The heaviest elements to have been chemically characterized are seaborgium (element 106), bohrium (element 107) and hassium (element 108). All three behave according to their respective positions in ...groups 6, 7 and 8 of the periodic table, which arranges elements according to their outermost electrons and hence their chemical properties. However, the chemical characterization results are not trivial: relativistic effects on the electronic structure of the heaviest elements can strongly influence chemical properties. The next heavy element targeted for chemical characterization is element 112; its closed-shell electronic structure with a filled outer s orbital suggests that it may be particularly susceptible to strong deviations from the chemical property trends expected within group 12. Indeed, first experiments concluded that element 112 does not behave like its lighter homologue mercury. However, the production and identification methods used cast doubt on the validity of this result. Here we report a more reliable chemical characterization of element 112, involving the production of two atoms of 283112 through the alpha decay of the short-lived 287114 (which itself forms in the nuclear fusion reaction of 48Ca with 242Pu) and the adsorption of the two atoms on a gold surface. By directly comparing the adsorption characteristics of 283112 to that of mercury and the noble gas radon, we find that element 112 is very volatile and, unlike radon, reveals a metallic interaction with the gold surface. These adsorption characteristics establish element 112 as a typical element of group 12, and its successful production unambiguously establishes the approach to the island of stability of superheavy elements through 48Ca-induced nuclear fusion reactions with actinides.
GABRIELA (Gamma Alpha Beta Recoil Investigations with the Electromagnetic Analyzer) is a detection system installed at the focal plane of the SHELS (Separator for Heavy Elements Spectroscopy) recoil ...separator for gamma and internal conversion electron spectroscopy of heavy and superheavy nuclei. GABRIELA has recently been upgraded. The characteristics of the new setup are presented using the
Geant4
Monte Carlo simulation toolkit and validated against experimental results. The impact of summing on the gamma-ray and electron detection efficiencies is discussed.
The current work discusses the experimental evaluation technique for the prompt neutron multiplicity distribution (PNMD) emitted is the spontaneous fission (SF). The restoring technique for the ...detector efficiency correction is shown as well as the comparison of two regularization parameter choice methods. The shape of the PNMD helps to achieve the information according the dynamic of the SF. The work also compiles all currently published PNMDs in the transfermium (Z > 100) region and discusses their shapes, providing a physical interpretation of the distortion of these distributions.
The structure of the 102254No152 nucleus has been studied for more than 20 years: the last publications on its decay spectroscopy are from LBNL 1, GSI 2, JYFL 3 and ANL 4. Four decay schemes ...featuring two isomers have been published and are interpreted differently in terms of excitation energy and decay scheme of the 2nd isomer and configuration assignments of both K-isomers. These discrepancies have triggered new experiments including this one, performed with the GABRIELA 5, 6 array, at the focal plane of the SHELS 7 separator at the FLNR, Dubna. The first part of this proceeding will present the experimental setup and the analysis techniques used to reveal the electromagnetic decay of the known isomers in 254No. The second part will focus on the new results obtained with more than 1 million 254No nuclei implanted in the focal plane detector. In particular, the internal conversion electron spectrum observed in the decay of the 8− K-isomer has revealed the presence of a strong transition, most likely E0, suggesting low-lying shape coexistence in this nucleus as predicted in 8, 9. The γ-ray spectrum obtained from the decay of the short-lived 170 μs isomer has revealed new γ-ray lines putting in doubt the previous interpretations about this isomer decay.
The SHELS velocity filter originated upon reconstruction of the VASSILISSA electrostatic separator used for investigations of heavy nuclei produced in complete fusion reactions. The goals of this ...modernization were to increase the transmission of products of asymmetric reactions and to extend the region of reactions to be investigated up to symmetric combinations. The first tests of the set-up were performed with the beams of accelerated 22Ne, 40Ar, 48Ca, and 50Ti ions.
The new neutron-deficient isotope
249
No was synthesized for the first time in the fusion-evaporation reaction
204
Pb(
48
Ca,3n)
249
No. After separation, using the kinematic separator SHELS, the new ...isotope was identified with the GABRIELA detection system through genetic correlations with the known daughter and granddaughter nuclei
245
Fm and
241
Cf. The alpha-decay activity of
249
No has an energy of 9129(22) keV and half-life 38.3(2.8) ms. An upper limit of 0.2% was measured for the fission branch of
249
No. Based on the present data and recent information on the decay properties of
253
Rf and aided by Geant4 simulations, the ground state of
249
No is assigned the 5/2
+
622 neutron configuration and a partial decay scheme from
253
Rf to
245
Fm could be established. The production cross-section was found to be
σ
(3n)=0.47(4) nb at a mid-target beam energy of 225.4 MeV, which corresponds to the maximum of the calculated excitation function. Correlations of the
249
No alpha activity with subsequent alpha decays of energy 7728(20) keV and half-life
1
.
2
-
0.4
+
1.0
min provided a firm measurement of the electron-capture or
β
+
branch of
245
Fm to
245
Es. The excitation function for the 1n, 2n and 3n evaporation channels was measured. In the case of the 2n-evaporation channel
250
No, a strong variation of the ground state and isomeric state populations as a function of bombarding energy could be evidenced.
A great many experimental studies devoted to exploring in detail the properties of radioactive decay of the isotopes of transfermium elements by means of alpha, beta, and gamma spectroscopy have been ...performed over the past fifteen years at the Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions (Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Dubna). High-intensity accelerated heavy-ion beams of
Ne,
Ca,
Ti, and
Cr from the U-400 cyclotron were used in experiments with the SHELS kinematic separator. An upgrade of the separator and detector system is planned in the future with the aim of improving the transportation efficiency for the nuclei under study and the detection efficiency for gamma rays.
Quantum key distribution (QKD) offers a practical solution for secure communication between two distinct parties via a quantum channel and an authentic public channel. In this work, we consider ...different approaches to the quantum bit error rate (QBER) estimation at the information reconciliation stage of the post-processing procedure. For reconciliation schemes employing low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes, we develop a novel syndrome-based QBER estimation algorithm. The algorithm suggested is suitable for irregular LDPC codes and takes into account punctured and shortened bits. Testing our approach in a real QKD setup, we show that an approach combining the proposed algorithm with conventional QBER estimation techniques allows one to improve the accuracy of the QBER estimation.
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Outcrops of the coal-bearing Tankhoi Formation (Oligocene–Pliocene), traced along the southern shore of Lake Baikal, submerge under its Southern Basin, where several hydrate-bearing zones of the ...focused hydrocarbon fluid discharge have been found. To test the hypothesis that coals of the Tankhoi Formation can be the sources of hydrocarbon gases in these zones, we collected coal samples from the Shakhterskaya Gorka outcrop. Experiment on gas generation from the selected samples was carried out in a special autoclave at a temperature of 90°C for eight months. This paper presents the obtained results, which confirm an important role of the process of gas generation from coals in the formation of fluids in the Kedr mud volcano. The further migration of gases was accompanied by the biodegradation and formation of secondary microbial methane due to CO
2
reduction. This was one of the reasons for the carbon isotopic pattern observed in methane (heavier than –50‰ VPDB) and carbon dioxide (positive values) taken from the near-surface sediments and hydrates of the Kedr mud volcano, as well as for the significant enrichment of authigenic siderites in the heavy
13
C isotope.
This report describes a series of experiments aimed on investigating characteristics of spontaneous fission of nuclei in the exotic region of short-lived neutron-deficient isotopes with Z ≥ 100. ...Unique data on the decay properties of neutron-deficient isotopes 244,246Fm, 250No, 252No, 254Rf and 256Rf produced in the complete fusion reactions with accelerated heavy ions 40Ar + 206,208Pb → 246,248Fm*, 48Ca + 204,206Pb → 252,254No*, 50Ti + 206,208Pb →256,258Rf* were obtained in experiments at the VASSILISSA (SHELS) separator combined with a neutron detector.
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