Poly(ethylene naphthalate), PEN, is an industrial polyester which has been shown to scintillate in the blue wavelength region. Combined with measurements of a high intrinsic radiopurity, this has ...sparked interest in the material for use in low-background experiments.
Calorimeter development for the SuperNEMO double beta decay experiment Barabash, A.S.; Basharina-Freshville, A.; Blot, S. ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
10/2017, Letnik:
868, Številka:
C
Journal Article
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SuperNEMO is a double-β decay experiment, which will employ the successful tracker–calorimeter technique used in the recently completed NEMO-3 experiment. SuperNEMO will implement 100 kg of double-β ...decay isotope, reaching a sensitivity to the neutrinoless double-β decay (0νββ) half-life of the order of 1026 yr, corresponding to a Majorana neutrino mass of 50–100 meV. One of the main goals and challenges of the SuperNEMO detector development programme has been to reach a calorimeter energy resolution, ΔE∕E, around 3%∕E(MeV)σ, or 7%∕E(MeV) FWHM (full width at half maximum), using a calorimeter composed of large volume plastic scintillator blocks coupled to photomultiplier tubes. We describe the R&D programme and the final design of the SuperNEMO calorimeter that has met this challenging goal.
The full data set of the NEMO-3 experiment has been used to measure the half-life of the two-neutrino double beta decay of Formula omittedMo to the ground state of Formula omittedRu, Formula omitted ...year. The two-electron energy sum, single electron energy spectra and distribution of the angle between the electrons are presented with an unprecedented statistics of Formula omitted events and a signal-to-background ratio of Formula omitted 80. Clear evidence for the Single State Dominance model is found for this nuclear transition. Limits on Majoron emitting neutrinoless double beta decay modes with spectral indices of Formula omitted, as well as constraints on Lorentz invariance violation and on the bosonic neutrino contribution to the two-neutrino double beta decay mode are obtained.
Non-antibiotic alternatives to antimicrobial growth promoters (AGPs) are required, and understanding the mode of action of AGPs may facilitate the development of effective alternatives. The temporal ...impact of the conventional antibiotic AGP, virginiamycin, and an AGP alternative, ceragenin (CSA-44), on the structure and function of the broiler chicken cecal microbiota was determined using next-generation sequencing and
H-nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR)-based metabolomics. To elucidate the impact of enteric bacterial diversity, oral transplantation (±) of cecal digesta into 1-day-old chicks was conducted. Microbiota transplantation resulted in the establishment of a highly diverse cecal microbiota in recipient chicks that did not change between day 10 and day 15 post-hatch. Neither virginiamycin nor CSA-44 influenced feed consumption, weight gain, or feed conversion ratio, and did not affect the structure of the cecal microbiota in chicks possessing a low or high diversity enteric microbiota. However, metabolomic analysis of the cecal contents showed that the metabolome of cecal digesta was affected in birds administered virginiamycin and CSA-44 as a function of bacterial community diversity. As revealed by metabolomics, glycolysis-related metabolites and amino acid synthesis pathways were impacted by virginiamycin and CSA-44. Thus, the administration of AGPs did not influence bacterial community structure but did alter the function of enteric bacterial communities. Hence, alterations to the functioning of the enteric microbiota in chickens may be the mechanism by which AGPs impart beneficial health benefits, and this possibility should be examined in future research.
The NEMO-3 results for the double-
β
decay of
150
Nd to the 0
1
+
and 2
1
+
excited states of
150
Sm are reported. The data recorded during 5.25 year with 36.6 g of the isotope
150
Nd are used in the ...analysis. The signal of the
2
ν
β
β
transition to the 0
1
+
excited state is detected with a statistical significance exceeding 5
σ
. The half-life is measured to be
T
1
/
2
2
ν
β
β
(
0
1
+
)
=
1
.
11
-
0.14
+
0.19
stat
-
0.15
+
0.17
syst
×
10
20
year, which is the most precise value that has been measured to date. 90% confidence-level limits are set for the other decay modes. For the
2
ν
β
β
decay to the 2
1
+
level the limit is
T
1
/
2
2
ν
β
β
(
2
1
+
)
>
2.42
×
10
20
year
. The limits on the
0
ν
β
β
decay to the 0
1
+
and 2
1
+
levels of
150
Sm are significantly improved to
T
1
/
2
0
ν
β
β
(
0
1
+
)
>
1.36
×
10
22
year
and
T
1
/
2
0
ν
β
β
(
2
1
+
)
>
1.26
×
10
22
year
.
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