Nuclear Commons^™

Constraining Nuclear Data Uncertainty Requirements For The 19F(A, N)22Na Reaction For Non-Proliferation Applications, Tyler R. M. Smith

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the requirements on nuclear data uncertainties needed for the use of the ¹⁹F(α, n)²²Na reaction for nuclear non-proliferation applications. An overview of how neutrons are produced from alpha decays in a UF₆ medium is discussed. Calculation demonstrate the role nuclear data uncertainties effect the neutron yield and energy spectra as a function of enrichment.

Bismuth-207 For Purity Monitoring System For Lartpc: Dune And Proto-Dune, Rohit Raut

2025 Spring Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE), the U.S. flagship neutrino experiment, relies on high purity liquid argon (LAr) for optimal detector performance. Ensuring and monitoring LAr purity is crucial, as electronegative impurities can degrade signal quality in detectors. As part of Proto-DUNE, a prototype detector at CERN for DUNE, this study explores the use of Bismuth-207 (Bi-207) as a novel tool for real-time LAr purity monitoring and calibration. Bi-207 emits monochromatic internal conversion electrons, allowing precise impurity assessment without interfering with standard detector operations. By simulating the behavior of radioactive Bi-207 and analyzing data from the Proto-DUNE Vertical Drift detector, …

Probing Freeze Out Sensitivity In Nuclear Collisions Using Exact Solutions Of Fluid Dynamics, Julia Johnson

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

One of the primary goals in the field of high-energy nuclear collisions is to create and study a novel phase of matter known as quark-gluon plasma (QGP), a substance which can be extremely well described by fluid dynamics. However, two different criteria are often used to identify the point of freeze out, which defines when the fluid dynamical simulation of a nuclear collision should be terminated: either when the QGP fluid has cooled below a given temperature, or when it has reached a certain Knudsen number (a quantity that estimates how well the system can be modeled by a fluid). …

The Effects Of Snow Cover On The Dynamic Pressure Of Nuclear Detonation Blast Waves, Adam Card, Andrew W. Decker

Faculty Publications

Blast pressure is the primary military targeting metric for nuclear weapons. Any local conditions that affect blast pressure have the potential for altering nuclear plans, both from defensive and offensive standpoints. Understanding the impact of snow to the blast wave, therefore, provides a benefit both to military planners and to warfighters on the ground, for any operation occurring in arctic environments. No existing data provides a quantitative description of how snow on the ground affects a nuclear detonation blast wave passing over it. Similar blast waves passing over dust have experimentally proven to enhance blast pressure in a localized region.1 …

19ne Excited States In Explosive Nucleosynthesis, Khang Pham

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Classical novae and Type I X-ray bursts are stellar explosions that occur in binary systems, where nuclear reactions involving ¹⁹Ne play a crucial role in nucleosynthesis. In novae, the destruction of ¹⁸F via the ¹⁸F(p,alpha)¹⁵O reaction significantly affects the amount of ¹⁸F remaining in the ejecta, directly influencing the detectability of predicted 511-keV gamma rays. However, discrepancies between observed and predicted ¹⁸F abundances highlight uncertainties in the reaction rates, primarily due to unknown properties of resonances in the compound nucleus ¹⁹Ne. In Type I X-ray bursts, the ¹⁵O(alpha,gamma)¹⁹Ne reaction …

Measuring Cosmic Rays With Muon Detectors (Quarknet), Aiden Burton, Jack W. Maseberg

SACAD: Scholarly Activities

We report measurement of atmospheric muon particles originating from cosmic rays. Using four QuarkNet project scintillators in an unstacked geometry, we are counting muons in coincidence with each other. We are currently refurbishing a second detector apparatus and will soon be capable of measuring coincidence events for larger shower surface areas using a total of eight scintillators.

Investigation Of Neutron Inelastic Scatter Cross Sections On 16O, Molly A. Wakeling

Theses and Dissertations

Nuclear data underpin a number of applications across nuclear reactor design, medicine, astrophysics, nonproliferation, national security, and other related fields. However, data are conflicting or missing across the spectrum of isotopes and reactions, and theoretical calculations can only go so far to predict nuclear properties. A key reaction with incomplete data is neutron inelastic scatter on ¹⁶O, which reduces neutron energies and produces high-energy gamma rays that are often not taken into account in simulations of nuclear reactors, nuclear weapon detonations, nuclear fusion, and other areas. To fill these gaps, the Gamma-Energy Neutron-Energy Spectrometer for Inelastic Scattering, or GENESIS, …

Studying The Low-Lying Structure Of 9b Via The 10b(3he,A)9b Reaction, Rachel M. Shaffer

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The unstable nature of ⁹B makes it a challenging isotope to study. The first-excited state of ⁹B has been particularly difficult to characterize. Since the first experimental observation of this state in 1955, many experimental and theoretical nuclear structure studies have sought to classify it, but with large discrepancies in the energy and width values from these results, the properties of the state remain inconclusive.

An experiment using the ¹⁰B(³He,α)⁹B reaction was performed at the John D. Fox Superconducting Linear Accelerator Laboratory at Florida State University in an effort to populate and characterize …

An Evaluation On The Uncertainty For The Routine Of Dosimetry Calibration At The National Secondary Standard Dosimetry Laboratory, Albania, Klotilda Nikaj

International Journal of Nuclear Security

Every employer must, in relation to any work with ionizing radiation that they undertake, take all necessary steps to restrict so far as is reasonably practicable the extent to which their employees and other persons are exposed to ionizing radiation. This goal leads to an increased awareness about the proper maintenance and annual calibration of the personal dosimeters to ensure an accurate and precise radiation dose. The present work has described the performance of the radiation system of the ¹³⁷Cs source at the National Secondary Standard Dosimetry Laboratory (SSDL), located at the Institute of Applied Nuclear Physics at the …

Plasma And Magnetic Coil Optimization, William Lee Austin, Lachlan Dean

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

Lachlan Dean Coil Optimization for a High-Beta Stellarator-Tokamak Hybrid Magnetic coil configurations are developed for a tokamak-stellarator hybrid that is stable to both pressure- and current-driven modes for high values of beta. Previous work on this configuration [A. S. Ware, et al., Phys. Rev. Lett, 89, 125003 (2002)] was carried out using a fixed-boundary equilibrium (i.e., with no set of external coils) and prior attempts to develop an initial coil set using the COILOPT code were not successful. In this work, the recently developed SIMSOPT code [M. Landreman, et. al., J. Open Source Software 6, 3525 (2021)] is used to …

Fortifying Nuclear Security: Cultivating Vigilance Culture Among Personnel For Enhanced Prevention And Response, Sabariah Kader Ibrahim, Sonia Naz

International Journal of Nuclear Security

A vigorous nuclear security culture is crucial in preventing the theft and sabotage of nuclear material. It requires vigilance from all employees because relying solely on closed-circuit television systems and security personnel is insufficient to deter potential threats. Employee attentiveness plays a vital role in recognizing and preventing suspicious activities. However, achieving a strong security culture is challenging because of the lack of incidents in some facilities, leading to employee complacency.

This paper highlights the pivotal role of personnel in the success of nuclear security measures, emphasizing the need for a proactive and vigilant mindset among staff. Through the analysis …

The Requirements Of A Nuclear Propulsion System For The Human Exploration Of Mars, Scotia Rollins

Pitzer Senior Theses

This thesis investigates the propulsion requirements for a crewed mission to Mars, focusing on how mission architecture, particularly the choice between opposition- and conjunction-class trajectories, influences the selection between nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) and nuclear electric propulsion (NEP). By applying the Tsiolkovsky rocket equation, the Delta-V (∆V) needed for efficient interplanetary transfers is shown to exceed the performance limits of chemical propulsion, motivating the need for nuclear alternatives. An engineering comparison of NTP and NEP systems evaluates key parameters including specific impulse, thrust, propellant mass fraction, system mass, and power-to-mass ratios. NTP provides high thrust but moderate efficiency, making it …

Three-Dimensional Spreading Of Magnetic Reconnection Between Non-Parallel Flux Ropes With A Guide Field, Regis John

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental plasma process that facilitates the rapid conversion of magnetic energy into particle acceleration, plasma flows, and heating. It plays a central role in explosive astrophysical events such as solar flares, where vast amounts of magnetic energy are released on short time scales. A key structure in many reconnection sites is the magnetic flux rope, a column of plasma carrying current threaded by helical magnetic fields, which is frequently involved in or generated by reconnection. Understanding how reconnection unfolds in such flux rope systems is critical for interpreting both space weather phenomena and laboratory plasma dynamics. …

Nonlocal Nucleon Matrix Elements In The Rest Frame, Joe Karpie, Christopher Monahan, Anatoly Radyushkin

Physics Faculty Publications

Extracting parton structure from lattice quantum chromodynamics (QCD) calculations requires studying the coordinate scale 𝑧3 dependence of the matrix elements of bilocal operators. The most significant contribution comes from the 𝑧3 dependence induced by ultraviolet (UV) renormalization of the Wilson line. We demonstrate that the next-to-leading order perturbative calculations of the renormalization factor can describe, to a few percent accuracy, the logarithm of the lattice QCD rest frame matrix elements with separations up to distances of 0.6 fm on multiple lattice spacings. The residual discrepancies can be modeled by a leading effect from the structure of the nucleon.

Hybrid Quantum Simulations With Qubits And Qumodes On Trapped-Ion Platforms, Jack Y. Araz, Matt Grau, Jake Montgomery, Felix Ringer

Physics Faculty Publications

We explore the feasibility of gate-based hybrid quantum computing using both discrete (qubit) and continuous (qumode) variables on trapped-ion platforms. Trapped-ion systems have demonstrated record one- and two-qubit gate fidelities and long qubit coherence times, while qumodes, which can be represented by the collective vibrational modes of the ion chain, have remained relatively unexplored for their use in computing. Using numerical simulations, we show that high-fidelity hybrid gates and measurement operations can be achieved for existing trapped-ion quantum platforms. As an exemplary application, we consider quantum simulations of the Jaynes-Cummings-Hubbard model, which is given by a one-dimensional chain of interacting …

Emc Effect Of Tritium And Helium-3 From The Jlab Marathon Experiment, D. Abrams, H. Albataineh, B. S. Aljawmeh, S. Alsalmi, D. Androic, K. Aniol, W. Armstrong, J. Arrington, H. Atac, T. Averett, C. Ayerbe Gayoso, X. Bai, J. Bane, S. Barcus, A. Beck, V. Bellini, H. Bhatt, D. Bhetuwal, D. Biswas, D. Blyth, W. Boeglin, D. Bulumulla, J. Butler, A. Camsonne, M. Carmignotto, J. Castellanos, J. -P. Chen, I. C. Cloët, E. O. Cohen, S. Covrig, K. Craycraft, R. Cruz-Torres, B. Dongwi, B. Duran, D. Dutta, N. Fomin, E. Fuchey, C. Gal, T. N. Gautam, S. Gilad, K. Gnanvo, T. Gogami, J. Gomez, C. Gu, A. Habarakada, T. Hague, J. -O. Hansen, M. Hattawy, F. Hauenstein, D. W. Higinbotham, R. J. Holt, E. W. Hughes, C. Hyde, H. Ibrahim, S. Jian, S. Joosten, A. Karki, B. Karki, A. T. Katramatou, C. Keith, C. Keppel, M. Khachatryan, A. Khanal, A. Kievsky, D. King, P. M. King, I. Korover, S. A. Kulagin, K. S. Kumar, T. Kutz, N. Lashley-Colthirst, S. Li, W. Li, H. Liu, S. Liuti, N. Liyanage, P. Markowitz, R. E. Mcclellan, D. Meekins, S. Mey-Tal Beck, Z. -E. Meziani, R. Michaels, M. Mihovilovic, V. Nelyubin, D. Nguyen, Nuruzzaman, M. Nycz, R. Obrecht, M. Olson, V. F. Owen, E. Pace, B. Pandey, V. Pandey, M. Paolone, A. Papadopoulou, S. Park, S. Paul, G. G. Petratos, R. Petti, E. Piasetzky, R. Pomatsalyuk, S. Premathilake, A. J. R. Puckett, V. Punjabi, R. D. Ransome, M. N. H. Rashad, P. E. Reimer, S. Riordan, J. Roche, G. Salmè, N. Santiesteban, B. Sawatzky, A. Schmidt, B. Schmookler, S. Scopetta, J. Segal, E. P. Segarra, A. Shahinyan, S. Širca, N. Sparveris, T. Su, R. Suleiman, H. Szumila-Vance, A. S. Tadepalli, L. Tang, W. Tireman, F. Tortorici, G. M. Urciuoli, B. Wojtsekhowski, S. Wood, Z. H. Ye, J. Zhang

Physics Faculty Publications

Measurements of the EMC effect in the tritium and helium-3 mirror nuclei are reported. The data were obtained by the MARATHON Jefferson Lab experiment, which performed deep inelastic electron scattering from deuterium and the three-body nuclei, using a cryogenic gas target system and the high resolution spectrometers of the Hall A Facility of the Lab. The data cover the Bjorken x range from 0.20 to 0.83, corresponding to a squared four-momentum transfer Q² range from 2.7 to 11.9  (GeV/c)², and to an invariant mass W of the final hadronic state greater than 1.84  GeV/c². The tritium EMC effect measurement is …

Measurement Of Spin-Density Matrix Elements In Φ(1020) → K⁰Sk⁰L Photoproduction With A Linearly Polarized Photon Beam At Eˠ = 8.2-8.8 Gev, F. Afzal, C. S. Akondi, M. Albrecht, M. Amaryan, S. Arrigo, V. Arroyave, A. Asaturyan, A. Austegesilo, Z. Baldwin, F. Barbosa, J. Barlow, E. Barringa, R. Barsotti, D. Barton, V. Baturin, V. V. Berdnikov, T. Black, W. Boeglin, M. Boer, W. J. Briscoe, T. Britton, R. Brunner, S. Cao, E. Chudakov, G. Chung, P. L. Cole, O. Cortes, V. Crede, M. M. Dalton, D. Darulis, A. Deur, S. Dobbs, A. Dolgolenko, M. Dugger, R. Dzhygadlo, D. Ebersole, M. Edo, H. Egiyan, T. Erbora, P. Eugenio, A. Fabrizi, C. Fanelli, S. Fang, A. M. Foda, M. Fritsch, S. Furletov, L. Gan, H. Gao, A. Gardner, A. Gasparian, D. I. Glazier, C. Gleason, V. S. Goryachev, B. Grube, J. Guo, L. Guo, J. Hernandez, K. Hernandez, N. D. Hoffman, D. Hornidge, G. Huber, P. Hurck, W. Imoehl, D. G. Ireland, M. M. Ito, I. Jaegle, N. S. Jarvis, T. Jeske, M. Jing, R. T. Jones, V. Kakoyan, G. Kalicy, V. Khachatryan, C. Kourkoumelis, A. Laduke, I. Larin, D. Lawrence, D. I. Lersch, H. Li, B. Liu, K. Livingston, L. Lorenti, V. Lyubovitskij, A. Mahmood, H. Marukyan, V. Matveev, M. Mccaughan, M. Mccracken, C. A. Meyer, R. Miskimen, R. E. Mitchell, K. Mizutani, P. Moran, V. Neelamana, L. Ng, E. Nissen, S. Orešić, A. I. Ostrovidov, Z. Papandreou, C. Paudel, R. Pedroni, L. Pentchev, K. J. Peters, E. Prather, L. Puthiya Veetil, S. Rakshit, J. Reinhold, A. Remington, B. G. Ritchie, J. Ritman, G. Rodriguez, D. Romanov, K. Saldana, C. Salgado, S. Schadmand, A. M. Schertz, K. Scheuer, A. Schick, A. Schmidt, R. A. Schumacher, J. Schwiening, M. Scott, N. Septian, P. Sharp, V. Shen, X. Shen, M. R. Shepherd, J. Sikes, A. Smith, E. S. Smith, D. I. Sober, A. Somov, S. Somov, J. R. Stevens, I. I. Strakovsky, B. Sumner, K. Suresh, V. V. Tarasov, S. Taylor, A. Teymurazyan, A. Thiel, T. Viducic, T. Whitlatch, N. Wickramaarachchi, Y. Wunderlich, B. Yu, J. Zarling, Z. Zhang, X. Zhou, B. Zihlmann

Physics Faculty Publications

We measure the spin-density matrix elements (SDMEs) for the photoproduction of 𝜙⁡(1020) off of the proton in its decay to 𝐾⁰_𝑆⁢𝐾⁰_𝐿, using 105 pb⁻¹ of data collected with a linearly polarized photon beam using the GlueX experiment. The SDMEs are measured in nine bins of the squared four-momentum transfer 𝑡 in the range −𝑡=0.15−1.0 GeV², providing the first measurement of their 𝑡 dependence for photon beam energies of 𝐸𝛾=8.2−8.8 GeV. We confirm the dominance of Pomeron exchange in this region and put constraints on the contribution of other Regge exchanges. We also …

Small-X Gluon Gpd Constrained From Deeply Virtual J/Ψ Production And Gluon Pdf Through Universal-Moment Parametrization, Yuxun Guo, Xiangdong Ji, M. Gabriel Santiago, Jinghong Yang, Hao-Cheng Zhang

Physics Faculty Publications

We phenomenologically constrain the small-x and small-𝜉 gluon generalized parton distributions (GPDs) with the deeply virtual J/ψ production (DVJ/ψP) in the framework of GPDs through universal moment parameterization (GUMP). We use a hybrid cross-section formula combining collinear factorization to the next-to-leading order (NLO) accuracy of the strong coupling 𝛼_s, with corrections from nonrelativistic QCD to account for the power corrections due to the heavy J/ψ mass. We reach reasonable fit to the measured differential cross sections of DVJ/ψP by H1 at the Hadron-Electron Ring Accelerator as well as forward gluon parton distribution functions (PDFs) from JAM22 global analysis. …

New Measurements Of The Deuteron-To-Proton F₂ Structure-Function Ratio, D. Biswas, F. A. Gonzalez, W. Henry, A. Karki, C. Morean, A. Nadeeshani, A. Sun, Z. Ahmed, S. Alsalmi, W. Armstrong, A. Asaturyan, C. Ayerbe Gayoso, V. Berdnikov, H. Bhatt, D. Bhetuwal, P. Bosted, E. Brash, M. H. S. Bukhari, J. P. Chen, M. Chen, M. E. Christy, S. Covrig Dusa, K. Craycraft, S. Danagoulian, D. Day, M. Diefenthaler, M. Dlamini, J. Dunne, B. Duran, D. Dutta, R. Ent, H. Fenker, N. Fomin, E. Fuchey, D. Gaskell, T. N. Gautam, J. O. Hansen, F. Hauenstein, A. V. Hernandez, T. Horn, G. M. Huber, M. K. Jones, S. Joosten, M. L. Kabir, C. Keppel, A. Khanal, P. M. King, E. Kinney, M. Kohl, M. Lashley-Colthirst, S. Li, W. B. Li, A. H. Liyanage, D. Mack, S. Malace, P. Markowitz, J. Matter, D. Meekins, R. Michaels, A. Mkrtchyan, Z. Moore, S. J. Nazeer, S. Nanda, G. Niculescu, I. Niculescu, D. Nguyen, B. Pandey Nuruzzaman, S. Park, E. Pooser, A. J. R. Puckett, M. Rehfuss, J. Reinhold, B. Sawatzky, G. R. Smith, H. Szumila-Vance, A. S. Tadepalli, V. Tadevosyan, R. Trotta, S. A. Wood, C. Yero, J. Zhang

Physics Faculty Publications

Nucleon structure functions, as measured in lepton-nucleon scattering, have historically provided a critical observable in the study of partonic dynamics within the nucleon. However, at very large parton momenta, it is both experimentally and theoretically challenging to extract parton distributions due to the probable onset of nonperturbative contributions and the unavailability of high-precision data at critical kinematics. Extraction of the neutron structure and the d quark distribution have been further challenging because of the necessity of applying nuclear corrections when utilizing scattering data from a deuteron target to extract the free neutron structure. However, a program of experiments has been …

First Global Extraction Of Generalized Parton Distributions From Experiment And Lattice Data With Next-To-Leading-Order Accuracy, Yuxun Guo, Fatma P. Aslan, Xiangdong Ji, M. Gabriel Santiago

Physics Faculty Publications

We report the first global extraction of generalized parton distributions, GUMP 1.0, by combining deeply virtual Compton scattering and ρ-meson production data from Jefferson Lab and the Hadron-Electron Ring Accelerator with global fits of parton distribution functions, charge form factors, and lattice quantum chromodynamics simulations. Using a conformal moment space parametrization, we achieve a unified description across low- and high-x regions at next to leading order accuracy in perturbative corrections. The results provide state-of-the-art generalized parton distributions consistent with almost all known facts, enabling three-dimensional nucleon imaging in impact parameter space and, at the same time, establishing a benchmark for …