In this work, we present experimental results of a prompt gamma camera for real-time proton beam range verification. The detection system features a pixelated Cerium doped lutetium based ...scintillation crystal, coupled to Silicon PhotoMultiplier arrays, read out by dedicated electronics. The prompt gamma camera uses a knife-edge slit collimator to produce a 1D projection of the beam path in the target on the scintillation detector. We designed the detector to provide high counting statistics and high photo-detection efficiency for prompt gamma rays of several MeV. The slit design favours the counting statistics and could be advantageous in terms of simplicity, reduced cost and limited footprint. We present the description of the realized gamma camera, as well as the results of the characterization of the camera itself in terms of imaging performance. We also present the results of experiments in which a polymethyl methacrylate phantom was irradiated with proton pencil beams in a proton therapy center. A tungsten slit collimator was used and prompt gamma rays were acquired in the 3-6 MeV energy range. The acquisitions were performed with the beam operated at 100 MeV, 160 MeV and 230 MeV, with beam currents at the nozzle exit of several nA. Measured prompt gamma profiles are consistent with the simulations and we reached a precision (2σ) in shift retrieval of 4 mm with 0.5 × 10(8), 1.4 × 10(8) and 3.4 × 10(8) protons at 100, 160 and 230 MeV, respectively. We conclude that the acquisition of prompt gamma profiles for in vivo range verification of proton beam with the developed gamma camera and a slit collimator is feasible in clinical conditions. The compact design of the camera allows its integration in a proton therapy treatment room and further studies will be undertaken to validate the use of this detection system during treatment of real patients.
High-energy
γ
rays are emitted either in the decay of nuclear discrete states (generally located in the proximity of the particle-emission threshold) or in the electromagnetic decay of collective ...states. The branching ratio is rather small, therefore in alternative/coincidence with high-energy
γ
rays one could have neutron or charged-particle emission. The precise measurement of these branching ratios allows a more comprehensive description of the nucleus and, in particular, the selection of the nuclear models which better describes the interplay between the different acting forces and couplings. In the case of the electromagnetic decay of collective states, the precise identification of the populated low-lying states allows the measurement of their wave-function and/or of their ‘bulk’ properties. This information provides, also in this case, a stringent test for the nuclear models. In both cases, to compensate these small branching ratio, a large number of detectors and an accurate selection of a small region of the phase space are needed. AGATA is considered to constitute an optimal array for this kind of measurements. In fact, AGATA, because of its high granularity and its excellent energy resolution, can detect the high-energy
γ
rays emitted in a specific decay path or associated to specific reaction channels, shapes, deformations. In the introduction, some details on the measurement of high-energy
γ
rays using HPGe detector are discussed. The sections of this paper focus on the measurements of high-energy
γ
rays to obtain the photon strength function, the nuclear level density and to identify extreme shapes in highly excited nuclei.
Sustainable wildlife management is necessary to guarantee the viability of source populations; but it is rarely practiced in the tropics. The yellow anaconda (Eunectes notaeus) has long been ...harvested for its leather. Since 2002 its harvest has operated under a management program in northeastern Argentina, which relies on adaptive management practices, that limit the minimum body length permitted for harvesting, the number of active hunters and the length of hunting seasons. Here we investigated the effects of yellow anaconda harvest on its demography based on 2002-2019 data and show that exploitation levels are sustainable. The gradual reduction in annual hunting effort, due to a decrease in the number of hunters and hunting season duration, reduced the total number of anacondas harvested. Conversely, captures per unit effort increased across the study period. The body size of anacondas was not influenced by the harvesting, and more females than males were caught. We also found that a decrease in mean temperature positively influenced anaconda harvest and the capture of giant individuals. Because sustainable use is a powerful tool for conservation, and anacondas are widespread in South America, these discoveries are highly applicable to other species and regions.
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A review of selected experimental works on the gamma-decay from the Giant and Pygmy Dipole Resonances is presented. The common feature of these experiments is that gamma-decay originates from ...dipole states populated using reactions induced by heavy ions. The focus is the investigation of dipole modes built on the ground and excited states. The major developments made during the years regarding the detection of high-energy gamma-rays are briefly discussed together with specific results concerning a chosen number of problems among those that were addressed by the theoretical works of P.F. Bortignon. They are: i) the dipole mode in the initial stages of reactions among heavy ions with different
N
/
Z
values for the target and projectile; ii) the problem of isospin symmetry in nuclei at finite temperature; iii) pygmy states far from stability; iv) the nature of the pygmy states.
The γ decay of the elusive narrow, near-threshold proton resonance in 11B was investigated at Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro (INFN) in a particle-γ coincidence experiment, using the 6Li(6Li,pγ) ...fusion-evaporation reaction and the GALILEO-GALTRACE setup. No clear signature was found for a possible E1 decay to the 1/21−, first-excited state of 11B, predicted by the Shell Model Embedded in the Continuum (SMEC) with a branching of 0.98−69+167×10−3 with respect to the dominant particle-decaying modes. The statistical analysis of the γ-ray spectrum provided an average upper limit of 2.37×10−3 for this γ-ray branching, with a global significance of 5σ. On the other hand, by imposing a global confidence level of 3σ, a significant excess of counts was observed for E=γ9300(20) keV, corresponding to a resonance energy of 11429(20) keV (namely 200(20) keV above the proton separation energy of 11B) and a γ-ray branching of 1.12(35)×10−3. This result is compatible with the SMEC calculations, potentially supporting the existence of a near-threshold proton resonance in 11B.
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The perspectives for photonuclear experiments at the new Extreme Light Infrastructure - Nuclear Physics (ELI-NP) facility are discussed in view of the need to accumulate novel and more precise ...nuclear data. The parameters of the ELI-NP gamma beam system are presented. The emerging experimental program, which will be realized at ELI-NP, is presented. Examples of day-one experiments with the nuclear resonance fluorescence technique, photonuclear reaction measurements, photofission experiments and studies of nuclear collective excitation modes and competition between various decay channels are discussed. The advantages which ELI-NP provides for all these experiments compared to the existing facilities are discussed.
The level structures of 70Co and 70Ni, populated from the β decay of 70Fe, have been investigated using β-delayed γ-ray spectroscopy following in-flight fission of a 238U beam. The experimental ...results are compared to Monte-Carlo Shell-Model calculations including the pf+g9/2+d5/2 orbitals. The strong population of a (1+) state at 274 keV in 70Co is at variance with the expected excitation energy of ∼1 MeV from near spherical single-particle estimates. This observation indicates a dominance of prolate-deformed intruder configurations in the low-lying levels, which coexist with the normal near spherical states. It is shown that the β decay of the neutron-rich A=70 isobars from the new island of inversion to the Z=28 closed-shell regime progresses in accordance with a newly reported type of shell evolution, the so-called Type II, which involves many particle-hole excitations across energy gaps.
The guppy, Poecilia reticulata Peters, 1859 is an ovoviviparous freshwater fish of low waters native to the Caribbean Islands, Venezuela, Guyana, and northern Brazil. Guppies are among the most ...popular fishes in the aquarium trade, and they are introduced into water bodies in many parts of Brazil through the aquarium dumping. This paper reports the first record of non-native P. reticulata in water bodies at midwest Brazil. Poecilia reticulata was collected in nascent of stream Figueira located to eastern of Tangara da Serra, southwest region of Mato Grosso State. This record and the presence of juveniles suggest natural recruitment of P. reticulata in stream Figueira and the introduction this species is very worrying. Especially when we consider the studies by Krinski et al reporting that 31 species of native fish can be found in Tangara da Serra streams, and 330 species in the upper Paraguay River basin.
The decay of the 21.47-MeV stretched resonance in 13C, arising from p3/2→d5/2 nucleon excitation coupled to maximum spin, was investigated in a (p,p′) experiment at 135 MeV proton bombarding energy, ...performed at the Cyclotron Centre Bronowice (CCB) at IFJ PAN in Krakow. First experimental information on the proton and neutron decay branches from this state was obtained by using coincidence measurement of protons inelastically scattered on a 13C target and γ rays from daughter nuclei, namely, 12B (proton decay) and 12C (neutron decay). The main branches lead to the Jπ=2+, first-excited state at 0.953 MeV in 12B, and to the Jπ=1+, T=1 level at 15.110 MeV in 12C. The results were compared with predictions from the Gamow Shell Model (GSM), which was used to describe the stretched resonance in terms of its energy, width, electromagnetic transition strengths and decay pattern. A very good agreement was obtained between the measured and calculated properties of the 21.47-MeV stretched resonance in 13C, demonstrating the high-quality and precision of the GSM wave function calculations, which include coupling to the resonant and non-resonant particle continuum.
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