Speaker
Dr
mathis wiedeking
(itl)
Description
Electron-mediated nuclear plasma interactions (NPIs), such as Nuclear Excita-
tion by Electron Capture (NEEC) or Transition (NEET), may have signicant
impact on nuclear cross sections in High Energy Density Plasmas (HEDPs).
These HEDP environments are found in the cosmos where nucleosynthesis takes
place. Attempts have failed so far in measuring the NEEC process [1], while
NEET has recently been observed experimentally [2]. NEEC, NPIs have not
been observed due to the narrowness of nuclear transitions ( 1eV ). The
NPIs may occur on highly excited nuclear states in the quasi-continuum which
is populated in nuclear reactions prior to their decay by spontaneous
-ray emis-
sion. Direct observation of NPIs are hindered by the lack of a clear signature
of the eect in HEDP environments. Hence, a new signature [3] for NPIs on
highly excited nuclei will be tested by investigating isomeric to ground state
feeding from the quasi-continuum region. An experiment was performed using
the reactions 197Au(13C, 12C)198Au and 197Au(13C, 12C2n)196Au at Lawrence
Berkeley National Laboratory in inverse kinematics with a 197Au beam of 8.5
MeV/u energy. The activated foils were counted at the low-background count-
ing facility of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. I will discuss several
measurements with dierent target congurations to investigate the feasibility
of NPI studies.
Primary authors
Mr
Thembalethu Thembalethu
(University of the Western Cape)
Dr
mathis wiedeking
(itl)
