Bubble chambers for experiments in nuclear astrophysics
Abstract
A bubble chamber has been developed to be used as an active target system for low energy nuclear astrophysics experiments. Adopting ideas from dark matter detection with superheated liquids, a detector system compatible with γ-ray beams has been developed. This detector alleviates some of the limitations encountered in standard measurements of the minute cross-sections of interest to stellar environments. While the astrophysically relevant nuclear reaction processes at hydrostatic burning temperatures are dominated by radiative captures, in this experimental scheme we measure the time-reversed processes. Such photodisintegrations allow us to compute the radiative capture cross-sections when transitions to excited states of the reaction products are negligible. Due to the transformation of phase space, the photodisintegration cross-sections are up to two orders of magnitude higher. The main advantage of the new target-detector system is a density several orders of magnitude higher than conventional gas targets. Also, the detector is virtually insensitive to the γ-ray beam itself, thus allowing us to detect only the products of the nuclear reaction of interest. In conclusion, the development and the operation as well as the advantages and disadvantages of the bubble chamber are discussed.
- Authors:
-
- Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
- UGC-DAE Consortium for Scientific Research, Kolkata (India)
- Univ. of Chicago, Chicago, IL (United States)
- Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)
- Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
- Univ. of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Nuclear Physics (NP); USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1471563
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1246223; OSTI ID: 1866187
- Report Number(s):
- arXiv:1501.06883; FERMILAB-PUB-15-677-AE; LLNL-JRNL-739750
Journal ID: ISSN 0168-9002; 1341273
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC02-07CH11359; AC52-07NA27344; AC02-06CH11357
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research. Section A, Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 781; Journal Issue: C; Journal ID: ISSN 0168-9002
- Publisher:
- Elsevier
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS; 46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY; 73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS; nuclear astrophysics; gamma ray beam; bubble chamber
Citation Formats
DiGiovine, B., Henderson, D., Holt, R. J., Raut, R., Rehm, K. E., Robinson, A., Sonnenschein, A., Rusev, G., Tonchev, A. P., and Ugalde, C. Bubble chambers for experiments in nuclear astrophysics. United States: N. p., 2015.
Web. doi:10.1016/j.nima.2015.01.060.
DiGiovine, B., Henderson, D., Holt, R. J., Raut, R., Rehm, K. E., Robinson, A., Sonnenschein, A., Rusev, G., Tonchev, A. P., & Ugalde, C. Bubble chambers for experiments in nuclear astrophysics. United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2015.01.060
DiGiovine, B., Henderson, D., Holt, R. J., Raut, R., Rehm, K. E., Robinson, A., Sonnenschein, A., Rusev, G., Tonchev, A. P., and Ugalde, C. Fri .
"Bubble chambers for experiments in nuclear astrophysics". United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2015.01.060. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1471563.
@article{osti_1471563,
title = {Bubble chambers for experiments in nuclear astrophysics},
author = {DiGiovine, B. and Henderson, D. and Holt, R. J. and Raut, R. and Rehm, K. E. and Robinson, A. and Sonnenschein, A. and Rusev, G. and Tonchev, A. P. and Ugalde, C.},
abstractNote = {A bubble chamber has been developed to be used as an active target system for low energy nuclear astrophysics experiments. Adopting ideas from dark matter detection with superheated liquids, a detector system compatible with γ-ray beams has been developed. This detector alleviates some of the limitations encountered in standard measurements of the minute cross-sections of interest to stellar environments. While the astrophysically relevant nuclear reaction processes at hydrostatic burning temperatures are dominated by radiative captures, in this experimental scheme we measure the time-reversed processes. Such photodisintegrations allow us to compute the radiative capture cross-sections when transitions to excited states of the reaction products are negligible. Due to the transformation of phase space, the photodisintegration cross-sections are up to two orders of magnitude higher. The main advantage of the new target-detector system is a density several orders of magnitude higher than conventional gas targets. Also, the detector is virtually insensitive to the γ-ray beam itself, thus allowing us to detect only the products of the nuclear reaction of interest. In conclusion, the development and the operation as well as the advantages and disadvantages of the bubble chamber are discussed.},
doi = {10.1016/j.nima.2015.01.060},
journal = {Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research. Section A, Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment},
number = C,
volume = 781,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Jan 23 00:00:00 EST 2015},
month = {Fri Jan 23 00:00:00 EST 2015}
}
Web of Science
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Works referencing / citing this record:
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