Investigation on the biodegradation levels of super heavy oils by parameter-striping method and refined Manco scale: a case study from the Chepaizi Uplift of Junggar Basin

The Carboniferous volcanic reservoir in the Chepaizi Uplift became an exploration hot target in recent years for its substantial amount of oils discovered. However, most of the Carboniferous heavy oils were biodegraded to PM7 or higher with orders of magnitude variation in oil viscosities. Two oil groups (I and II) exactly corresponding to the western and eastern Chepaizi Uplift were distinguished according to their source diagnose. Furthermore, three oil families (II1, II2 and II3), with the biodegradation level of PM7, PM8–8+, PM9+, respectively, were classified based on molecular compositions and parameter-stripping method of strongly bioresistant parameters. Allowing for this extremely high biodegradation case, more biodegradation refractory compound class were added to establish a refined Manco scale to quantitatively evaluate the biodegradation extent. Refined Manco number (RMN2) positively correlated with the oil density, NSO contents, and absolute concentrations of diasteranes and gammacerane, negatively correlated with the absolute concentrations of diahopane, summed tricyclic terpanes and pentacyclic terpanes. This refined scale showed higher resolution than the PM one to differentiate the biodegradation extent of Carboniferous heavy oils from the Chepaizi Uplift, especially those with same PM values but different oil viscosities.

Systematic studies on α-decay half-lives for super heavy nuclei

Radioactive decay of super heavy nuclei via the emission of α-particles has been studied theoretically in the preformed cluster model （PCM）. The nucleus-nucleus （NN） potential is obtained by double folding the density distributions of the α-particle and the daughter nucleus with a realistic effective interaction. The M3Y effective interaction, supplemented by a zero-range pseudo-potential for exchange term, is used to calculate the NN potential. The α decay half-lives for 317 nuclei at Z=102 120 are performed in the PCM framework with the theoretical Q values extracted from the MSller-Nix-Kratz and Liran-Marinov-Zeldes mass tables and are compared with the experimental data. The calculated results are also compared with those obtained by using Q values from the Muntian-Hofmann-Patyk-Sobiczewski and Myers-Swiatecki mass estimates.

Stability of super heavy nuclei associated with the updated nuclear data

The stability of super heavy nuclei（SHN） from Z =104 to Z =126 is analyzed systematically,associated with the following theoretical mass tables： FRDM2012 [At.Data Nucl.Data Tables 109-110（2016）],WS2010 [Phys.Rev.C 82,044304（2010）],WS-LZ-RBF [J.Phys.G： Nucl.Part.Phys.42,095107（2015）] and the updated experimental data AME2016 [Chinese Physics C 41,040002（2017）].The nucleus with the biggest mean binding energy in each isotopic chain shows systematic regular behavior,indicating that the mean binding energy is a good criterion to classify SHN by their stability.Based on binding energy,the α-decay energy Qα,two-proton separation energy S2p,and two-neutron separation energy S2n are extracted and analyzed.It is found that N =152 and N =162 are sub-magic numbers,N = 184 is a neutron magic number,and Z = 114 is a proton magic number,which may provide useful information for the synthesis and identification of SHN.

Theoretical approaches to alpha decay half-lives of super-heavy nuclei

We consider the systematics of α-decay half-lives of super-heavy nuclei versus the decay energy and the total α-kinetic energy. We calculate the half-lives using the experimental Qα values. The computed half-lives are compared with the experimental data and with existing empirical estimates and are found to be in good agreement. Also, we obtain α-preformation factors from the ratio between theoretical and experimental results for some super- heavy nuclei and evaluate the standard deviation. The results indicate the acceptability of the approach.

Simulation of the Lanzhou Penning Trap LPT

The LPT (Lanzhou Penning Trap) is under construction and its task is to perform direct mass measurement of fusion-evaporation residues and if possible for heavy isotopes. Detailed simulations have been done for a good understanding to the ion’s movement and mechanics in the trap. The optimization of the LPT is also performed based on the simulation. With a scale of 0.5 mm per grid used in the simulation and many other limitations a highest mass resolution has been achieved to be 1.9×10-5. An unexpected behaviour in the simulation related to magnetron motion has been found.