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A. Heinz

Publications and source records attributed to A. Heinz.

49 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

Production of medium-mass neutron-rich nuclei in reactions induced by 136Xe projectiles at 1 A GeV on a beryllium target

Production cross sections of medium-mass neutron-rich nuclei obtained in the fragmentation of 136Xe projectiles at 1 A GeV have been measured with the FRagment Separator (FRS) at GSI. 125Pd was identified for the first time. The measured cross sections are compared to 238U fission yields and model calculations in order to determine the optimum reaction mechanism to extend the limits of the chart of the nuclides around the r-process waiting point at N=82.

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Experimental investigation of the residues produced in the 136Xe+Pb and 124Xe+Pb fragmentation reactions at 1 A GeV

This paper presents the nuclide cross sections and the longitudinal velocity distributions of residues produced in the reactions of 136Xe and 124Xe at 1 A GeV in a lead target, measured at the high-resolution magnetic spectrometer, the Fragment Separator (FRS) of GSI. The data cover a broad range of isotopes of the elements between Z = 3 and Z = 56 for 136Xe and between Z = 5 and Z = 55 for 124Xe, reaching down to cross sections of a few microbarns. The velocity distributions exhibit a Gaussian shape for masses above A = 20, while more complex behaviour is observed for lighter masses. The isotopic distributions for both reactions preserve a memory on the projectile N/Z ratio over the whole residue mass range.

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Nuclear-fission studies with relativistic secondary beams: analysis of fission channels

Nuclear fission of several neutron-deficient actinides and pre-actinides from excitation energies around 11 MeV was studied at GSI Darmstadt by use of relativistic secondary beams. The characteristics of multimodal fission of nuclei around 226Th are systematically investigated and interpreted as the superposition of three fission channels. Properties of these fission channels have been determined for 15 systems. A global view on the properties of fission channels including previous results is presented. The positions of the asymmetric fission channels are found to be constant in element number over the whole range of systems investigated.

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Nuclear Structure Relevant to Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay: 76Ge and 76Se

The possibility of observing neutrinoless double beta decay offers the opportunity of determining the neutrino mass IF the nuclear matrix element were known. Theoretical calculations are uncertain and measurements of the occupations of valence orbits by nucleons active in the decay can be important. The occupation of valence neutron orbits in the ground states of 76Ge and 76Se were determined by precisely measuring cross sections for both neutron-adding and removing transfer reactions. Our results indicate that the Fermi surface is much more diffuse than in theoretical (QRPA) calculations. We find that the populations of at least three orbits change significantly between these two ground states while in the calculations the changes are confined primarily to one orbit.

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High-j single-particle neutron states outside the N=82 core

The behaviour of the i13/2 and h9/2 single-neutron strength was studied with the (4He,3He) reaction on 138Ba, 140Ce, 142Nd and 144Sm targets at a beam energy of 51 MeV. The separation between the single-neutron states i13/2 and h9/2 was measured in N =83 nuclei with changing proton number. To this end spectroscopic factors for states populated in high-l transfer were extracted from the data. Some mixing of l=5 and 6 strength was observed with states that are formed by coupling the f7/2 state to the 2+ and 3- vibrational states and the mixing matrix elements were found to be remarkably constant. The centroids of the strength indicate a systematic change in the energies of the i13/2 and h9/2 single-neutron states with increasing proton number that is in quantitative agreement with the effects expected from the tensor interaction.

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Measurement of the complete nuclide production and kinetic energies of the system 136Xe + hydrogen at 1 GeV per nucleon

We present an extensive overview of production cross sections and kinetic energies for the complete set of nuclides formed in the spallation of 136Xe by protons at the incident energy of 1 GeV per nucleon. The measurement was performed in inverse kinematics at the FRagment Separator (GSI, Darmstadt). Slightly below the Businaro-Gallone point, 136Xe is the stable nuclide with the largest neutron excess. The kinematic data and cross sections collected in this work for the full nuclide production are a general benchmark for modelling the spallation process in a neutron-rich nuclear system, where fission is characterised by predominantly mass-asymmetric splits.

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Pair correlations in nuclei involved in neutrinoless double beta decay: 76Ge and 76Se

Precision measurements were carried out to test the similarities between the ground states of 76Ge and 76Se. The extent to which these two nuclei can be characterized as consisting of correlated pairs of neutrons in a BCS-like ground state was studied. The pair removal (p,t) reaction was measured at the far forward angle of 3 degrees. The relative cross sections are consistent (at the 5% level) with the description of these nuclei in terms of a correlated pairing state outside the N=28 closed shells with no pairing vibrations. Data were also obtained for 74Ge and 78Se.

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First experiment on fission transients in highly fissile spherical nuclei produced by fragmentation of radioactive beams

We report on a novel experimental approach for studying the dissipative spreading of collective motion in a meta-stable nuclear system, using, for the first time, highly fissile nuclei with spherical shape. This was achieved by fragmentation of 45 radioactive heavy-ion beams at GSI, Darmstadt. The use of inverse kinematics and a dedicated experimental set-up allowed for the identification in atomic number of both fission fragments. From the width of their charge distributions, a transient time of (3.3 +/- 0.7) 10-21 s is deduced for initially spherical nuclei.

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Spallation Residues in the Reaction 56Fe + p at 0.3, 0.5, 0.75, 1.0 and 1.5 A GeV

The spallation residues produced in the bombardment of 56}Fe at 1.5, 1.0, 0.75, 0.5 and 0.3 A GeV on a liquid-hydrogen target have been measured using the reverse kinematics technique and the Fragment Separator at GSI (Darmstadt). This technique has permitted the full identification in charge and mass of all isotopes produced with cross-sections larger than 10^{-2} mb down to Z=8. Their individual production cross-sections and recoil velocities at the five energies are presented. Production cross-sections are compared to previously existing data and to empirical parametric formulas, often used in cosmic-ray astrophysics. The experimental data are also extensively compared to different combinations of intra-nuclear cascade and de-excitation models. It is shown that the yields of the lightest isotopes cannot be accounted for by standard evaporation models. The GEMINI model, which includes an asymmetric fission decay mode, gives an overall good agreement with the data. These experimental data can be directly used for the estimation of composition modifications and damages in materials containing iron in spallation sources. They are also useful for improving high precision cosmic-ray measurements.

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Decay modes of 250No

The Fragment Mass Analyzer at the ATLAS facility has been used to unambiguously identify the mass number associated with different decay modes of the nobelium isotopes produced via 204Pb(48Ca,xn)(252-x)No reactions. Isotopically pure (>99.7%) 204Pb targets were used to reduce background from more favored reactions on heavier lead isotopes. Two spontaneous fission half-lives (t_1/2 = 3.7+1.1-0.8 us and 43+22-15 us) were deduced from a total of 158 fission events. Both decays originate from 250No rather than from neighboring isotopes as previously suggested. The longer activity most likely corresponds to a K-isomer in this nucleus. No conclusive evidence for an alpha branch was observed, resulting in upper limits of 2.1% for the shorter lifetime and 3.4% for the longer activity.

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The 40Ca(alpha,gamma)44Ti reaction in the energy regime of supernova nucleosynthesis

The 44Ti(t1/2 = 59 y) nuclide, an important signature of supernova nucleosynthesis, has recently been observed as live radioactivity by gamma-ray astronomy from the Cas A remnant. We investigate in the laboratory the major 44Ti production reaction, 40Ca(alpha,gamma)44Ti (E_cm = 0.6-1.2 MeV/u), by direct off- line counting of 44Ti nuclei. The yield, significantly higher than inferred from previous experiments, is analyzed in terms of a statistical model using microscopic nuclear inputs. The associated stellar rate has important astrophysical consequences, increasing the calculated supernova 44Ti yield by a factor ~2 over previous estimates and bringing it closer to Cas A observations.

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Electromagnetic-induced fission of 238U projectile fragments, a test case for the production of spherical super-heavy nuclei

Isotopic series of 58 neutron-deficient secondary projectiles (205,206At, 205-209Rn, 208-212,217,218Fr, 211-223Ra, 215-226Ac, 221-229Th, 226-231Pa, 231-234U) were produced by projectile fragmentation using a 1 A GeV 238U beam. Cross sections of fission induced by nuclear and electromagnetic interactions in a secondary lead target were measured. They were found to vary smoothly as a function of proton and neutron number of the fissioning system, also for nuclei with large ground-state shell effects near the 126-neutron shell. No stabilization against fission was observed for these nuclei at low excitation energies. Consequences for the expectations on the production cross sections of super-heavy nuclei are discussed.

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