arXiv subjects

H. Abele

Publications and source records attributed to H. Abele.

53 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2007

A clean, bright, and versatile source of neutron decay products

We present a case study on a new type of cold neutron beam station for the investigation of angular correlations in the beta-decay of free neutrons. With this beam station, called PERC, the 'active decay volume' lies inside the neutron guide, and the charged neutron decay products are magnetically guided towards the end of the neutron guide. Hence, the guide delivers at its exit a beam of decay electrons and protons, under well-defined and precisely variable conditions, which can be well separated from the cold neutron beam. In this way a general-purpose source of neutron decay products is obtained which can be used for various different experiments in neutron decay correlation spectroscopy. A gain in phase space density of several orders of magnitude can be achieved with PERC, as compared to existing neutron decay spectrometers. Neutron beam related background is separately measurable in PERC, and magnetic mirror effects on the charged neutron decay products and edge effects in the active neutron beam volume are both strongly suppressed. Therefore the spectra and angular distributions of the emerging decay particles will be distortion-free on the level of 10^-4, more than 10 times better than achieved today.

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2007

GRANIT project: a trap for gravitational quantum states of UCN

Previous studies of gravitationally bound states of ultracold neutrons showed the quantization of energy levels, and confirmed quantum mechanical predictions for the average size of the two lowest energy states wave functions. Improvements in position-like measurements can increase the accuracy by an order of magnitude only. We therefore develop another approach, consisting in accurate measurements of the energy levels. The GRANIT experiment is devoted to the study of resonant transitions between quantum states induced by an oscillating perturbation. According to Heisenberg's uncertainty relations, the accuracy of measurement of the energy levels is limited by the time available to perform the transitions. Thus, trapping quantum states will be necessary, and each source of losses has to be controlled in order to maximize the lifetime of the states. We discuss the general principles of transitions between quantum states, and consider the main systematical losses of neutrons in a trap.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2006

Imaging with Scattered Neutrons

We describe a novel experimental technique for neutron imaging with scattered neutrons. These scattered neutrons are of interest for condensed matter physics, because they permit to reveal the local distribution of incoherent and coherent scattering within a sample. In contrast to standard attenuation based imaging, scattered neutron imaging distinguishes between the scattering cross section and the total attenuation cross section including absorption. First successful low-noise millimeter-resolution images by scattered neutron radiography and tomography are presented.

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2006

Neutron Radiography Analysis of a Transient Liquid Phase Joint

Neutron radiography in many cases is the only non-destructive technique available for the analysis of a wide range of samples from metallurgy, materials engineering and materials testing. In this paper the potential of the technique is illustrated for a transient liquid phase (TLP) joint. TLP bonding produces interface free and stress free joints. The quality and properties of the joint depend on the diffusion of an interlayer into the base material. A TLP joint is visualised and the diffusion profile of the boron contained in the bonding additives is determined. Parameters of the bonding process are determined quantitatively from this profile, and flaws in the joint are detected.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2006

A quantum mechanical description of the experiment on the observation of gravitationally bound states

Quantum states in the Earth's gravitational field were observed, when ultra-cold neutrons fall under gravity. The experimental results can be described by the quantum mechanical scattering model as it is presented here. We also discuss other geometries of the experimental setup which correspond to the absence or the reversion of gravity. Since our quantum mechanical model describes, particularly, the experimentally realized situation of reversed gravity quantitatively, we can practically rule out alternative explanations of the quantum states in terms of pure confinement effects.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2006

Quantum motion of a neutron in a wave-guide in the gravitational field

We study theoretically the quantum motion of a neutron in a horizontal wave-guide in the gravitational field of the Earth. The wave-guide in question is equipped with a mirror below and a rough absorber above. We show that such a system acts as a quantum filter, i.e. it effectively absorbs quantum states with sufficiently high transversal energy but transmits low-energy states. The states transmitted are mainly determined by the potential well formed by the gravitational field of the Earth and the mirror. The formalism developed for quantum motion in an absorbing wave-guide is applied to the description of the recent experiment on the observation of the quantum states of neutrons in the Earth's gravitational field.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2005

Status of the Cabibbo Angle

We review the recent experimental and theoretical progress in the determination of |V_{ud}| and |V_{us}|, and the status of the most stringent test of CKM unitarity. Future prospects on |V_{cd}| and |V_{cs}| are also briefly discussed.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2005

Characterization of a ballistic supermirror neutron guide

We describe the beam characteristics of the first ballistic supermirror neutron guide H113 that feeds the neutron user facility for particle physics PF1B of the Institute Laue-Langevin, Grenoble (ILL). At present, the neutron capture flux density of H113 at its 20x6cm2 exit window is 1.35x10^10/cm^2/s, and will soon be raised to above 2x10^10/cm^2/s. Beam divergence is no larger than beam divergence from a conventional Ni coated guide. A model is developed that permits rapid calculation of beam profiles and absolute event rates from such a beam. We propose a procedure that permits inter-comparability of the main features of beams emitted from ballistic or conventional neutron guides.

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2005

Study of the neutron quantum states in the gravity field

We have studied neutron quantum states in the potential well formed by the earth's gravitational field and a horizontal mirror. The estimated characteristic sizes of the neutron wave functions in the two lowest quantum states correspond to expectations with an experimental accuracy. A position-sensitive neutron detector with an extra-high spatial resolution of ~2 microns was developed and tested for this particular experiment, to be used to measure the spatial density distribution in a standing neutron wave above a mirror for a set of some of the lowest quantum states. The present experiment can be used to set an upper limit for an additional short-range fundamental force. We studied methodological uncertainties as well as the feasibility of improving further the accuracy of this experiment.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2003

Quark Mixing, CKM Unitarity

In the Standard Model of elementary particles, quark-mixing is expressed in terms of a 3 x 3 unitary matrix V, the so called Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa (CKM) matrix. Significant unitarity checks are so far possible for the first row of this matrix. This article reviews the experimental and theoretical information on these matrix elements. On the experimental side, we find a 2.2 sigma to 2.7 sigma deviation from unitarity, which conflicts with the Standard Model.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2003

Measurement of quantum states of neutrons in the Earth's gravitational field

The lowest stationary quantum state of neutrons in the Earth's gravitational field is identified in the measurement of neutron transmission between a horizontal mirror on the bottom and an absorber on top. Such an assembly is not transparent for neutrons if the absorber height is smaller than the "height" of the lowest quantum state.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2002

Is the Unitarity of the quark-mixing-CKM-matrix violated in neutron $β$-decay?

We report on a new measurement of neutron $β$-decay asymmetry. From the result \linebreak $A_0$ = -0.1189(7), we derive the ratio of the axial vector to the vector coupling constant $λ$ = ${\it g_A/g_V}$ = -1.2739(19). When included in the world average for the neutron lifetime $τ$ = 885.7(7)s, this gives the first element of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa (CKM) matrix $V_{ud} $. With this value and the Particle Data Group values for $V_{us}$ and $V_{ub}$, we find a deviation from the unitarity condition for the first row of the CKM matrix of $Δ$ = 0.0083(28), which is 3.0 times the stated error.

hep-ex↗

arXiv1994

Systematics of $α$--nucleus optical potentials

Double--folded optical $α$--nucleus potentials can be used to calculate elastic scattering cross sections in a wide mass-- and energy region. Because of the systematic behavior of the potential parameters we are able to obtain reliable optical potentials for astrophysically relevant reactions even without scattering data in low--energy region. As example we analyze the capture reaction ${^{144}{\rm Sm}}(α,γ){^{148}{\Gd}}$.

nucl-th↗

arXiv1993

Properties of $^{8}$Be and $^{12}$C deduced from the folding--potential model

The $α$--$α$ differential cross sections are analyzed in the optical model using a double--folded potential. With the knowledge of this potential bound and resonance--state properties of $α$--cluster states in $^{8}$Be and $^{12}$C as well as astrophysical S--factors of $^{4}$He($α$,$γ$)$^{8}$Be and $^{8}$Be($α$,$γ$)$^{12}$C are calculated. $Γ_γ$--widths and B(E2)--values are deduced.

nucl-th↗

arXiv1993

Alpha Clustering and the stellar nucleosynthesis of carbon

The astrophysical S--factor and reaction rates for the triple--alpha process are calculated in the direct--capture model. It is shown that the stellar carbon production is extremely sensitive to small variations in the N--N interaction.

astro-ph↗

arXiv1993

Properties of $^{8}$Be and $^{12}$C deduced from the folding--potential model

astro-ph↗

arXiv1993

Alpha scattering and capture reactions in the A = 7 system at low energies

Differential cross sections for $^3$He-$α$ scattering were measured in the energy range up to 3 MeV. These data together with other available experimental results for $^3$He $+ α$ and $^3$H $+ α$ scattering were analyzed in the framework of the optical model using double-folded potentials. The optical potentials obtained were used to calculate the astrophysical S-factors of the capture reactions $^3$He$(α,γ)^7$Be and $^3$H$(α,γ)^7$Li, and the branching ratios for the transitions into the two final $^7$Be and $^7$Li bound states, respectively. For $^3$He$(α,γ)^7$Be excellent agreement between calculated and experimental data is obtained. For $^3$H$(α,γ)^7$Li a $S(0)$ value has been found which is a factor of about 1.5 larger than the adopted value. For both capture reactions a similar branching ratio of $R = σ(γ_1)/σ(γ_0) \approx 0.43$ has been obtained.

nucl-th↗