Nuclear Commons^™

Monte Carlo Simulation Of Thallium-Bromide Semiconductor Detector For Range Verification Of A Carbon Ion Radiotherapy Beam Through Prompt Gamma-Ray Detection, Peter Dimpfl

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Thallium-Bromide is a semiconductor material which is well suited for photon detection. Composed of high atomic number elements and a high mass density of 7.56 g/cm3, TlBr has superb photon stopping power. External beam radiation therapy is an ever-changing environment with technology rapidly improving. With proton therapy facilities becoming more widely available, and carbon ion facilities showcasing the benefits of carbon ion radiation therapy, there is an industry need toprovide accurate dosimetric treatment plans to verify patients are receiving proper care. Current clinical practices apply safety margins to clinical target volumes to safe treatment. Through research to improve detection techniques, …

Absolute Quantification Of Tc-99m Activity Distributions Using A Planar Molecular Breast Imaging Commercial System, Benjamin P. Lopez

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Molecular breast imaging (MBI) uses two dedicated-breast semiconductor detectors to visualize the preferential uptake of technetium-99m-sestamibi (^99mTc-sestamibi) by breast cancer cells relative to surrounding benign breast tissues. Clinically, MBI is used primarily as a supplementary tool to standard-of-care mammography because of its improved detection of breast cancers, especially in women with mammographically-dense breasts. Because of a lack of image corrections, MBI applications are currently limited to qualitative evaluations of relative pixel intensities between image regions with suspected lesions and normal tissue.

The objective of this dissertation was to use Monte Carlo simulations to better characterize the MBI imaging …

Computational Models To Detect Radiation In Urban Environments: An Application Of Signal Processing Techniques And Neural Networks To Radiation Data Analysis, Jose Nicolas Gachancipa

Beyond: Undergraduate Research Journal

Radioactive sources, such as uranium-235, are nuclides that emit ionizing radiation, and which can be used to build nuclear weapons. In public areas, the presence of a radioactive nuclide can present a risk to the population, and therefore, it is imperative that threats are identified by radiological search and response teams in a timely and effective manner. In urban environments, such as densely populated cities, radioactive sources may be more difficult to detect, since background radiation produced by surrounding objects and structures (e.g., buildings, cars) can hinder the effective detection of unnatural radioactive material. This article presents a computational model …

Two-Current Transition Amplitudes With Two-Body Final States, Keegan H. Sherman, Feliipe G. Ortega-Gama, Raúl A. Briceño, Andrew W. Jackura

Physics Faculty Publications

We derive the on-shell form of amplitudes containing two external currents with a single hadron in the initial state and two hadrons in the final state, denoted as 1 + J → 2 + J . This class of amplitude is relevant in precision tests of the Standard Model as well as for exploring the structure of excited states in the QCD spectrum. We present a model-independent description of the amplitudes where we sum to all orders in the strong interaction. From this analytic form we are able to extract transition and elastic resonance form factors consistent with previous work …

Investigating Gluonic Operators In Coordinate Space, Wayne Henry Morris Iii

Physics Theses & Dissertations

In this dissertation, a method of extracting gluon momentum distributions inside hadrons, and particularly nucleons, is developed. In general, the utility and application of performing calculations in coordinate space at the operator level is discussed, and its application to the method of pseudodistributions in the lattice extraction of parton distributions. An introduction to the background field method and other techniques used in the calculation of corrections to gluon operators are provided. Then, an outline of the calculation of the uncontracted gluon bilocal operator at one-loop is given, and the result thereof. Using the result for the gluon bilocal operator restricted …

Studies Of Bonus12 Radial Gem Detector And Tcs Beam Spin Asymmetry In Clas12, Jiwan Poudel

Physics Theses & Dissertations

The Barely Offshell Nucleon Structure (BONuS12) experiment adopted the concept of spectator tagging technique to study the nearly-free neutron structure function F2n in the CLAS12 of Jefferson Lab. A novel Radial Time Projection Chamber (RTPC) detector was built, tested and integrated into the CLAS12 system to detect a back-moving low momentum tagged proton in d(e, ep)X deep-inelastic scattering. It was a 40 cm long gaseous detector consisting of 3 layers of cylindrical GEM foils for the charge amplification, with the data readout directly from the surrounding padboard. The RTPC detected the recoiling spectator proton, in coincidence with …

Hepatocellular Carcinoma Image-Guided Intervention: Quantitative Characterization Of Reagents For Thermochemical Ablation, Emily A. Thompson

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Thermochemical ablation (TCA) is a minimally invasive therapy under development for hepatocellular carcinoma, a leading cause of cancer death worldwide. TCA utilizes acid-base chemistry delivered simultaneously to induce local ablation when administered. When delivered via a mixing catheter placed directly into the tumor, acid (e.g., AcOH) and base (e.g., NaOH) react to completion at the catheter tip, producing the acetate salt, water, and releasing heat (Δ>50°C) in sufficient quantities to induce lethal osmotic and thermal stress in tumor cells. However, these two reagents are not distinguishable from tissues with noninvasive imaging modalities, which makes monitoring the delivery of TCA …

Development Of A Prototype Electron Detector For Use In Ucna+, Richard Mcdonald

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The UCNA Experiment at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE) uses an electron spectrometer to observe angular correlations between the neutron spin and the momenta of β particles emitted during the process of β decay. These angular correlations give rise to an asymmetry determined by the ratio of two coupling constants, gA and gV . Combined with neutron lifetime measurements, these observations probe physics beyond the standard model through unitarity tests of the Cabbibo-Kobayashi-Maskawa Matrix. UCNA’s current spectrometer uses a multi-wire proportional chamber and a plastic scintillator coupled to four photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) by 2 meters of light guides …

Extractive Membranes For The Detection And Screening Of Waterborne Plutonium, James Foster

All Dissertations

The development of rapid screening tools for special nuclear materials remains a crucial focus for nonproliferation efforts. Traditional approaches for the analysis of trace-level Pu isotopes in water requires tedious and time-consuming sample preparation steps that do not lend well to expeditious screening. Therefore, a novel analytical method that combines both Pu concentration and source preparation into a single detection system would make for an invaluable tool for nuclear security applications. Extractive membranes absorbers can help to fulfill this role as they are capable of concentrating Pu to detectable limits while subsequently serving as alpha spectrometry sample sources. In Chapter …

Design & Analysis Of Mixed-Mode Integrated Circuit For Pulse-Shape Discrimination, Bryan Orabutt

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

In nuclear science experiments it is usually necessary to determine the type of radiation, its energy and direction with considerable accuracy. The detection of neutrons and discriminating them from gamma rays is particularly difficult. A popular method of doing so is to measure characteristics intrinsic to the pulse shape of each radiation type in order to perform pulse-shape discrimination (PSD).

Historically, PSD capable systems have been designed with two approaches in mind: specialized analog circuitry, or digital signal processing (DSP). In this work we propose a PSD capable circuit topology using techniques from both the analog and DSP domains. We …

An Overview Of Approaches To Nuclear Security In Ghana, Raymond Agalga, Paul Atta Amoah, Daniel Nii Adjei, Daniel Frederick Charles, Emmanuel Ofori Darko

International Journal of Nuclear Security

Ghana has significantly improved its nuclear security infrastructure over the years. However, as threats increase by the day and new applications of nuclear and radiological technology are designed and implemented, Ghana must develop a rigid and comprehensive approach to mitigating the negative impacts on its nuclear security while improving prevention, detection, and deterrence of nuclear and radiological terrorism within its geographical space. This paper overviews the approaches adopted by Ghana to build a strong nuclear security regime within the past decade. These include improving legal frameworks for nuclear security by establishing an independent Nuclear Regulatory Authority; assessing nuclear security culture …

A Machine Learning Approach To Denoising Particle Detector Observations In Nuclear Physics, Polykarpos Thomadakis, Angelos Angelopoulos, Gagik Gavalian, Nikos Chrisochoides

College of Sciences Posters

With the evolution in detector technologies and electronic components used in the Nuclear Physics field, experimental setups become larger and more complex. Faster electronics enable particle accelerator experiments to run with higher beam intensity, providing more interactions per time and more particles per interaction. However, the increased beam intensities present a challenge to particle detectors because of the higher amount of noise and uncorrelated signals. Higher noise levels lead to a more challenging particle reconstruction process by increasing the number of combinatorics to analyze and background signals to eliminate. On the other hand, increasing the beam intensity can provide physics …

Physics-Informed Neural Networks (Pinns) For Dvcs Cross Sections, Manal Almaeen, Jake Grigsby, Joshua Hoskins, Brandon Kriesten, Yaohang Li, Huey-Wen Lin, Simonetta Liuti, Sorawich Maichum

College of Sciences Posters

We present a physics informed deep learning technique for Deeply Virtual Compton Scattering (DVCS) cross sections from an unpolarized proton target using both an unpolarized and polarized electron beam. Training a deep learning model typically requires a large size of data that might not always be available or possible to obtain. Alternatively, a deep learning model can be trained using additional knowledge gained by enforcing some physics constraints such as angular symmetries for better accuracy and generalization. By incorporating physics knowledge to our deep learning model, our framework shows precise predictions on the DVCS cross sections and better extrapolation on …

Energy Analysis For Neutron Induced Ternary Fission Events In The Niffte Fission Time Projection Chamber, Vanessa Aguilar

Physics

In this paper, energy analyses were made for investigating ternary fission in neutron-induced fission of U235 and U238 using the Neutron Induced Fission Fragment Tracking Experiment (NIFFTE) collaboration’s fission time projection chamber (TPC) data. The Neutron kinetic energy was calculated from neutron time of flight (nToF) for energy ranges of 0.1 to 32 MeV. Along with this, the Stopping and Range of Ions in Matter (SRIM) software was used to simulate alphas going through an argon gas target in order to calibrate observed energy loss of alphas from ternary fission.

Aerial Radiation Detection Identification And Measurement System Detector Material Comparison Study, Benjamin C. Troxell, Kacey D. Mcgee, Christina L. Dugan

Faculty Publications

The 20th Chemical Biological Radiological Nuclear and Explosives Command (CBRNE) currently utilizes an airborne sodium iodide gamma and beta detection system to map radiation fields over large areas of interest. The 20th CBRNE explored emergent detector technologies utilizing two detection materials; thallium-activated cesium iodide and high purity germanium (HPGe). These detectors were simulated at various altitudes and compared to background measurements. The sodium iodide detector failed to provide isotopic discrimination at distance. The thallium-activated cesium iodide CsI(Tl) detector provided sufficient absolute efficiency and energy resolution to identify isotopics at distance. The HPGe detector provided the best energy resolution. However, current …

Partial Muon Capture Rates In A = 3 And A = 6 Nuclei With Chiral Effective Field Theory, G. B. King, S. Pastore, M. Piarulli, Rocco Schiavilla

Physics Faculty Publications

Searches for neutrinoless double-β decay rates are crucial in addressing questions within fundamental symmetries and neutrino physics. The rates of these decays depend not only on unknown parameters associated with neutrinos, but also on nuclear properties. In order to reliably extract information about the neutrino, one needs an accurate treatment of the complex many-body dynamics of the nucleus. Neutrinoless double-β decays take place at momentum transfers on the order of 100MeV /c and require both nuclear electroweak vector and axial current matrix elements. Muon capture, a process in the same momentum transfer regime, has readily available experimental data to validate …

Using Z Boson Events To Study Parton-Medium Interactions In Pb-Pb Collisions, The Cms Collaboration, A. M. Sirunyan, A. Tumasyan, W. Adam, F. Ambrogi, T. Bergauer, Julie M. Hogan

Physics and Engineering Faculty Publications

The spectra measurements of charged hadrons produced in the shower of a parton originating in the same hard scattering with a leptonically decaying Z boson are reported in lead-lead nuclei (Pb-Pb) and proton-proton (pp) collisions at a nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of 5.02 TeV. Both Pb-Pb and pp data sets are recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 1.7 nb-1 and 320 pb-1, respectively. Hadronic collision data with one reconstructed Z boson candidate with the transverse momentum pT>30 GeV/c are analyzed. The Z boson constrains the initial energy and direction of the …

Assessment Of Radiation Exposure Levels From Selected Scrap Metal Stores In Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, Innocent J. Lugendo

Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

This study analyses the radiation exposure rate emanating from scrap metal stores in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, using the ion chamber based survey meter and a Gamma-Scout radiation detector. Two (2) scrap metal stores located at Manzese and Ubungo-External were selected for the investigation. The radiation exposure rates in μSv/hr at 20 randomly selected points in each store were determined using a survey meter. More readings were taken at points 100m away from each of the stores to establish the background radiation exposure. From the readings of the survey meter, 3 points with the highest radiation exposure rates from each …

Deformed No-Core Shell Model And Symplectic Effective Field Theory, David Kekejian

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Most nuclei are deformed! This simple fact has been established since Bohr and Mot- telson, and successfully demonstrated from first principles by nuclear structure calculations carried out using the ab-initio Symmetry-Adapted No-Core Shell Model (SA-NCSM) us- ing realistic interactions. This simple fact has been the main driver towards understanding the underlying physics; namely, that symplectic symmetry describes deformation and is a dominant symmetry in all nuclei independent of A (nucleon number) and of the realistic interaction used. These two simple observations laid the foundation of this thesis work to explore the applications of symplectic symmetry towards defining a deformed symplectic …

Development Of Advanced Machine Learning Models For Analysis Of Plutonium Surrogate Optical Emission Spectra, Ashwin P. Rao, Phillip R. Jenkins, John D. Auxier Ii, Michael B. Shattan, Anil K. Patnaik

Faculty Publications

This work investigates and applies machine learning paradigms seldom seen in analytical spectroscopy for quantification of gallium in cerium matrices via processing of laser-plasma spectra. Ensemble regressions, support vector machine regressions, Gaussian kernel regressions, and artificial neural network techniques are trained and tested on cerium-gallium pellet spectra. A thorough hyperparameter optimization experiment is conducted initially to determine the best design features for each model. The optimized models are evaluated for sensitivity and precision using the limit of detection (LoD) and root mean-squared error of prediction (RMSEP) metrics, respectively. Gaussian kernel regression yields the superlative predictive model with an RMSEP of …