold transitions

We have experimentally determined the electron collisional excitation cross-sections for several 3d→4f and 3d→5f excitations in Ni- to Ge-like Au at energies of ~ 0.4, 1, 2, and 3 keV above threshold energy, E T , for the 3d→4f excitations ( E T ~ 2.5 keV) and ~ 0.2, 1, and 2 keV above threshold energy for the 3d→5f excitations ( E T ~ 3.3 keV). The cross-section measurements are possible by using the GSFC micro-calorimeter to record emission spectra from beam plasmas created in the Livermore EBIT-I electron beam ion trap. The cross-sections are experimentally determined from the ratio of the measured intensities of the collisionally excited lines to the intensities of the radiative recombination lines in monoenergetic electron distribution EBIT-I plasmas. The effects of polarization and Auger processes in the beam plasmas are accounted for in the cross-section determination. Experimentally determined cross-sections are compared with those from HULLAC, DWS, and FAC calculations. Finally, the measurements exhibit significant differences with the calculations of these excitation cross-sections.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Initial study on cross section generation requirements for a PBR equilibrium core

A Serpent model of the HTR-PM equilibrium core was developed for use in cross section prepa-ration studies in order to guide methods development for the Griffin reactor multiphysics applica-tion. The model includes detailed isotopics for 10 distinct pebble burnup groups in 126 core zoneswith unique fuel and moderator temperatures obtained from a coupled neutronics-thermal-fluidsequilibrium core calculation using Griffin-Pronghorn. A sensitivity study of the fuel and mod-erator temperatures for various core regions was performed with the MOOSE stochastic tools.The results show that the uncertainties are, not unexpectedly, dominated by the value of the fluidtemperature and that the power level, heat transfer coefficient and effective conduction to neigh-boring pebbles and fluid constitute, at best, second order effects. The temperature uncertaintyrange varies from 28 K to 57 K at the core entry and exit planes, respectively, but these val-ues are probably higher. We still have to quantify the significance of these uncertainties in thepreparation of cross sections, which will be postponed for future work. In addition, we verifythat the single effective pebble approach works well for the preparation of region averaged crosssections in the infinite domain approximation. Nevertheless, there are significant discrepanciesin the cross sections when compared to the multi-pebble model. This could affect the predictionof peak values and in the depletion calculation. We conclude that is highly desirable for futurestudies with Griffin to be able to handle both the ?effective? pebble approximation and the multi-pebble approach for the various pebble burnup groups. This enables Griffin users the flexibilityto perform higher-fidelity studies. Finally, we initiate the preparation of cross sections for variouscore regions from the full core Serpent reference model. We quantify the differences in 26 groupcross sections from infinite domain models. These reference cross sections will serve to validatethe double heterogeneity, self-shielding, and spectrum-correction methods in Griffin.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2012

Mixed Legendre moments and discrete scattering cross sections for anisotropy representation

This paper deals with the resolution of the integro-differential form of the Boltzmann transport equation for neutron transport in nuclear reactors. In multigroup theory, deterministic codes use transfer cross sections which are expanded on Legendre polynomials. This modelling leads to negative values of the transfer cross section for certain scattering angles, and hence, the multigroup scattering source term is wrongly computed. The first part compares the convergence of 'Legendre-expanded' cross sections with respect to the order used with the method of characteristics (MOC) for Pressurised Water Reactor (PWR) type cells. Furthermore, the cross section is developed using piecewise-constant functions, which better models the multigroup transfer cross section and prevents the occurrence of any negative value for it. The second part focuses on the method of solving the transport equation with the above-mentioned piecewise-constant cross sections for lattice calculations for PWR cells. This expansion thereby constitutes a 'reference' method to compare the conventional Legendre expansion to, and to determine its pertinence when applied to reactor physics calculations. (authors)

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2013

Optimization of multi-group cross sections for fast reactor analysis

The selection of the number of broad energy groups, collapsed broad energy group boundaries, and their associated evaluation into collapsed macroscopic cross sections from a general 238-group ENDF/B-VII library dramatically impacted the k eigenvalue for fast reactor analysis. An analysis was undertaken to assess the minimum number of energy groups that would preserve problem physics; this involved studies using the 3D deterministic transport parallel code PENTRAN, the 2D deterministic transport code SCALE6.1, the Monte Carlo based MCNP5 code, and the YGROUP cross section collapsing tool on a spatially discretized MOX fuel pin comprised of 21% PUO{sub 2}-UO{sub 2} with sodium coolant. The various cases resulted in a few hundred pcm difference between cross section libraries that included the 238 multi-group reference, and cross sections rendered using various reaction and adjoint weighted cross sections rendered by the YGROUP tool, and a reference continuous energy MCNP case. Particular emphasis was placed on the higher energies characteristic of fission neutrons in a fast spectrum; adjoint computations were performed to determine the average per-group adjoint fission importance for the MOX fuel pin. This study concluded that at least 10 energy groups for neutron transport calculations are required to accurately predict the eigenvalue for a fast reactor system to within 250 pcm of the 238 group case. In addition, the cross section collapsing/weighting schemes within YGROUP that provided a collapsed library rendering eigenvalues closest to the reference were the contribution collapsed, reaction rate weighted scheme. A brief analysis on homogenization of the MOX fuel pin is also provided, although more work is in progress in this area. (authors)

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2016

On-the-Fly Treatment of Temperature Dependent Cross Sections in the Unresolved Resonance Regions in RMC Code

Monte Carlo method can provide high fidelity neutronics analysis of different nuclear reactors, owing to its advantages of the flexible geometry modeling and the use of continuous-energy nuclear cross sections. It can also be coupled with thermal-hydraulics codes to consider the feedback. For thermal reactors such as PWR and HTGR, two main temperature effects should be considered. The first is the effect of thermal motion of target nuclei in resolved resonance energy regions, which is known as Doppler effect. The second is the thermal scattering and bound effect in thermal energy regions. The traditional approach of pre-generated cross sections has difficulty in memory footprint for detailed temperature modelling in multi-physics calculations. Recently, on-the-fly (OTF) technique has been proposed in order to reduce the memory consumption for both resolved resonance energy and thermal energy. For fast reactors calculations, the temperature dependence of cross sections in the unresolved resonance energy regions is also important. However, less attention was paid to the unresolved resonance regions compared with resolved resonance energy and thermal energy. In this paper, the on-the-fly temperature treatment of cross sections in unresolved resonance regions was proposed and developed in RMC codes. The results show that the on-the-fly treatment has high efficiency and satisfactory fidelity. The on-the-fly treatment of unresolved resonance region was also combined with the target motion sampling (TMS) method for resolved resonance energy. The formats of libraries were changed, in which the probability tables were separated from the cross sections. Then the interpolation of probability table was performed on-the-fly during the transport routine. The results show that the on-the-fly treatment has high efficiency and satisfactory fidelity. The on-the-fly treatment of unresolved resonance region was also combined with the target motion sampling (TMS) method for resolved resonance energy, showing that TMS method is effective and accurate for cross sections treatment in resolved resonance energy regions. The memory saving of the on-the-fly treatment is also considerable. For the high-fidelity 'transport-burnup-thermal-hydraulics' coupling calculation, the memory requirement is 60 Mb. (authors)

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Improved Few-group Homogenized Cross-section Sensitivity Analysis for Lattice Physics Calculation

In the conventional reactor physics 'two-step' calculation scheme, lattice-physics calculation is followed by core calculation using neutron diffusion theory. The few-group spatially homogenized cross-sections are the outputs of the lattice-physics calculation as well as the inputs of the core calculation. The uncertainties of fundamental nuclear data will be propagated to the core calculation results through few-group spatially homogenized cross-sections. Consequently, assessing the sensitivity and uncertainty of few-group homogenized cross-sections is necessary for the core-calculation sensitivity and uncertainty analysis. Conventional method for sensitivity analysis is usually performed with respect to effective self-shielding cross sections but not continuous-energy cross sections by neglecting resonance self-shielding effects. The purpose of this work is to improve the sensitivity analysis of few-group cross sections and assess the effects introduced by resonance calculation with the subgroup method being used for resonance calculation. This paper is organized as follows: Firstly, theoretical models of this work are described. Secondly, validation and analysis are performed based on a boiling-water reactor (BWR) fuel-pin cell under hot zero power (HZP) condition. Finally, summaries and conclusions are given. (authors)

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Measurement of the production cross-section of a single top quark in association with a W boson at 8 TeV with the ATLAS experiment

The cross-section for the production of a single top quark in association with a W boson in proton-proton collisions at √s = 8 is measured. The dataset corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb -1 , collected by the ATLAS detector in 2012 at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. Events containing two leptons and one central b-jet are selected. The Wt signal is separated from the backgrounds using boosted decision trees, each of which combines a number of discriminating variables into one classifier. Production of Wt events is observed with a significance of 7.7σ. The cross-section is extracted in a profile likelihood fit to the classifier output distributions. The Wt cross-section, inclusive of decay modes, is measured to be 23.0±1.3(stat.) -3.5 +3.2 (syst.)±1.1(lumi.) pb. The measured cross-section is used to extract a value for the CKM matrix element |V tb | of 1.01 ± 0.10 and a lower limit of 0.80 at the 95% confidence level. Furthermore, the cross-section for the production of a top quark and a W boson is also measured in a fiducial acceptance requiring two leptons with p T > 25 GeV and |η| < 2.5, one jet with p T > 20 GeV and |η| < 2.5, and E T miss >20 GeV, including both Wt and top-quark pair events as signal. The measured value of the fiducial cross-section is 0.85 ± 0.01(stat.) -0.07 +0.06 (syst.)±0.03(lumi.) pb.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Measurements of the inclusive W and Z boson production cross sections and their ratios in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13.6$ TeV

Measurements are presented of the W and Z boson production cross sections in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13.6 TeV. Data collected in 2022 and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5.01 fb −1 with one or two identified muons in the final state are analyzed. The results for the products of total inclusive cross sections and branching fractions for muonic decays of W and Z bosons are 11.93 ± 0.08 (syst) ± 0.17 (lumi) $^{+0.07}_{−0.07}$ (acceptance) nb for W + boson production, 8.86 ± 0.06 (syst) ± 0.12 (lumi) $^{+0.05}_{−0.06}$ (acceptance) nb for W − boson production, and 2.021 ± 0.009 (syst) ± 0.028 (lumi) $^{+0.011}_{−0.013}$ (acceptance) nb for the Z boson production in the dimuon mass range of 60–120 GeV, all with negligible statistical uncertainties. Furthermore, the corresponding fiducial cross sections, as well as cross section ratios for both fiducial and total phase space, are provided. The ratios include charge-separated results for W boson production (W + and W − ) and the sum of the two contributions (W ± ), each relative to the measured Z boson production cross section. Additionally, the ratio of the measured cross sections for W + and W − boson production is reported. All measurements are in agreement with theoretical predictions, calculated at next-to-next-to-leading order accuracy in quantum chromodynamics.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗