Ion Source Optimisation for Proton Beam Quality of the Van De Graaff Accelerator at iThemba LABS for Ion Beam Analysis

The operating principles of the two duoplasmatron ion sources and the PIG source available for the Van de Graaff accelerator have been determined qualitatively, mainly by studying the extensive literature on ion sources. The main characteristics of the three sources have therefore been determined experimentally on an ion source test bench. Important parameters of the sources such as the pressure and temperature in different regions of the sources not measured, because of space limitations. However, in spite of these limitations in quantitative understanding of the sources, sufficient information to continue with the study of the beam transport through the Van de Graaff accelerator and its beamlines could be obtained from these measurements. With regard to beam intensity, lifetime and gas consumption the measurements showed that the hotcathode duoplasmatron is at present by far the most suitable source for the van de Graaff accelerator. The emittance of the ion source was measured with two slits, 90 mm apart, and a Faraday cup in the ion source test bench at an arc voltage of 83 V, an arc current of 1 Amp, a filament voltage of 24 V and an extraction voltage of 5 kV. The measured emittance for 90% of the beam intensity is 48π mm mrad. This figure will be used to calculate the beam transmission through the Van de Graaf accelerator. Different computer programs have been used for these calculations from the ion source through the terminal section, the accelerator and beam line up to the Nuclear Microprobe (NMP) for beam quality.

Multi-Elemental Analysis and 2D Image Mapping within Roots, Leaves and Seeds from O. glaberrima Rice Plants Using Micro-PIXE Technique

Understanding metal accumulation at organ level in roots, leaves and seeds in O. glaberrima (OG) is crucial for improving physiological and metabolic aspects in growing Asian and African rice in salted areas. The micro-analytical imaging techniques are required to reveal its accumulation and distribution within plant tissues. PIXE studies have been performed to determine different elements in rice plants. The existing microbeam analytical technique at the iThemba LABS will be applied for the 2D image mapping of fresh rice tissues to perform a concentration of low atomic mass elements (such as Al, Si, P, S, Cl, Ca, Ti, Mn, Fe, Cu, Br, Zn and K) with detection limits of typically 1-10 μg/g. Comparison of the distribution of the elements between leaves, root and seed samples using uptake and distribution of elements in particular environmental conditions with potential amount of salt in water have been performed. We are also expecting to indicate metal exclusion as salt tolerance strategies from leaves, root, and seed compartments using matrix correlation between samples and between elements on rice species.

Roadside dust contamination with toxic metals along industrial area in Islamabad, Pakistan

An investigation has been carried out to understand the contamination characteristics of roadside dust in the industrial area of Islamabad, Pakistan. The amounts of Si, S, Cl, K, Ca, Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Pb,Zn, Ga, As, Se and Cd were determined from 95 roadside dust samples collected along the Islamabad industrial area using Proton Induced X-ray Emission(PIXE). The results indicated that concentrations of all elements,except Cd, in the roadside dust were significant. The results of the enrichment factor show that the elementary composition of the roadside dust could be categorized as soil elements from the crust of the earth and elements from anthropogenic pollution. The high enrichment factors imply that elements such Cr, Cu, Pb, Zn, As, Se,Cd, Ni, Co and S came from anthropogenic activities. The source of metal contamination was identified using multivariate statistical analysis. It has been concluded that Ca, Sc, Ti, V, Mn and Fe mainly originate from crustal sources; Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, Zn and Ga are associated with point-sources from industrial pollution/traffic;and S, Cl, K, As and Se are mainly related to oil/coal combustion.

Large scale silver nanowires network fabricated by MeV hydrogen (H＋) ion beam irradiation

A random two-dimensional large scale nano-network of silver nanowires （Ag-NWs） is fabricated by MeV hydrogen （H＋） ion beam irradiation. Ag-NWs are irradiated under H＋ ion beam at different ion fluences at room temperature. The Ag-NW network is fabricated by H＋ ion beam-induced welding of Ag-NWs at intersecting positions. H＋ ion beam induced welding is confirmed by transmission electron microscopy （TEM） and scanning electron microscopy （SEM）. Moreover, the structure of Ag NWs remains stable under H＋ ion beam, and networks are optically transparent. Morphology also remains stable under H＋ ion beam irradiation. No slicings or cuttings of Ag-NWs are observed under MeV H＋ ion beam irradiation. The results exhibit that the formation of Ag-NW network proceeds through three steps： ion beam induced thermal spikes lead to the local heating of Ag-NWs, the formation of simple junctions on small scale, and the formation of a large scale network. This observation is useful for using Ag-NWs based devices in upper space where protons are abandoned in an energy range from MeV to GeV. This high-quality Ag-NW network can also be used as a transparent electrode for optoelectronics devices.

Moss and Lichen Biomonitoring of Atmospheric Pollution in the Western Cape Province (South Africa)

For the first time, the atmospheric deposition of trace elements was investigated in two regions (Cape Winelands and Cape Peninsula) of the Western Cape Province of the Republic of South Africa (RSA) using naturally growing mosses and lichens. A total of 33 elements were determined by epithermal instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA). Multivariate statistical analysis was used to identify and characterize different pollution sources.

The Utilization of Accelerators to Analyze some Human Hard Tissues from Sudan

This study deals with an overview of the biomedical projects performed at iThemba LABS, particularly in relation to the spatial distribution of trace metals in hard human tissues from disadvantaged Sudanese communities, such as kidney stone concretions, teeth and hair, undertaken at the iThemba LABS Nuclear Microprobe (NMP) facility. Relevant information about the ion beam techniques used for material characterization was discussed. The Particle Induced X-ray Emission (PIXE) technique was used to investigate the elemental composition of human hard tissues on a microscopic scale with the elemental mapping;complementary ion beam techniques are used to provide information on the major and minor components. Analysis of teeth sections by μ-PIXE showed that the levels of trace elements were enriched and/or depleted, this may associated with leaching and/or erosive processes. On the other hand the characterization of kidney stone concretions by μ-PIXE showed a marked difference of individuals from different region within Sudan.

2-16 Thermonuclear Reaction Rates in rp Process of sd

Recently, we have constructed a new set of isospin non-conserving (INC) shell-model Hamiltonians as a combinationof isospin conserving (IC) Hamiltonian, Coulomb interaction and effective isospin-symmetry breaking forcesof nuclear origin[1]. The advantage is that Coulomb effects are taken into account with great care, thus the new ap-Fig. 1 (color online) The comparison of resonant rates of23Al(p;)24Si calculated by IC and INC Hamiltonians. TheINC Hamiltonians of OB+USD, OB+USDA, OB+USDBwere constructed in Ref. [5]; whereas (cd-USD), (cd-USDA),(cd-USDB) are INC Hamiltonians in Ref. [1]. USD, USDA,USDB are IC Hamiltonians in Ref. [6].proach allows one to describe more accurately and topredict unknown nuclear level schemes and decay modes.Since the approximate isospin-symmetry becomes broken,a realistic amount of isospin-mixing in nuclearstates is thus introduced. Among numerous applicationsto the structure of proton-rich nuclei, we usedthe new Hamiltonian to calculate resonant reaction andnon-resonant reaction (direct capture) rates of radiativeproton-capture reactions important for astrophysical rpprocess.

Connecting muon anomalous magnetic moment and multi-lepton anomalies at LHC

In a previous paper by several of the authors a number of predictions were made in a study pertaining to the anomalous production of multiple leptons at the Large Hadron Collider(LHC). Discrepancies in multi-lepton final states have become statistically compelling with the available Run 2 data. These could be connected with a heavy boson, H, which predominantly decays into a standard model Higgs boson, h, and a singlet scalar, S, where mH≈270 GeV and mS≈150 GeV. These can then be embedded into a scenario where a two-Higgs-doublet is considered with an additional singlet scalar, 2HDM+S. The long-standing discrepancy in the muon anomalous magnetic moment,△aμ, is interpreted in the context of the 2HDM+S type-II and type-X, along with additional fermionic degrees of freedom. The 2 HDM+S model alone, with constraints from the LHC data, does not seem to explain the △aμ anomaly.However, adding fermions with mass of order O(100) GeV can explain the discrepancy for sufficiently low values of fermion-scalar couplings.

Precision Higgs physics at the CEPC

The discovery of the Higgs boson with its mass around 125 GeV by the ATLAS and CMS Collaborations marked the beginning of a new era in high energy physics.The Higgs boson will be the subject of extensive studies of the ongoing LHC program.At the same time,lepton collider based Higgs factories have been proposed as a possible next step beyond the LHC,with its main goal to precisely measure the properties of the Higgs boson and probe potential new physics associated with the Higgs boson.The Circular Electron Positron Collider(CEPC)is one of such proposed Higgs factories.The CEPC is an e^+e^- circular collider proposed by and to be hosted in China.Located in a tunnel of approximately 100 km in circumference,it will operate at a center-of-mass energy of 240 GeV as the Higgs factory.In this paper,we present the first estimates on the precision of the Higgs boson property measurements achievable at the CEPC and discuss implications of these measurements.