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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 127 records · Page 7
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1991

Positron annihilation in the interstellar medium

Positronium formation and annihilation are studied in a model for the interstellar medium consisting of cold cloud cores, warm partially ionized cloud envelopes, and hot intercloud gas. The gamma-ray spectra resulting from positron annihilation in these components of the interstellar medium are calculated. The spectra from the individual components are then combined, using two limiting assumptions for the propagation of the positrons, namely, that the positrons propagate freely throughout the interstellar medium, and that the positrons are excluded from the cold cloud cores. In the first case, the bulk of the positrons annihilate in the cloud cores and the annihilation line exhibits broad wings resulting from the annihilation of positronium formed by charge exchange in flight. In the second case, the positrons annihilate mainly in the warm envelopes, and the line wings are suppressed.

Guessoum, Nidhal↗
NASA NTRS1993

Positrons from supernovae

Positrons are produced in the ejecta of supernovae by the decay of nucleosynthetic Co-56, Ti-44, and Al-26. We calculate the probability that these positrons can survive without annihilating in the supernova ejecta, and we show that enough of these positrons should escape into the interstellar medium to account for the observed diffuse Galactic annihilation radiation. The surviving positrons are carried by the expanding ejecta into the interstellar medium where their annihilation lifetime of 10 exp 5 - 10 exp 6 yr is much longer than the average supernovae occurrence time of about 100 yr. Thus, annihilating positrons from thousands of supernovae throughout the Galaxy produce a steady diffuse flux of annihilation radiation. We further show that combining the calculated positron survival fractions and nucleosynthetic yields for current supernova models with the estimated supernova rates and the observed flux of diffuse Galactic annihilation radiation suggests that the present Galactic rate of Fe-56 nucleosynthesis is about 0.8 +/- 0.6 solar mass per 100 yr.

Chan, Kai-Wing↗
NASA NTRS1994

A constraint on the pair-density ratio (Z+) in an electron-positron pair wind

We derive a constraint on the pair density ratio, z(sub +) = n(sub +)/n(sub p), in an electron-positron pair wind flowing away from the central region of an accretion disk around a compact object under the assumption of a coupling between electrons, positrons, and protons. The minimum rate at which positrons are injected into the annihilation volume is given by the observed annihilation flux per unit volume. This rate is then used to determine a minimum mass loss rate per unit area, M(dot)(sub *) for a given pair density ratio at the base of the streamline. The requirement that M(dot)(sub *) less than M(dot)(sub *)(sub Edd) (the mean Eddington mass loss rate per unit area) then places a lower limit on the pair density ratio, z(sub +,)(sub min). A positron annihilation line was observed in Nova Muscae 1991 by GRANAT/SIGMA. The narrow width and redshift of the line suggest that the pair production and annihilation regions are physically distinct. We hypothesize that an electron-positron pair wind transports the pairs from the production to the annihilation region and calculate z(sub +),(sub min). We then determine constraints on the physical parameters on the pair production region by comparing z(sub +),(sub min) with previous studies of two-temperature and one-temperature accretion disks with electron-positron pairs.

Moscoso, M. D.↗
DOE OSTI2015

Positron annihilation study of vacancy-type defects in Al single crystal foils with the tweed structures across the surface

The vacancy-type defects in the aluminum single crystal foils after a series of the cyclic tensions were studied using positron annihilation. Two components were identified in the positron lifetime spectra associated with the annihilation of free positrons and positrons trapped by dislocations. With increasing number of cycles the dislocation density firstly increases and reaches a maximum value at N = 10 000 cycles but then it gradually decreases and at N = 70 000 cycles falls down to the level typical for the virgin samples. The direct evidence on the formation of a two-phase system “defective near-surface layer/base Al crystal” in aluminum foils at cyclic tension was obtained using a positron beam with the variable energy.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2019

Positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy using fast scintillators and digital electronics

Positron Annihilation Lifetime Spectroscopy (PALS) is a non-destructive radiological technique widely used in material science studies. PALS typically relies on an analog coincidence measurement setup and allows the estimate of the positron lifetime in a material sample under investigation. The positron trapping at vacancies in the material results in an increased positron lifetime. In this work, we have developed and optimized a PALS experimental setup using organic scintillators, fast digitizers, and advanced pulse processing algorithms. We tested three pairs of different organic scintillators: EJ-309 liquid, EJ-276 newly developed plastic, and BC- 418 plastic, and optimized the data processing parameters for each pair separately. Our high-throughput data analysis method is based on single-pulse interpolation and a constant fraction discrimination (CFD) algorithm. The setup based on the BC-418 detector achieved the best time resolution of 198.3 ± 0.8 ps. We used such optimized setup to analyze two single-crystal quartz samples and found lifetimes of 161 ± 4 ps, 343 ± 12 ps and 1.34 ± 0.05 ns, in good agreement with the characteristic time constants of this material. The proposed experimental set up achieves a time resolution comparable to the minimum positron lifetime in quartz, which makes it possible to accurately characterize material vacancies by discriminating between the lifetimes of either the spin singlet or triplet states of positronium. The optimized data processing algorithms are relevant to all the applications where fast timing is important, such as nuclear medicine and radiation imaging

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2012

Positron annihilation studies of the AlO{sub x}/SiO{sub 2}/Si interface in solar cell structures

Film and film/substrate interface characteristics of 30 and 60 nm-thick AlO{sub x} films grown on Si substrates by thermal atomic layer deposition (ALD), and 30 nm-thick AlO{sub x} films by sputtering, have been probed using variable-energy positron annihilation spectroscopy (VEPAS) and Doppler-broadened spectra ratio curves. All samples were found to have an interface which traps positrons, with annealing increasing this trapping response, regardless of growth method. Thermal ALD creates an AlO{sub x}/SiO{sub x}/Si interface with positron trapping and annihilation occurring in the Si side of the SiO{sub x}/Si boundary. An induced positive charge in the Si next to the interface reduces diffusion into the oxides and increases annihilation in the Si. In this region there is a divacancy-type response (20 {+-} 2%) before annealing which is increased to 47 {+-} 2% after annealing. Sputtering seems to not produce samples with this same electrostatic shielding; instead, positron trapping occurs directly in the SiO{sub x} interface in the as-deposited sample, and the positron response to it increases after annealing as an SiO{sub 2} layer is formed. Annealing the film has the effect of lowering the film oxygen response in all film types. Compared to other structural characterization techniques, VEPAS shows larger sensitivity to differences in film preparation method and between as-deposited and annealed samples.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2013

Point defects introduced by InN alloying into In{sub x}Ga{sub 1-x}N probed using a monoenergetic positron beam

Native defects in In{sub x}Ga{sub 1-x}N (x = 0.06-0.14) grown by metal organic chemical vapor deposition were studied using a monoenergetic positron beam. Measurements of Doppler broadening spectra of the annihilation radiation as a function of incident positron energy for In{sub x}Ga{sub 1-x}N showed that vacancy-type defects were introduced with increasing InN composition, and the major defect species was identified as complexes between a cation vacancy and a nitrogen vacancy. The concentration of the divacancy, however, was found to be suppressed by Mg doping. The momentum distribution of electrons at the In{sub x}Ga{sub 1-x}N/GaN interface was close to that in defect-free GaN or In{sub x}Ga{sub 1-x}N, which was attributed to localization of positrons at the interface due to the built-in electric field, and to suppression of positron trapping by vacancy-type defects. We have also shown that the diffusion property of positrons is sensitive to an electric field near the In{sub x}Ga{sub 1-x}N/GaN interface.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

Coupled ion acoustic and drift waves in magnetized superthermal electron-positron-ion plasmas

Linear and nonlinear coupled drift-ion acoustic waves are investigated in a nonuniform magnetoplasma having kappa distributed electrons and positrons. In the linear regime, the role of kappa distribution and positron content on the dispersion relation has been highlighted; it is found that strong superthermality (low value of κ) and addition of positrons lowers the phase velocity via decreasing the fundamental scalelengths of the plasmas. In the nonlinear regime, first, coherent nonlinear structure in the form of dipoles and monopoles are obtained and the boundary conditions (boundedness) in the context of superthermality and positron concentrations are discussed. Second, in case of scalar nonlinearity, a Korteweg–de Vries-type equation is obtained, which admit solitary wave solution. It is found that both compressive and rarefactive solitons are formed in the present model. The present work may be useful to understand the low frequency electrostatic modes in inhomogeneous electron positron ion plasmas, which exist in astrophysical plasma situations such as those found in the pulsar magnetosphere.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2012

EXTRACTING THE SIZE OF THE COSMIC ELECTRON-POSITRON ANOMALY

We isolated the anomalous part of the cosmic electron-positron flux within a Bayesian likelihood analysis. Using 219 recent cosmic-ray spectral data points, we inferred the values of selected cosmic-ray propagation parameters. In the context of the propagation model coded in GalProp, we found a significant tension between the electron-positron related and the rest of the fluxes. Interpreting this tension as the presence of an anomalous component in the electron-positron related data, we calculated background predictions for PAMELA and Fermi-LAT based on the non-electron-positron related fluxes. We found a deviation between the data and the predicted background even when uncertainties, including systematics, were taken into account. We identified this deviation with the anomalous electron-positron contribution. We briefly compared this model-independent signal to some theoretical results predicting such an anomaly.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2014

Ion acoustic solitons in dense magnetized plasmas with nonrelativistic and ultrarelativistic degenerate electrons and positrons

The propagation of electrostatic waves in a dense magnetized electron-positron-ion (EPI) plasma with nonrelativistic and ultrarelativistic degenerate electrons and positrons is investigated. The linear dispersion relation is obtained for slow and fast electrostatic waves in the EPI plasma. The limiting cases for ion acoustic wave (slow) and ion cyclotron wave (fast) are also discussed. Using the reductive perturbation method, two-dimensional propagation of ion acoustic solitons is found for both the nonrelativistic and ultrarelativistic degenerate electrons and positrons. The effects of positron concentration, magnetic field, and mass of ions on ion acoustic solitons are shown in numerical plots. The proper form of Fermi temperature for nonrelativistic and ultrarelativistic degenerate electrons and positrons is employed, which has not been used in earlier published work. The present investigation is useful for the understanding of linear and nonlinear electrostatic wave propagation in the dense magnetized EPI plasma of compact stars. For illustration purposes, we have applied our results to a pulsar magnetosphere.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2014

Interpretation of AMS-02 electrons and positrons data

We perform a combined analysis of the recent AMS-02 data on electrons, positrons, electrons plus positrons and positron fraction, in a self-consistent framework where we realize a theoretical modeling of all the astrophysical components that can contribute to the observed fluxes in the whole energy range. The primary electron contribution is modeled through the sum of an average flux from distant sources and the fluxes from the local supernova remnants in the Green catalog. The secondary electron and positron fluxes originate from interactions on the interstellar medium of primary cosmic rays, for which we derive a novel determination by using AMS-02 proton and helium data. Primary positrons and electrons from pulsar wind nebulae in the ATNF catalog are included and studied in terms of their most significant (while loosely known) properties and under different assumptions (average contribution from the whole catalog, single dominant pulsar, a few dominant pulsars). We obtain a remarkable agreement between our various modeling and the AMS-02 data for all types of analysis, demonstrating that the whole AMS-02 leptonic data admit a self-consistent interpretation in terms of astrophysical contributions.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Split Ga vacancies and the unusually strong anisotropy of positron annihilation spectra in β–Ga 2 O 3

We report a systematic first-principles study on positron annihilation parameters in the β–Ga 2 O 3 lattice and Ga monovacancy defects complemented with orientation-dependent experiments of the Doppler broadening of the positron-electron annihilation. We find that both the β–Ga 2 O 3 lattice and the considered defects exhibit unusually strong anisotropy in their Doppler broadening signals. This anisotropy is associated with low symmetry of the β–Ga 2 O 3 crystal structure that leads to unusual kind of one-dimensional confinement of positrons even in the delocalized state in the lattice. In particular, the split Ga vacancies recently observed by scanning transmission electron microscopy produce unusually anisotropic positron annihilation signals. Furthermore, we show that in experiments, the positron annihilation signals in β–Ga 2 O 3 samples seem to be often dominated by split Ga vacancies.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2018

Features of the Mechanism of Formation of the Radiation Belt of High-Energy Electrons and Positrons

New results of the PAMELA experiment revealed significant difference in the electron and positrons flux and fraction between trapped particles of the radiation belt and quasitrapped particles. A decrease in the ratio of the electron-to-positron fluxes both with increasing altitude and with decreasing energy was observed for the inner radiation belt, but this does not fit in currently used models. The residual atmosphere density in the trapping region for L ~ 1.15−1.2 is estimated on the basis of calculations of trapped-particle trajectories in the Earth’s magnetosphere. It is shown that processes leading to the energy loss for trapped electrons and positrons in the interactions with residual-atmosphere atoms play an important role in the formation of fluxes of these particles, but these processes cannot cause the reduction of the positron fraction in the total flux at energies below some 100 MeV. The role of the process of δ-electron production in the formation of the belt of trapped electrons and positrons is considered. Allowance for this process makes it possible to explain the above reduction at least partly.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Effects of nonextensivity on the electron-acoustic solitary structures in a magnetized electron−positron−ion plasma

Obliquely propagating electron-acoustic solitary waves (EASWs) in a magnetized electron−positron−ion plasma (containing nonextensive hot electrons and positrons, inertial cold electrons, and immobile positive ions) are precisely investigated by deriving the Zakharov–Kuznetsov equation. It is found that the basic features (viz. polarity, amplitude, width, phase speed, etc.) of the EASWs are significantly modified by the effects of the external magnetic field, obliqueness of the system, nonextensivity of hot positrons and electrons, ratio of the hot electron temperature to the hot positron temperature, and ratio of the cold electron number density to the hot positron number density. The findings of our results can be employed in understanding the localized electrostatic structures and the characteristics of EASWs in various astrophysical plasmas.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2013

Development of a Positron Source for JLab at the IAC

We report on the research performed towards the development of a positron sour for Jefferson Lab's (JLab) Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF) in Newport News, VA. The first year of work was used to benchmark the predictions of our current simulation with positron production efficiency measurements at the IAC. The second year used the benchmarked simulation to design a beam line configuration which optimized positron production efficiency while minimizing radioactive waste as well as design and construct a positron converter target. The final year quantified the performance of the positron source. This joint research and development project brought together the experiences of both electron accelerator facilities. Our intention is to use the project as a spring board towards developing a program of accelerator based research and education which will train students to meet the needs of both facilities as well as provide a pool of trained scientists.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2013

Comparison of direct and indirect positron-generation by an ultra-intense femtosecond laser

An extensive comparison of the properties of positron beams produced by an ultra-intense femtosecond laser in direct and indirect schemes has been performed with two-dimensional particle-in-cell and Monte Carlo simulations. It is shown that the positron beam generated in the indirect scheme has a higher yield (10{sup 10}), a higher temperature (28.8 MeV), a shorter pulse duration (5 ps), and a smaller divergence (8°) than in the direct case (10{sup 9} yield, 4.4 MeV temperature, 40 ps pulse duration, and 60° divergence). In addition, it was found that the positron/gamma ratio in the indirect scheme is one order of magnitude higher than that in the direct one, which represents a higher signal/noise ratio in positron detection. Nevertheless, the direct generation method still has its own unique advantage, the so-called target normal sheath acceleration, which can result in quasi-monoenergetic positron beams that may serve in some specialized applications.

07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES↗
DOE OSTI2017

Acceleration of a trailing positron bunch in a plasma wakefield accelerator

High gradients of energy gain and high energy efficiency are necessary parameters for compact, cost-efficient and high-energy particle colliders. Plasma Wakefield Accelerators (PWFA) offer both, making them attractive candidates for next-generation colliders. Here in these devices, a charge-density plasma wave is excited by an ultra-relativistic bunch of charged particles (the drive bunch). The energy in the wave can be extracted by a second bunch (the trailing bunch), as this bunch propagates in the wake of the drive bunch. While a trailing electron bunch was accelerated in a plasma with more than a gigaelectronvolt of energy gain, accelerating a trailing positron bunch in a plasma is much more challenging as the plasma response can be asymmetric for positrons and electrons. We report the demonstration of the energy gain by a distinct trailing positron bunch in a plasma wakefield accelerator, spanning nonlinear to quasi-linear regimes, and unveil the beam loading process underlying the accelerator energy efficiency. A positron bunch is used to drive the plasma wake in the experiment, though the quasi-linear wake structure could as easily be formed by an electron bunch or a laser driver. Finally, the results thus mark the first acceleration of a distinct positron bunch in plasma-based particle accelerators.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Temperature effects in plasma-based positron acceleration schemes using electron filaments

Preserving the quality of a positron beam in a plasma-based accelerator, where a wakefield suitable for positron transport and acceleration is generated by means of an electron filament, is challenging. This is due to the nature of the wakefields, characterized by focusing fields that vary nonlinearly in the transverse direction, and by accelerating fields that are non-uniform. These fields also change slice-by-slice along the beam. Maintaining a high beam quality is pivotal for application of positron beams in a plasma-based collider. In this paper, we show that an initial background plasma temperature can help mitigate the positron beam quality degradation in plasma-based accelerators that rely on electron filaments. We show that temperature effects broaden the electron filament and smooth radially both the non-linear transverse and the non-uniform longitudinal wakefields. Using warm plasmas opens up new possibilities to improve beam quality in several plasma-based positron acceleration concepts.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗