Radiosensitivity of hepatoma cell lines and human normal liver cell lines exposed in vitro to carbon ions and argon ions at the HIRFL

Human hepatoma (SMMC-7721) and normal liver (L02) cells were irradiated with c-rays, 12C6+ and 36Ar18+ ion beams at the Heavy Ion Research Facility in Lanzhou (HIRFL). By using the Calyculin-A induced premature chromosome condensation technique, chromatid-type breaks and isochromatid-type breaks were scored separately. Tumor cells irradiated with heavy ions produced a majority of isochromatid break, while chromatid breaks were dominant when cells were exposed to c-rays. The relative biological effectiveness (RBE) for irradiation-induced chromatid breaks were 3.6 for L02 and 3.5 for SMMC-7721 cell lines at the LET peak of 96 keVlm 1 12C6+ ions, and 2.9 for both of the two cell lines of 512 keVlm 1 36Ar18+ ions. It suggested that the RBE of isochromatid-type breaks was pretty high when high-LET radiations were induced. Thus we concluded that the high production of isochromatid-type breaks, induced by the densely ionizing track structure, could be regarded as a signature of high-LET radiation exposure.

Behavior of crystalline silicon under huge electronic excitations: A transient thermal spike description

Recent experimental works devoted to the phenomena of mixing observed at metallic multilayers Ni/Si irradiated by swift heavy ions irradiations make it necessary to revisit the insensibility of crystalline Si under huge electronic excitations. Knowing that Ni is an insensitive material, such observed mixing would exist only if Si is a sensitive material. In order to extend the study of swift heavy ion effects to semiconductor materials, the experimental results obtained in bulk silicon have been analyzed within the framework of the inelastic thermal spike model. Provided the quenching of a boiling ( or vapor) phase is taken as the criterion of amorphization, the calculations with an electron-phonon coupling constant g(300 K) = 1.8 x 10(12) W/cm(3)/K and an electronic diffusivity D-e(300 K) = 80 cm(2)/s nicely reproduce the size of observed amorphous tracks as well as the electronic energy loss threshold value for their creation, assuming that they result from the quenching of the appearance of a boiling phase along the ion path. Using these parameters for Si in the case of a Ni/Si multilayer, the mixing observed experimentally can be well simulated by the inelastic thermal spike model extended to multilayers, assuming that this occurs in the molten phase created at the Ni interface by energy transfer from Si. (C) 2009 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.

Pion Production in Heavy-Ion Collisions in the 1 A GeV Region

Within the framework of the improved isospin dependent quantum molecular dynamics (ImIQMD) model, pion emission in heavy-ion collisions in the region 1 A GeV is investigated systematically, in which the pion is considered to be mainly produced by the decay of resonances Delta(1232) and N*(1440). The in-medium dependence and Coulomb effects of pion production are included in the calculation. Total pion multiplicity and pi(-)/pi(+) yields are calculated for the reaction Au-197+(197) Au in central collisions for selected Skyrme parameters SkP, SLy6, Ska, SIII and compared with the measured data of the FOPI collaboration.

Collective Transverse Flow in Intermediate Energy Heavy-Ion Collisions

Within the hadronic transport model IBUU04, we study the density-dependent symmetry energy by using the neutron-proton differential flow from the Sn-132+Sn-124 reactions at beam energies of 200, 400, 600 and 800MeV per nucleon. The strong effect of the symmetry energy is shown at the incident beam energy of 400 MeV/A. The small medium-effect of the neutron-proton differential flow is also found. We also study the neutron-proton differential flows with impact parameters of 3, 5, 7 fm. It is found that in semi-central collisions the sensitivity of the neutron-proton differential flow to the symmetry energy is larger.

Flower color chimera and abnormal leaf mutants induced by C-12(6+) heavy ions in Salvia splendens Ker-Gawl.

The effect of C-12(6+) heavy ions bombardment on mutagenesis in Salvia splendens Ker-Gawl. was studied. Dose-response studies indicated that there was a peak of malformation frequency of S. splendens at 200 Gy. Abnormal leaf mutants of the bileaf, trileaf and tetraleaf conglutination were selected. Meanwhile, a bicolor flower chimera with dark red and fresh red flower was isolated in M1 generation of S. splendens. Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis demonstrated that DNA variations existed among the wild-type, fresh and dark red flower shoots of the chimera. The dark red flower shoots of the chimera were conserved and cultivated at a large-scale through micropropagation. MS supplemented with 2.0 mg/L BA and 0.3 mg/L NAA was the optimal medium in which the maximum proliferation ratio (5.2-fold) and rooting rate (88%) were achieved after 6 weeks. Our findings provide an important method to improve the ornamental quality of S. splendens.

Modification of C-doped a-SiO2 after Swift Heavy-Ion Irradiation

Amorphous SiO2 (a-SiO2) thin films were thermally grown on single-crystalline silicon. These a-SiO2/Si samples were first implanted (C-doped) with 100-keV carbon ion at room temperature (RT) at a dose of 5.0 x 10(17) C-ions/cm(2) and were then irradiated at RT by using 853 MeV Pb ions at closes of 5.0 x 10(11), 1.0 x 10(12), 2.0 x 10(12) and 5.0 x 10(12) Pb-ions/cm(2), respectively. The microstructures and the photoluminescence (PL) properties of these samples induced by Pb ions were investigated using fluorescence spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy. We found that high-energy Pb-ion irradiation could induce the formation of a new phase and a change in the PL property of C-doped a-SiO2/Si samples. The relationship between the observed phenomena and the ion irradiation parameters is briefly discussed.

Preformation of clusters in heavy nuclei and cluster radioactivity

Within the preformed cluster model approach, the values of the preformation factors have been deduced from the experimental cluster decay half-lives assuming that the decay constant of the heavy-ion emission is the product of the assault frequency, the preformation factor and the penetrability. The law according to which the preformation factors follow a simple dependence on the mass of the cluster was confirmed. Then predictions for some of the most possible cluster decays are provided.

Low-lying states of heavy nuclei within the nucleon pair approximation

In this article we perform systematic calculations on low-lying states of 33 nuclei with A=202-212, using the nucleon pair approximation of the shell model. We use a phenomenological shell-model Hamiltonian that includes single-particle energies, monopole and quadrupole pairing interactions, and quadrupole-quadrupole interactions. The building blocks of our model space include one J=4 valence neutron pair, and one J=4,6,8 valence proton pair, in addition to the usual S and D pairs. We calculate binding energies, excitation energies, electric quadrupole and magnetic dipole moments of low-lying states, and E2 transition rates between low-lying states. Our calculated results are reasonably consistent with available experimental data. The calculated quadrupole moments and magnetic moments, many of which have not yet been measured for these nuclei, are useful for future experimental measurements.

Analytic expressions for alpha particle preformation in heavy nuclei

Experimental alpha decay energies and half-lives are investigated systematically to extract alpha particle preformation in heavy nuclei. Formulas for the preformation factors are proposed that can be used to guide microscopic studies on preformation factors and perform accurate calculations of the alpha decay half-lives. There is little evidence for the existence of an island of long stability of superheavy nuclei.

Systematic study of the pi(-)/pi(+) ratio in heavy-ion collisions with the same neutron/proton ratio but different masses

A systematic study of the pi(-)/pi(+) ratio in heavy-ion collisions with the same neutron/proton ratio but different masses can help single out effects of the nuclear mean field on pion production. Based on simulations using the IBUU04 transport model, it is found that the pi(-)/pi(+) ratio in head-on collisions of Ca-48 + Ca-48, Sn-124 + Sn-124, and Au-197 + Au-197 at beam energies from 0.25 to 0.6 GeV/nucleon increases with increasing the system size or decreasing the beam energies. A comprehensive analysis of the dynamical isospin fractionation and the pi(-)/pi(+) ratio as well as their time evolution and spatial distributions demonstrates clearly that the pi(-)/pi(+) ratio is an effective probe of the high-density behavior of the nuclear symmetry energy.

Cluster preformation in heavy nuclei and radioactivity half-lives

Various cluster radioactivities of heavy nuclei have been investigated by using the unified fission model (UFM). The cluster preformation factors have been extracted by employing the UFM connected with the experimental half-lives, and the relationship of preformation probability between the cluster and alpha-particle has been discussed in detail. In addition, the cluster preformation probability has been studied in the framework of statistical physics. Some useful predictions on the cluster emission half-lives are provided for future experiments.