Experimental test of the superheavy fission hypothesis in acid residues from the allende meteorite

Thesis/Dissertation · Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1982

OSTI ID:6846144

Flynn, G J

A description of a series of experiments to find evidence to confirm or contradict the hypothesis that isotopically anomalous Xe (called CCF-Xe) in carbonaceous chondrite meteorites results from the fission decay of a superheavy element is given. The first two experiments were searches for fossil evidence - fission tracks and isotopic anomalies - of superheavy fission decay in the Allende carbonaceous chondrite. It was demonstrated that chromite, a mineral rich in CCF-Xe, records fission tracks, and a search for such tracks in Allende chromite was performed with negative results. It was also demonstrated in certain CCF-XE rich phases of Allende, isotopic anomalies like those seen in Xe should be detectable in Ba and the light rare earths. Preliminary results from a collaborative measurement (with the University of Paris) show the Ba isotopic ratios to be normal in a CCF-Xe rich Allende sample. The third experiment was motivated by reports of the detection of a live, fissioning superheavy element, using a neutron counting technique, in bulk Allende (Flerov, 1978). Since almost all of the allegedly fissiogenic Xe in Allende is concentrated in certain acid insoluble phases, we developed a technique to detect low-level fission activity in these phases. Allende acid insoluble residue (provided by the University of Chicago) was dispersed in a 1 mg/cm/sup 2/ layer, between two track recording detectors. An automatic track locating system was developed to allow large detector areas to be scanned for rate fission events.

• Research Organization: Washington Univ., St. Louis, MO (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6846144
• Resource Relation: Other Information: Thesis (Ph. D.)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
CHONDRITES
FISSION TRACKS
BARIUM
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
HALF-LIFE
ISOTOPE RATIO
ISOTROPY
RESIDUES
TRANS 104 ELEMENTS
XENON
ALKALINE EARTH METALS
DATA
ELEMENTS
FLUIDS
GASES
INFORMATION
METALS
METEORITES
NONMETALS
NUMERICAL DATA
PARTICLE TRACKS
RARE GASES
STONE METEORITES
TRANSPLUTONIUM ELEMENTS
TRANSURANIUM ELEMENTS
640107* - Astrophysics & Cosmology- Planetary Phenomena