Search

Heavy elements with Z ≥ 30 are made by neutron capture reactions during stellar He burning and presumably in supernovae. This contribution deals mainly with the slow neutron capture (s) process which is responsible for about one half of the abundances in the mass region between Fe and Bi. The slow time scale implies that the reaction path of this process involves mostly stable isotopes which can be studied in detail in laboratory experiments. The neutron time of flight (n_TOF) facility at CERN is a neutron spallation source, its white neutron energy spectrum ranges from thermal to several MeV, covering the full energy range of interest for nuclear astrophysics, in particular for measurements of the neutron capture cross section required in s-process nucleosynthesis. This contribution gives an overview on the astrophysical program made at n_TOF facility, the results and the implications will be considered. European Commission (EC) FIKW-CT-2000-00107

In the range of low bombarding energies (less than about 1.5 MeV) the 9Be(d,n)10B reaction produces neutron spectra that can be moderated depending on the choice of the target thickness and the deuteron bombarding energy. In this work, a Monte Carlo simulation study to determine the capability of this reaction to deliver enough dose to efficiently control both skin and deep seated tumors has been performed by means of MCNP calculations using eight optimized 9Be targets.

We describe the present status of an ongoing project to develop a Tandem-ElectroStatic-Quadrupole (TESQ) accelerator facility for Accelerator-Based (AB)-BNCT. The project final goal is a machine capable of delivering 30 mA of 2.4 MeV protons to be used in conjunction with a neutron production target based on the (7)Li(p,n)(7)Be reaction. The machine currently being constructed is a folded TESQ with a high-voltage terminal at 0.6 MV. We report here on the progress achieved in a number of different areas.

In this work we describe the present status of an ongoing project to develop a tandem-electrostatic-quadrupole (TESQ) accelerator facility for accelerator-based (AB) BNCT at the Atomic Energy Commission of Argentina in Buenos Aires. The project final goal is a machine capable of delivering 30 mA of 2.4 MeV protons to be used in conjunction with a neutron production target based on the (7)Li(p,n)(7)Be reaction slightly beyond its resonance at 2.25 MeV. These are the specifications needed to produce sufficiently intense and clean epithermal neutron beams, based on the (7)Li(p,n)(7)Be reaction, to perform BNCT treatment for deep-seated tumors in less than an hour. An electrostatic machine is the technologically simplest and cheapest solution for optimized AB-BNCT. The machine being designed and constructed is a folded TESQ with a high-voltage terminal at 1.2 MV intended to work in air. Such a machine is conceptually shown to be capable of transporting and accelerating a 30 mA proton beam to 2.4 MeV. The general geometric layout, its associated electrostatic fields, and the acceleration tube are simulated using a 3D finite element procedure. The design and construction of the ESQ modules is discussed and their electrostatic fields are investigated. Beam transport calculations through the accelerator are briefly mentioned. Likewise, work related to neutron production targets, strippers, beam shaping assembly and patient treatment room is briefly described.

In the frame of the construction of a Tandem Electrostatic Quadrupole Accelerator facility devoted to the Accelerator‐Based Boron Neutron Capture Therapy, a Beam Shaping Assembly has been characterized by means of Monte‐Carlo simulations and measurements. The neutrons were generated via the 7Li(p, n)7Be reaction by irradiating a thick LiF target with a 2.3 MeV proton beam delivered by the TANDAR accelerator at CNEA. The emerging neutron flux was measured by means of activation foils while the beam quality and directionality was evaluated by means of Monte Carlo simulations. The parameters show compliance with those suggested by IAEA. Finally, an improvement adding a beam collimator has been evaluated.

In boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) the delivered dose to the patient depends both on the neutron beam characteristics and on the {sup 10}B body distribution which, in turn, is governed by the tumor specificity of the {sup 10}B drug-carrier. BNCT dosimetry is a complex matter due to the several interactions that neutrons can undergo with the different nuclei present in tissue. However the boron capture reaction {sup 10}B(n,{alpha}){sup 7}Li accounts for about 80 % of the total dose in a tumor with 40 ppm in {sup 10}B concentration. Present dosimetric methods are indirect, based on drug biodistribution statistical data and subjected to inter and intra-patient variability. In order to overcome the consequences of the concomitant high dosimetric uncertainties, we propose a SPECT (Single Photon Emission Tomography) approach based on the detection of the prompt gamma-ray (478 keV) emitted in 94 % of the cases from {sup 7}Li. For this purpose we designed, built and tested a prototype based on LaBr{sub 3}(Ce) scintillators. Measurements on a head and tumor phantom were performed in the accelerator-based BNCT facility of the University of Birmingham (UK). They result in the first tomographic image of the 10B capture distribution obtained in a BNCT facility.

The use of proton and heavy ion beams for radiotherapy is a well established cancer treatment modality in the first world, which is becoming increasingly widespread, due to its clear advantages over conventional photon-based treatments. This strategy is suitable when the tumor is spatially well localized. Also the use of neutrons has tradition. Here Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT) stands out, though on a much smaller scale, being a promising alternative for tumors which are diffuse and infiltrating. On this sector, so far only nuclear reactors have been used as neutron sources. In this paper we briefly describe the situation in Latin America and in particular we discuss the present status of an ongoing project to develop a folded Tandem-ElectroStatic-Quadrupole (TESQ) accelerator for Accelerator-Based (AB)-Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT) at the Atomic Energy Commission of Argentina. The project goal is a machine capable of delivering 30 mA of 2.4 MeV protons to be used in conjunction with a neutron production target based on the {sup 7}Li(p,n){sup 7}Be reaction. These are the specifications needed to produce sufficiently intense and clean epithermal neutron beams to perform BNCT for deep-seated tumors in less than an hour. The machine being currently designed and constructedmore » is a folded TESQ with a terminal at 0.6 MV as a smaller scale prototype. Since the concept is modular the same structure will be used for the 1.2 MV final accelerator.« less

Charged hadrons (protons and heavier ions) have very definite advantages over photons as far as radiotherapy applications are concerned. They allow for much better spatial dose localization due to their charge, relatively high mass and nature of the energy deposition process. In the frame of an attempt to promote the introduction of hadrontherapy in Argentina we have installed and started using an external beam facility at our tandem accelerator TANDAR. The advantages of heavy ions can only be fully exploited for tumors of well defined localization. In certain types of malignancies, however, the region infiltrated by tumor cells is diffuse, with no sharp boundaries and with microscopic ramifications. In such cases (particularly in certain brain cancers) a more sophisticated scheme has been suggested called boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT). In this work, the use of the Tandar accelerator to produce neutrons for feasibility studies for BNCT through low-energy proton beams on a thick LiF target is being briefly described. Studies on the 13C(d,n) reaction and a comparison with other neutron-producing reactions are also mentioned. Simulation work to optimize an accelerator-based neutron production target is discussed. A project is being prepared to develop a small proton accelerator in Argentina. Technical specifications of this machine will be briefly discussed.

High-spin states in the nucleus ${}^{123}$I were populated by the ${}^{110}$Pd${(}^{16}$O,$p4n)$ reaction at 75 MeV. $\ensuremath{\gamma}$-ray energies, intensities, $\ensuremath{\gamma}$-$\ensuremath{\gamma}$ coincidences, and directional correlation ratios were measured. The rotational band built on the $\ensuremath{\pi}{h}_{11/2}$ single-particle state was extended to spin ${I=35/2}^{\ensuremath{-}}$; at higher spin the level spacings and the feeding pattern were found to become irregular, indicating a sudden change of structure. The 39/2${}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ state and a higher-lying ${43/2}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ level were interpreted as aligned oblate states, in line with the systematics of the lighter odd-$A$ iodine isotopes. Total Routhian surface calculations were performed and were found to support the occurrence of a band termination. Higher-lying levels that feed the ${h}_{11/2}$ band were identified, reaching spin $Ig~47/2$ and an excitation energy of about 9 MeV.

High-spin states in {sup 162}Lu and {sup 164}Lu have been studied by means of in-beam {gamma}-ray spectroscopy techniques using the multidetector array GASP. The excited states have been populated through the {sup 139}La({sup 28}Si,5n){sup 162}Lu and {sup 139}La[{sup 29(30)}Si,4(5)n]{sup 164}Lu reactions. Level schemes were constructed for both nuclei. Configurations for the rotational bands have been discussed. Alignments, band crossing frequencies, and B(M1)/B(E2) ratios have been analyzed in the framework of the cranking model. The systematic evolution of the signature inversion in the {pi}h{sub 11/2}{circle_times}{nu}i{sub 13/2} structure is reviewed. {copyright} {ital 1997} {ital The American Physical Society}

${}^{186}$Ir has been restudied through the ${}^{180}$Hf${(}^{11}$B,5$n)$ reaction at 65 MeV using in-beam $\ensuremath{\gamma}$-ray and conversion-electron spectroscopy. The unfavored component of the doubly decoupled band was established and shown to be consistent with a description in terms of the $\ensuremath{\pi}{h}_{9/2}\ensuremath{\bigotimes}\ensuremath{\nu}[\stackrel{\ifmmode \tilde{}\else \~{}\fi{}}{411}1/2,3/2]$ structure, i.e., the coupling of an aligned proton and a neutron pseudospin doublet.

Excited states in the doubly-odd{sup 184}Au nucleus have been studied by in-beam {gamma}-ray spectroscopy. This nucleus was produced through the fusion-evaporation reactions {sup 165}Ho({sup 24}Mg, 5{ital n}), {sup 170}Yb({sup 19}F, 5{ital n}), and {sup 161}Dy({sup 27}Al, 4{ital n}). Different rotational band structures have been observed and interpreted as specific couplings of proton and neutron single-particle excitations present in neighboring odd Au and Pt nuclei. {copyright} {ital 1996 The American Physical Society.}

Unfavored components of doubly decoupled bands are reported for the first time. They can be interpreted as having the pseudo-spin flipped relative to the orientation in the favored components, i.e. antialigned with respect to the rotation axis. In addition, the differences in consecutive transition energies along the favored and unfavored sequences are strikingly similar among them up to Iπ = 15+and 14+ respectively. This feature arises from a cancellation of differences in alignments and moments of inertia.

High spin states of doubly odd $^{214}\mathrm{Fr}_{127}$ have been investigated using in-beam \ensuremath{\gamma}-ray and conversion electron spectroscopy techniques through the $^{206}\mathrm{Pb}$${(}^{11}$B, 3n) and $^{208}\mathrm{Pb}$${(}^{11}$B, 5n) fusion-evaporation reactions. Completely new spectrocopic information has been obtained. The yrast level structure is established up to spin (${19}^{+}$) and some information on \ensuremath{\gamma} transitions from higher-lying levels is also obtained. Two new isomers ${\mathit{T}}_{1/2}$=174(20) ns and ${\mathit{T}}_{1/2}$=11(2) ns were found. Configuration assignments for the low-lying levels are discussed. Information on residual proton-neutron interactions is extracted.

Nuclear physics studies of fundamental symmetries and neutrino properties have played a vital role in the development and confirmation of the Standard Model of fundamental interactions. With the advent of the CERN Large Hadron Collider, experiments at the high energy frontier promise exciting discoveries about the larger framework in which the Standard Model lies. In this talk, I discuss the complementary opportunities for probing the “new Standard Model” with nuclear physics experiments at the low‐energy high precision frontier.

As an application of the new realistic three-dimensional (3D) formalism reported recently for three-nucleon (3N) bound states, an attempt is made to study the effect of three-nucleon forces (3NFs) in triton binding energy in a non partial wave (PW) approach. The spin-isospin dependent 3N Faddeev integral equations with the inclusion of 3NFs, which are formulated as function of vector Jacobi momenta, specifically the magnitudes of the momenta and the angle between them, are solved with Bonn-B and Tucson-Melbourne NN and 3N forces in operator forms which can be incorporated in our 3D formalism. The comparison with numerical results in both, novel 3D and standard PW schemes, shows that non PW calculations avoid the very involved angular momentum algebra occurring for the permutations and transformations and it is more efficient and less cumbersome for considering the 3NF., 4 pages, 1 figure, 1 table.

We consider the dispersion correction to elastic parity violating electron-proton scattering due to \gammaZ exchange. In a recent publication, this correction was reported to be substantially larger than the previous estimates. In this paper, we study the dispersion correction in greater detail. We confirm the size of the disperion correction to be 6% for the QWEAK experiment designed to measure the proton weak charge. We enumerate parameters that have to be constrained to better than relative 30% in order to keep the theoretical uncertainty for QWEAK under control., 6 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables; To be published in the proceedings of the VIII Latin American Symposium on Nuclear Physics and Applications, December 15-19, 2009, Santiago, Chiile

The thermal emission detected from the millisecond pulsar J0437-4715 is not explained by standard cooling models of neutron stars without a heating mechanism. We investigated three heating mechanisms controlled by the rotational braking of the pulsar: breaking of the solid crust, superfluid vortex creep, and non-equilibrium reactions ('rotochemical heating'). We find that the crust cracking mechanism does not produce detectable heating. Given the dependence of the heating mechanisms on spin-down parameters, which leads to different temperatures for different pulsars, we study the thermal evolution for two types of pulsars: young, slowly rotating 'classical' pulsars and old, fast rotating millisecond pulsars (MSPs). We find that the rotochemical heating and vortex creep mechanism can be important both for classical pulsars and MSPs., VIII Symposium in Nuclear Physics and Applications: Nuclear and Particle Astrophysics. Appearing in the American Institute of Physics (AIP) conference proceedings

When a rotating neutron star loses angular momentum, the reduction in the centrifugal force makes it contract. This perturbs each fluid element, raising the local pressure and originating deviations from beta equilibrium that enhance the neutrino emissivity and produce thermal energy. This mechanism is named rotochemical heating and has previously been studied for neutron stars of non-superfluid matter, finding that they reach a quasi-steady state in which the rate that the spin-down modifies the equilibrium concentrations is the same to that of the neutrino reactions restoring the equilibrium. On the other hand, the neutron star interior is believed to contain superfluid nucleons, which affect the thermal evolution of the star by suppressing the neutrino reactions and the specific heat, and opening new Cooper pairing reactions. In this work we describe the thermal effects of Cooper pairing with spatially uniform energy gaps of neutrons and protons on rotochemical heating in millisecond pulsars (MSPs) when only modified Urca reactions are allowed. We find that the chemical imbalances grow up to a value close to the energy gaps, which is higher than the one of the nonsuperfluid case. Therefore, the surface temperatures predicted with Cooper pairing are higher and explain the recent measurement of MSP J0437-4715., VIII Symposium in Nuclear Physics and Applications: Nuclear and Particle astrophysics. Appearing in the American Institute of Physics (AIP) conference proceedings

We discuss the light-front wave function for the valence quark state of mesons using the AdS/CFT correspondence. We consider two kinds of wave functions obtained in different holographic Soft-Wall approaches, 4 pages, 3 figures, to appear in the Proceedings of the VIII Latin American Symposium on Nuclear Physics and Applications, Santiago, Chile, 15-19 December 2009. Talk presented by A. V

We consider a modification of the Minimal Analytic (MA) coupling of Shirkov and Solovtsov. This modified MA (mMA) coupling reflects the desired analytic properties of the space-like observables. We show that an approximation by Dirac deltas of its discontinuity function $\rho$ is equivalent to a Pad\'e (rational) approximation of the mMA coupling that keeps its analytic structure. We propose a modification to mMA that, as preliminary results indicate, could be an improvement in the evaluation of low-energy observables compared with other analytic couplings., Comment: 2 pages, 1 figure (double), to appear in the Proceedings of the VIII Latin American Symposium on Nuclear Physics and Applications, Santiago, Chile, 15-19 December 2009. Poster presented by H. E. Martinez

The Frankfurt Neutron Source at the Stern‐Gerlach‐Zentrum (FRANZ) will deliver high neutron fluxes in the energy range of 1 to 500 keV. The Activation Mode provides a high averaged neutron flux created by a cw proton beam of up to 5 mA, while in the Compressor Mode intense neutron pulses of 1 ns length are formed with a repetition rate of up to 250 kHz. The Compressor Mode is well‐suited for energy‐dependent neutron capture measurements using the Time‐of‐Flight method in combination with a 4π BaF2 detector array. The design of the proton driver linac for both operation modes is presented. This includes the volume type ion source, the E×B chopper located in the low energy section, the RFQ‐IH combination for beam acceleration and the bunch compressor. Finally, the neutron production at the lithium‐7 target and the resulting energy spectrum is described.

I discuss the calculation of electromagnetic and weak reactions in few‐nucleon systems using potentials and current operators derived within chiral effective theory (χET). Computations up to O(P3) relative to leading are considered. I first present results that show that at this order χET gives a good description of extant data on the deuteron’s charge and quadrupole form factors for momentum transfers |q

Transmission and backscattering of γ‐rays have been used to study soil properties such as its porosity, hydraulic conductivity and also for the detection of organic material buried in soil. These applications require a deeper understanding of the interaction of γ‐rays with soil. In the present work a study of the interaction of 511 keV γ‐rays with layers of sand varying both its humidity and thickness is presented. The experimental set‐up uses the positron decay of a 22Na source, and two gamma detectors connected in fast time‐coincidence. Both transmitted and backscattered spectra are obtained. For transmission, the photopeak and the low angle scattered photons are studied, and for backscattering we analyze the number of single and multiple backscattered photons as a function of thickness. Finally, a theoretical model for the derivative of the number of backscattered photons as a function of depth is presented.

At the one loop level, we make use of the renormalizable Abelian quantum field theory model of Kroll, Lee, and Zumino (KLZ) in order to compute the vertex corrections to the tree‐level, Vector Meson Dominance (VMD) electromagnetic pion form factor. This result, together with the one‐loop vacuum polarization contribution, implies an electromagnetic pion form factor which is in outstanding agreement with data in the whole range of accessible momentum transfers in the space‐like region. The time‐like form factor, which reproduces the Gounaris‐Sakurai formula at and near the rho‐meson peak, remains unaffected by the vertex correction at order O(g2). We also use the KLZ model to compute the pion scalar radius at the one loop level, finding 〈rπ2〉S = 0.40 fm2. From this value we find for the low energy constant of chiral perturbation theory l4 = 3.4.

The Compressed Baryonic Matter (CBM) experiment will be one of the major scientific activities at the future Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research (FAIR) in Darmstadt. The goal of the CBM research program is to explore the QCD phase diagram in the region of high baryon densities using high‐energy nucleus‐nucleus collisions. This includes the study of the equation‐of‐state of nuclear matter at high densities, and the search for the deconfinement and chiral phase transitions. The CBM detector is designed to measure both bulk observables with large acceptance and rare diagnostic probes such as charmed particles and vector mesons decaying into lepton pairs. The layout and the physics performance of the proposed CBM experimental facility will be discussed.

A method for absolute calibration of proportional counters for pulsed fast neutrons is presented. The method is based on the use of an isotopic standard source and development of a model for counting detected events from area of a signal compounded by single piled up neutron pulses. Effects of detection counting statistics and electrical background noise are also considered.

Recent developments in efforts to determine the cause of anomalous experimental nuclear decay fluctuations suggest a possible solar influence. Here we report on the preliminary results from several nuclear decay experiments performed at Thule Air Base in Greenland during the Solar Eclipse that took place on 1 August 2008. Because of the high northern latitude and time of year, the Sun never set and thereby provided relatively stabilized conditions for nearly all environmental factors. An exhaustive list of relevant factors were monitored during the eclipse to help rule out possible systematic effects due to external influences. In addition to the normal temperature, pressure, humidity, and cloud cover associated with the outside ambient observations, we included similar measurements within the laboratory along with monitoring of the power supply output, local neutron count rates, and the Earth’s local magnetic and electric fields.

A theoretical approach developed to understand the shape and structure of exotic nuclei at the limits of stability, is discussed.

We analyze the data for complete fusion of the 9Be+144Sm system at near barrier energies by performing coupled channel calculations using a double‐folding potential as the bare potential. We use a recently proposed new method of analysis by the introduction of dimensionless fusion functions. We observe enhancement of the fusion cross section at energies below the Coulomb barrier and suppression above the barrier.

Multiplicity fluctuation of the target‐associated protons emitted in the interactions in a wide range of projectile energies from 500 A MeV to 60 A GeV is investigated in the framework of two‐dimensional scaled factorial moment methodology. The evidence of non‐statistical multiplicity fluctuation is found in our data sets.

Searches for the neutron electric dipole moment (EDM) are motivated by their highly suppressed Standard Model value. The observation of a non‐zero signal in the next generation of experiments would point unambiguously to the existence of new physics beyond the Standard Model. Several ongoing efforts worldwide hold the potential for an up to two‐orders‐of‐magnitude improvement beyond the current upper limit on the neutron EDM of 2.9×10−6 e‐cm. In this talk, I review the basic measurement principles of neutron EDM searches, then discuss a new experiment to be carried out in the United States at the Spallation Neutron Source with ultracold neutrons and an in‐situ 3He “co‐magnetometer”.

A gamma Compton backscattering device is presented. It is shown that by fine‐tuning several electronics parameters an image of recognizable geometry is obtained.

The average of fragment kinetic energy (Ē*) and the multiplicity of prompt neutrons (ν) as a function of fragment mass (m*), as well as the fragment mass yield (Y(m*)) from thermal neutron‐induced fission of 239Pu have been measured by Tsuchiya et al.. In that work the mass and kinetic energy are calculated from the measured kinetic energy of one fragment and the difference of time of flight of the two complementary fragments. However they do not present their results about the standard deviation σE*(m*). In this work we have made a numerical simulation of that experiment which reproduces its results, assuming an initial distribution of the primary fragment kinetic energy (E(A)) with a constant value of the standard deviation as function of fragment mass (σE(A)). As a result of the simulation we obtain the dependence σE*(m*) which presents an enhancement between m* = 92 and m* = 110, and a peak at m* = 121.

A microscopic version of the phenomenological Bohr‐Mottelson unified adiabatic rotational model is derived using only space‐fixed particle coordinates, and without imposing any constraints on the particle coordinates or the intrinsic wavefunction. It is shown that this can done only for rigid flow. A collective‐rotation velocity field is defined and is used to show that, although their Hamiltonians are closely related, the flows in a multi‐fermion and single‐particle system are inherently different.

We have developed a technique using a gas‐filled magnetic spectrograph which enables us to study (α,p) transfer reactions of astrophysical interest in inverse kinematics and by means of the time‐inverse reactions. We present preliminary experimental results of the reaction 30P(α,p)33S which confirm that the technique permits the study of these kinds of transfer reactions.

The search for an electric dipole moment of the neutron tests physics beyond the Standard Model such as new sources of CP-violation and Supersymmetry. The nEDM experiment aims to improve the sensitivity on the current limit of the electric dipole moment of the neutron to

We analyze the total reaction cross sections of several systems, especially weakly bound systems, by the use of a recently developed technique. We show a systematic behavior for the different systems, with larger reaction cross sections for systems with halo nuclei as projectiles.

Angular correlations arising from particle‐particle propagation in nuclear matter are presented. Their account emerges from an exact treatment of the Pauli blocking on intermediate states while retaining the angular structure of the energy denominator. As a result, a correlation form factor appears from the Cauchy principal‐value of the particle‐particle propagator, while the imaginary part becomes structurally different from those in Lippmann‐Schwinger‐type equations. In selfconsistent runs these features alter the behavior of the mass operator near the Fermi surface, modifying the saturation properties of infinite nuclear matter.

The EURISOL (The EURopean Isotope Separation On‐Line Radioactive Ion Beam) project aims at designing a facility for producing high intensity radioactive ion beams, with unprecedented (two to three orders of magnitude higher) intensities, compared to the majority of the worldwide existing RIB facilities. For this purpose, a proton beam of energy 1 GeV and intensity up to 4 mA impinges on a liquid mercury target (the converter). The high neutron fluxes (in excess of 1015 n cm−2 s−1) produced by spallation nuclear reactions in the converter induce fission on 235U targets surrounding the liquid mercury converter. In order to attain the intended high intensity radioactive ion beams, the appropriate configuration (geometry and materials) of the target unit components (converter, fission targets, moderators, reflectors) must be determined, to attain the highest possible fission rates in the uranium targets (in excess of 1015 fissions per second). The extremely high neutron and photon fluxes resulting from the op...

This work is complementary to that of Canto et al. [1], improving the approximations made to obtain the local Polarization Potential (PP). We study the Trivially Equivalent Local Polarization Potential (TELPP) obtained directly from the two Coupled Channel Equations (CCE), with the help of Feshbach formalism. The inelastic channel has been associated with a nuclear monopole resonant state of 6He at the breakup threshold, EB = 0.973 MeV.

Accelerator Driven Systems (ADS) for nuclear waste transmutation require proton drivers with energies between 600 and 800 MeV and beam currents of several mA for demonstrators and up to 25 mA for large industrial systems. Within the EUROTRANS project a 600 MeV linac has been designed to meet the stringent requirements regarding reliability, availability and extreme low beam losses. The first accelerating section using the novel CH‐cavity accelerates the beam to 17 MeV at the injection point into the main linac. The intermediate energy section (17–100 MeV) of the main linac consists of superconducting independently phased spoke‐type cavities followed by the high energy section consisting of 704 MHz superconducting elliptical cavities. The paper covers the development of the linac, prototype testing and reliability considerations of the whole EUROTRANS project.

The use of nuclear masses to elucidate structure and its evolution with Z and N is discussed, with emphasis on two‐neutron separation energies and the proton‐neutron interaction as extracted from double differences of binding energies. The enhanced sensitivity of masses to structure in deformed nuclei is also discussed.

In recent years parton distributions have been generalized to account also for transverse degrees of freedom and new sets of more general distributions, Transverse Momentum Dependent (TMD) parton distributions and fragmentation functions were introduced. Different experiments worldwide (HERMES, COMPASS, CLAS, JLab‐Hall A) have measurements of TMDs in semi‐inclusive DIS processes as one of their main focuses of research. TMD studies are also an important part of the present and future Drell‐Yan experiments at RICH and JPARC and GSI, respectively, Studies of TMDs are also one of the main driving forces of the Jefferson Lab (JLab) 12 GeV upgrade project. Progress in phenomenology and theory is flourishing as well. In this talk an overview of the latest developments in studies of TMDs will be given and newly released results, ongoing activities, as well as planned near term and future measurements will be discussed.

Low energy phase‐shifts for scattering of a proton off the light nucleus are calculated via solving the Faddeev‐Yakubovsky equations in configuration space. A spectral‐type numerical method to solve the resulting equations after discretization as three‐dimensional in Jacobi coordinates is described.

We have measured elastic excitation functions for the {sup 7}Li+{sup 27}Al system, in an energy range close to its Coulomb barrier (E{sub lab} = 8.4 MeV) in steps of 0.25 MeV. For this purpose, an array of eight surface-barrier detectors was used. To get an insight on the background composition (mainly {alpha} particles), a telescope-detector was used for atomic-number identification. Identical measurements for the {sup 6}Li+{sup 27}Al system are planned for the near future.

Idaho State University and the Idaho Accelerator Center are developing a polarized photon facility in the 10 MeV region using the off axis bremsstrahlung technique. Initial tests have been performed with the aim of using the high analyzing power of the photodisintegration of the deuteron to measure the beam polarization. A program is currently underway to measure the potential angular asymmetries of neutrons arising from the angular distribution of the fission fragments from photofission with linearly polarized photons. In this paper, we describe the Idaho State University Polarized Photon Facility, present results of commissioning runs, and describe potential application of polarized photofission in detecting actinides for homeland security and safeguards applications.

The quantum counting position sensitive pixel detector Timepix with per‐pixel energy and time resolution enables to detect radioactive ions and register the consecutive decay chain by simultaneous position–and time—correlation. This spatial and timing coincidence technique in the same sensor is demonstrated by the registration of the decay chain 8He→β 8Li and 8Li→β− 8Be→α+α and by the measurement of the β decay half‐lives. Radioactive ions, selectively obtained from the Lohengrin fission fragment spectrometer installed at the High Flux Reactor of the ILL Grenoble, are delivered to the Timepix silicon sensor where decays of the implanted ions and daughter nuclei are registered and visualized. We measure decay lifetimes in the range ≥ μs with precision limited just by counting statistics.

Ion traps are known as ideal tools for precision measurements of fundamental particle properties. In particular, traps have been set up at Radioactive Ion Beam (RIB) facilities to investigate exotic nuclei. During the last decade this field of research has constantly grown, with currently almost a dozen ion‐trap systems at RIB facilities in Europe and North America and several more planned at future accelerators projects. One of these, the Advanced Trapping System MATS will be installed at the low‐energy branch for radioactive‐ion beams at the Facility for Antiprotons and Ion Research (FAIR) in Darmstadt (Germany). One of the MATS features will be non‐destructive ion detection based on Fourier‐Transform Ion‐Cyclotron‐Resonance Mass Spectrometry (FT‐ICR MS). A prototype of the system has been developed at the Max‐Planck‐Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg (Germany) and recent results are outlined in this contribution.