Physics Commons^™

Open Heavy Flavor Measurement At Forward Angles For Cu+Cu Collisions At Center Of Mass Nn Collision Energy 200 Gev, Irakli Garishvili

Doctoral Dissertations

The main purpose of Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) program is to study the Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP), a deconfined state of matter believed to be created in ultra-relativistic heavy ion collisions. Heavy quarks, expected to be produced during the earlier stages of heavy ion collisions, serve as an important probe of the QGP.‎

‎The following dissertation presents measurements of single muons resulting from the semileptonic decay of heavy flavor quarks in the rapidity range of $1.4 < \vert\eta\vert < 1.9$ for Cu+Cu nuclei collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=200$ GeV measured by the PHENIX experiment. Single muon spectra were measured for three different centrality classes (0 - 20 \% , 20 - 40 \%, 40 - 94 \%) within the $p_{T}$ range of 1.0 - 4.0 GeV/c.‎

‎To calculate single muon spectra, a full background estimate was statistically subtracted from inclusive spectra of muon candidate tracks reconstructed in the PHENIX muon …

Beta-Decay, Beta-Delayed Neutron Emission And Isomer Studies Around 78Ni, Mustafa Moiz Rajabali

Doctoral Dissertations

A study of nuclei with few nucleons outside the closed shell provides benchmarks for the nuclear shell model especially in this modern era of physics where exotic doubly magic nuclei can be tested. The subject of this thesis is to experimentally investigate the properties of nuclei near ⁷⁸Ni and to confront them with the predictions of modern large scale shell model calculations. In this regard, an experiment was performed at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory (NSCL) to measure excited states in ^71-73Ni populated via the beta-decay of ^71-73Co. Data collected from this experiment lead to partial level …

High-Energy Amplitudes In Gauge Theories In The Next-To-Leading-Order, Giovanni Antonio Chirilli

Physics Theses & Dissertations

Scattering processes play a central role in physics, and high-energies experiments give us an insight into the fine structure of matter. The high-energy behavior of amplitudes in gauge theories can be reformulated in terms of the evolution of Wilson-line operators. In the leading order this evolution is governed by the non-linear Balitsky-Kovchegov (BK) equation. In order to see if this equation is relevant for existing or future deep inelastic scattering (DIS) accelerators (like Electron Ion Collider (EIC) or Large Hadron electron Collider (LHeC)) one needs to know how large are the next-to-leading order (NLO) corrections. In addition, the NLO corrections …

Effect Of Advanced Synthetically Enhanced Detector Resolution Algorithm On Specificity And Sensitivity Of Portable High Purity Germanium Gamma Detector Spectra, Latosha M. Bell

Theses and Dissertations

The ability to identify special nuclear material is one of the necessary prevention mechanisms for preventing proliferation of special nuclear materials. Additionally, if a nuclear event were to occur, information about the nuclear material used may be extracted from gamma spectra, provided it is obtained quickly and accurately. This can be made possible with the use of the exceptional resolution of the HPGe detector. This experiment applied the Advanced Synthetically Enhanced Detector Resolution Algorithm (ASEDRA) to a portable HPGe detector's spectra, to investigate whether improvements in specificity and sensitivity can be obtained. This method has been used to improve performance …

Evaluation Of Low-Temperature Fluoride Routes To Synthesize Actinide Nitrides And Oxide Solid Solutions, Gunanda Waduge Chinthaka Silva

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Actinide mononitrides have been considered as a possible nuclear fuel for the Generation-IV nuclear reactor systems. In the process of evaluating these actinide mononitrides as nuclear fuel, it is important to study different chemical and physical characteristics of these compounds. Synthesis of the materials is thus important. Carbothermic reduction is one of the techniques that have been used to synthesize actinide mononitrides. In this method, a mixture of actinide oxide such as UO ₂ and excess carbon is heat treated at temperatures greater than 1700 °C under a nitrogen atmosphere. The technique is however not promising in synthesizing the actinide …

Neutron Production Analysis On Inertial Electrostatic Deuterium-Deuterium Fusion, Louis Franzel

Theses & Honors Papers

The basic principle of fusion is combining two light nuclei to form one nucleus that is lighter than the combination of the original two. This loss of mass is converted into energy (E=mc² ) which can be harnessed for various applications. Fusion can take many different and varied forms including: aneutronic fusion, magnetic confinement (MFE), and inertial electrostatic confinement (IEC) to name a few. Fusion is highly adaptable because it can use several different types of fuel such as Deuterium-Tritium, Tritium-Helium-3, Proton-Boron₁₁, and Deuterium-Deuterium mixtures. On top of this, each of the fusion techniques mentioned uses different …

Effects Of Hze Irradiation On Chemical Neurotransmission In Rodent Hippocampus, Mayumi Machida

Theses and Dissertations in Biomedical Sciences

Space radiation represents a significant risk to the CNS (central nervous system) during space missions. Most harmful are the HZE (high mass, highly charged (Z), high energy) particles, e.g. ⁵⁶Fe, which possess high ionizing ability, dense energy deposition pattern, and high penetrance.

Accumulating evidence suggests that radiation has significant impact on cognitive functions. In ground-base experiments, HZE radiation induces pronounced deficits in hippocampus dependent learning and memory in rodents. However, the mechanisms underlying these impairments are mostly unknown.

Exposure to HZE radiation elevates the level of oxidation, resulting in cell loss, tissue damage and functional deficits through direct ionization …

Estimation Of Weapon Yield From Inversion Of Dose Rate Contours, Buckley E. O'Day Iii

Theses and Dissertations

This research studies the uncertainty in yield estimation from inversion of dose rate contours. The Hazard Prediction and Assessment Capability (HPAC) and a simple FORTRAN95 based Fallout Deposition Code (FDC) are used to recreate dose rate contours from historic nuclear tests. Fallout footprints from six atomic tests are recreated using balloon wind soundings and high resolution mesoscale weather reanalysis data. Dose rate contour plots are created for different yields for a single set of weather conditions. Dose rate contours are compared to determine uncertainty in yield estimation from inversion of dose rate contour plots. Results of these dose rate recreations …

Evaluation Of Extraction Chromatography Resins For Rapid Actinide Analysis, Julie Marisa Gostic

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In this work, physical and chemical parameters associated with extraction chromatography separation procedures were investigated for rapid actinide analysis. A vacuum box system was designed in-house and was characterized in terms of flow rate reproducibility, matrix effects on flow rate for sequential elution, and actinide separation efficiency using different types of resin (TEVA, DGA and TRU). Results indicated that the columnar kinetics of the resins were sufficiently rapid to run high purity samples through the unit over a wide range of flow rates for all resin types. Single matrix interferences at a metal ion ratio of 1:10 6 relative to …

Neutron Structure Functions Measured With Spectator Tagging, Svyatoslav Tkachenko

Physics Theses & Dissertations

We know much less about the neutron than the proton due to the absence of free neutron targets. Neutron information has to be extracted from data on nuclear targets like deuterium. This requires corrections for off-shell and binding effects which are not known from first principles and therefore are model-dependent. As a consequence, the same data can be interpreted in different ways, leading to different conclusions about important questions such as the value of the d/u quark ratio at large momentum fraction x. The Barely Off-shell NUcleon Structure (BONUS) experiment at Jefferson Lab addressed this problem by tagging spectator protons …

Spin Structure Of The Deuteron, Nevzat Guler

Physics Theses & Dissertations

Double spin asymmetries for the proton and the deuteron have been measured in the EG1b experiment using the CLAS detector at Jefferson Lab. Longitudinally polarized electrons at energies 1.6, 2.5, 4.2 and 5.7 GeV were scattered from longitudinally polarized NH3 and ND3 targets. The double spin asymmetry A|| for the proton and the deuteron has been extracted from these data as a function of W and Q² with unprecedented precision. The virtual photon asymmetry A₁ and the spin structure function g1 can be calculated from these measurements by using parametrization to the world data for the virtual …

Optimization Of The Microprecipitation Procedure For Nuclear Forensics Applications, Lyndsey Renee Kelly

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Microprecipitation has become one of the most widely used sample preparation techniques for alpha spectroscopy. Many factors during the precipitation process can affect the yield and energy resolution by adding unwanted mass to the sample. Current applications in nuclear forensics call for an optimization of energy resolution and yield in order to improve identification and quantify specific radionuclides. The purpose of this research is to determine the optimal parameters used for microprecipitation. The optimal solution temperature, precipitation time, carrier amount, and hydrofluoric acid amount are used to investigate the influence of varying the type of carrier, as well as, the …