• Energy Research

We summarize and critically evaluate the available data on nuclear fusion cross sections important to energy generation in the Sun and other hydrogen-burning stars and to solar neutrino production. Recommended values and uncertainties are provided for key cross sections, and a recommended spectrum is given for 8B solar neutrinos. We also discuss opportunities for further increasing the precision of key rates, including new facilities, new experimental techniques, and improvements in theory. This review, which summarizes the conclusions of a workshop held at the Institute for Nuclear Theory, Seattle, in January 2009, is intended as a 10-year update and supplement to Reviews of Modern Physics 70 (1998) 1265. 54 pages, 20 figures, version to be published in Reviews of Modern Physics; various typos corrected and several updates made

The elastic scattering cross sections, σ (E,θ), for the systems He+Ta and He+W have been measured at θlab=165° and Elab=76.1 keV to 3.988 MeV using targets with a thickness of a few atomic layers. The results are smaller than the results given by the Rutherford scattering law, σR(E,θ), due to the effects of electron screening and can be described by σ(E,θ)/σR(E,θ)=(1+Ue/E)−1, where Ue is an atomic screening potential energy. The deduced average value, Ue=28 ± 3 keV, is consistent with the Moliere- and Lenz-Jensen-models as well as electron binding energies.

Abstract The d( 3 He,p) 4 He cross section has been measured at E =4.2 to 13.8 keV using the LUNA underground accelerator facility. The experiment was performed to determine the magnitude of the atomic screening effect and to establish values for the energy loss used in data reduction. The observed stopping power of the 3 He ions in the D 2 target is in good agreement with the standard compilation. Using these stopping power values the data lead to an electron-screening potential energy U e = 132±9 eV, which is significantly higher than the estimated value of 65 eV from an atomic-physics model.

AbstractThe measurement of the flux of muons produced in cosmic ray air showers is essential for the study of primary cosmic rays. Such measurements are important in extensive air shower detectors to assess the energy spectrum and the chemical composition of the cosmic ray flux, complementary to the information provided by fluorescence detectors. Detailed simulations of the cosmic ray air showers are carried out, using codes such as CORSIKA, to estimate the muon flux at sea level. These simulations are based on the choice of hadronic interaction models, for which improvements have been implemented in the post-LHC era. In this work, a deficit in simulations that use state-of-the-art QCD models with respect to the measurement deep underwater with the KM3NeT neutrino detectors is reported. The KM3NeT/ARCA and KM3NeT/ORCA neutrino telescopes are sensitive to TeV muons originating mostly from primary cosmic rays with energies around 10 TeV. The predictions of state-of-the-art QCD models show that the deficit with respect to the data is constant in zenith angle; no dependency on the water overburden is observed. The observed deficit at a depth of several kilometres is compatible with the deficit seen in the comparison of the simulations and measurements at sea level.

Studies of the charge state distribution of low energy (<1.5 MeV/u), low Z (<13) heavy ions passing through hydrogen and helium gas of varying target pressure have been performed using separate windowless gas target systems at TRIUMF and the University of Naples. Semi-empirical relationships have been deduced to estimate the equilibrium charge state distributions as a function of beam energy. From these distributions, cross-sections for the relevant charge changing reactions have been deduced.