Measurement of Compton scattering from the deuteron and an improved extraction of the neutron electromagnetic polarizabilities.

The electromagnetic polarizabilities of the nucleon are fundamental properties that describe its response to external electric and magnetic fields. They can be extracted from Compton-scattering data-and have been, with good accuracy, in the case of the proton. In contradistinction, information for the neutron requires the use of Compton scattering from nuclear targets. Here, we report a new measurement of elastic photon scattering from deuterium using quasimonoenergetic tagged photons at the MAX IV Laboratory in Lund, Sweden. These first new data in more than a decade effectively double the world data set. Their energy range overlaps with previous experiments and extends it by 20 MeV to higher energies. An analysis using chiral effective field theory with dynamical Δ(1232) degrees of freedom shows the data are consistent with and within the world data set. After demonstrating that the fit is consistent with the Baldin sum rule, extracting values for the isoscalar nucleon polarizabilities, and combining them with a recent result for the proton, we obtain the neutron polarizabilities as αn=[11.55±1.25(stat)±0.2(BSR)±0.8(th)]×10(-4) fm(3) and ßn=[3.65∓1.25(stat)±0.2(BSR)∓0.8(th)]×10(-4) fm(3), with χ(2)=45.2 for 44 degrees of freedom.

Trace metals in algae and sediments from the North-Eastern Tunisian lagoons.

The mean concentrations of copper, zinc, plomb, nickel and chrome were determined in algae and sediments collected from three aquatic areas of the Tunisian North-East (Sebkhet Sijoumi and Radès and Bizerte lagoon). The recorded metal levels, ranging (in µg g⁻¹) from 1.58 to 68.56 for macroalgae and from 8.70 to 234.40 for sediment samples, were low in most of the sampling locations and similar to those of sites qualified as «slightly polluted¼. However, certain locations showed significant differences with the remaining sites indicating some degree of contamination (ANOVA, p < 0.001). These locations were found in Sebkhet Radès and Bizerte lagoon for copper, zinc, nickel and chrome metals and in Sebkhet Sijoumi for plomb in algae. The study of the correlation between metal contents in algae and sediments showed highly significant positive values for zinc and plomb (p < 0.01). A significant correlation was also noticed for Cr (p < 0.05). However, there was no clear relationship between copper and nickel levels in both matrices.

Tagging fast neutrons from a 252Cf fission-fragment source.

Coincidence and time-of-flight measurement techniques are employed to tag fission neutrons emitted from a 252Cf source sealed on one side with a very thin layer of Au. The source is positioned within a gaseous 4He scintillator detector. Together with α particles, both light and heavy fission fragments pass through the thin layer of Au and are detected. The fragments enable the corresponding fission neutrons, which are detected in a NE-213 liquid-scintillator detector, to be tagged. The resulting continuous polychromatic beam of tagged neutrons has an energy dependence that agrees qualitatively with expectations. We anticipate that this technique will provide a cost-effective means for the characterization of neutron-detector efficiency in the energy range 1-6MeV.

A comparison of untagged gamma-ray and tagged-neutron yields from 241AmBe and 238PuBe sources.

Untagged gamma-ray and tagged-neutron yields from 241AmBe and 238PuBe mixed-field sources have been measured. Gamma-ray spectroscopy measurements from 1 to 5MeV were performed in an open environment using a CeBr3 detector and the same experimental conditions for both sources. The shapes of the distributions are very similar and agree well with previous data. Tagged-neutron measurements from 2 to 6MeV were performed in a shielded environment using a NE-213 liquid-scintillator detector for the neutrons and a YAP(Ce) detector to tag the 4.44MeVgamma-rays associated with the de-excitation of the first-excited state of 12C. Again, the same experimental conditions were used for both sources. The shapes of these distributions are also very similar and agree well with previous data, each other, and the ISO recommendation. Our 238PuBe source provides approximately 2.6 times more 4.44MeVgamma-rays and 2.4 times more neutrons over the tagged-neutron energy range, the latter in reasonable agreement with the original full-spectrum source-calibration measurements performed at the time of their acquisition.

Tagging fast neutrons from an (241)Am/(9)Be source.

Shielding, coincidence, and time-of-flight measurement techniques are employed to tag fast neutrons emitted from an (241)Am/(9)Be source resulting in a continuous polychromatic energy-tagged beam of neutrons with energies up to 7MeV. The measured energy structure of the beam agrees qualitatively with both previous measurements and theoretical calculations.