Estudo de duas pseudoligas de Nb-Cu obtidas pela rota da metalurgia do pó

The Nb-Cu pseudoalloys present themselves as potential substitutes for the alloys from a well known system and already commercially applied, as the W-Cu alloys, used in applications such as heat sinks, electrical contacts and coils for the generation of high magnetic fields. Because it is an immiscible system, where there is mutual insolubility and low wettability of the liquid Cu on the Nb surface, the processing route used in this work was the Powder Metallurgy. Two Nb alloys were used, with additions of 10% and 20% in weight of Cu, and times of 20, 30 and 40 hours for the high energy milling of the starting powders. The milling evolution of the powders is presented through the characterization techniques, such as the LASER diffraction for particle size, XRD, SEM, EDS, DSC, dilatometry, TEM and chemical analysis. After the milling, portions of the loads were submitted to the annealing heat treatment. The process used for the samples consolidation was the hot pressing, which has been applied both on some milled powders samples, as on the annealed powders. Subsequent heat treatments were performed in the samples at temperatures of 1000ºC (solid phase) and 1100ºC (in the Cu liquid phase). All sets of consolidated samples, and also the two sets of the heat treated, were analyzed by XRD, SEM, EDS, density and Vickers microhardness. Moreover, other Nb powder samples with 10% and 20% in weight of Cu obtained by simple mechanical mixing, were consolidated, thermally treated and characterized with the same techniques applied to the others, and the results were compared among themselves. Despite the difficulty of consolidation and densification of the two pseudoalloys of the Nb-Cu system of this study, on the route that passes through the HEM, samples were obtained with densities around 90% of the theoretical density. And, on the processing route of which were only mixed, the values reached up to 97%. Therefore, in this work are also emphasized the processes that made possible these results.

Malaria prevention in north-eastern Tanzania: patterns of expenditure and determinants of demand at the household level.

Objective. This study aims to provide a better understanding of the amounts spent on different malaria prevention products and the determinants of these expenditures. Methods. 1,601 households were interviewed about their expenditure on malaria mosquito nets in the past five years, net re-treatments in the past six months and other expenditures prevention in the past two weeks. Simple random sampling was used to select villages and streets while convenience sampling was used to select households. Expenditure was compared across bed nets, aerosols, coils, indoor spraying, using smoke, drinking herbs and cleaning outside environment. Findings. 68% of households owned at least one bed net and 27% had treated their nets in the past six months. 29% were unable to afford a net. Every fortnight, households spent an average of US $0.18 on nets and their treatment, constituting about 47% of total prevention expenditure. Sprays, repellents and coils made up 50% of total fortnightly expenditure (US$0.21). Factors positively related to expenditure were household wealth, years of education of household head, household head being married and rainy season. Poor quality roads and living in a rural area had a negative impact on expenditure. Conclusion. Expenditure on bed nets and on alternative malaria prevention products was comparable. Poor households living in rural areas spend significantly less on all forms of malaria prevention compared to their richer counterparts. Breaking the cycle between malaria and poverty is one of the biggest challenges facing malaria control programmes in Africa.

Three Essays on Extremal Quantiles

Extremal quantile index is a concept that the quantile index will drift to zero (or one)

as the sample size increases. The three chapters of my dissertation consists of three

applications of this concept in three distinct econometric problems. In Chapter 2, I

use the concept of extremal quantile index to derive new asymptotic properties and

inference method for quantile treatment effect estimators when the quantile index

of interest is close to zero. In Chapter 3, I rely on the concept of extremal quantile

index to achieve identification at infinity of the sample selection models and propose

a new inference method. Last, in Chapter 4, I use the concept of extremal quantile

index to define an asymptotic trimming scheme which can be used to control the

convergence rate of the estimator of the intercept of binary response models.

Numerical Simulations for the Design of Novel Integrated Parallel Reception, Excitation, and Shimming (iPRES) Coil Arrays

Magnetic field inhomogeneity results in image artifacts including signal loss, image blurring and distortions, leading to decreased diagnostic accuracy. Conventional multi-coil (MC) shimming method employs both RF coils and shimming coils, whose mutual interference induces a tradeoff between RF signal-to-noise (SNR) ratio and shimming performance. To address this issue, RF coils were integrated with direct-current (DC) shim coils to shim field inhomogeneity while concurrently emitting and receiving RF signal without being blocked by the shim coils. The currents applied to the new coils, termed iPRES (integrated parallel reception, excitation and shimming), were optimized in the numerical simulation to improve the shimming performance. The objectives of this work is to offer a guideline for designing the optimal iPRES coil arrays to shim the abdomen.

In this thesis work, the main field () inhomogeneity was evaluated by root mean square error (RMSE). To investigate the shimming abilities of iPRES coil arrays, a set of the human abdomen MRI data was collected for the numerical simulations. Thereafter, different simplified iPRES(N) coil arrays were numerically modeled, including a 1-channel iPRES coil and 8-channel iPRES coil arrays. For 8-channel iPRES coil arrays, each RF coil was split into smaller DC loops in the x, y and z direction to provide extra shimming freedom. Additionally, the number of DC loops in a RF coil was increased from 1 to 5 to find the optimal divisions in z direction. Furthermore, switches were numerically implemented into iPRES coils to reduce the number of power supplies while still providing similar shimming performance with equivalent iPRES coil arrays.

The optimizations demonstrate that the shimming ability of an iPRES coil array increases with number of DC loops per RF coil. Furthermore, the z direction divisions tend to be more effective in reducing field inhomogeneity than the x and y divisions. Moreover, the shimming performance of an iPRES coil array gradually reach to a saturation level when the number of DC loops per RF coil is large enough. Finally, when switches were numerically implemented in the iPRES(4) coil array, the number of power supplies can be reduced from 32 to 8 while keeping the shimming performance similar to iPRES(3) and better than iPRES(1). This thesis work offers a guidance for the designs of iPRES coil arrays.

Numerical Modelling of Eddy Current Probes for CANDU® Fuel Channel Inspection

Multi-frequency Eddy Current (EC) inspection with a transmit-receive probe (two horizontally offset coils) is used to monitor the Pressure Tube (PT) to Calandria Tube (CT) gap of CANDU® fuel channels. Accurate gap measurements are crucial to ensure fitness of service; however, variations in probe liftoff, PT electrical resistivity, and PT wall thickness can generate systematic measurement errors. Validated mathematical models of the EC probe are very useful for data interpretation, and may improve the gap measurement under inspection conditions where these parameters vary. As a first step, exact solutions for the electromagnetic response of a transmit-receive coil pair situated above two parallel plates separated by an air gap were developed. This model was validated against experimental data with flat-plate samples. Finite element method models revealed that this geometrical approximation could not accurately match experimental data with real tubes, so analytical solutions for the probe in a double-walled pipe (the CANDU® fuel channel geometry) were generated using the Second-Order Vector Potential (SOVP) formalism. All electromagnetic coupling coefficients arising from the probe, and the layered conductors were determined and substituted into Kirchhoff’s circuit equations for the calculation of the pickup coil signal. The flat-plate model was used as a basis for an Inverse Algorithm (IA) to simultaneously extract the relevant experimental parameters from EC data. The IA was validated over a large range of second layer plate resistivities (1.7 to 174 µΩ∙cm), plate wall thickness (~1 to 4.9 mm), probe liftoff (~2 mm to 8 mm), and plate-to plate gap (~0 mm to 13 mm). The IA achieved a relative error of less than 6% for the extracted FP resistivity and an accuracy of ±0.1 mm for the LO measurement. The IA was able to achieve a plate gap measurement with an accuracy of less than ±0.7 mm error over a ~2.4 mm to 7.5 mm probe liftoff and ±0.3 mm at nominal liftoff (2.42±0.05 mm), providing confidence in the general validity of the algorithm. This demonstrates the potential of using an analytical model to extract variable parameters that may affect the gap measurement accuracy.

Hematoma Cervical e Hemotórax Espontâneos no contexto de Neurofibromatose Tipo I

Introdução: A neurofibromatose tipo I (NF1), também designada doença de Von Recklinghausen, é causada por uma anormalidade no cromossoma 17, de transmissão autossómica dominante, responsável pela produção deficiente de neurofibromina. Caracteriza-se por displasia nos tecidos mesodérmicos e neuroectodérmicos, e tem uma incidência de um para 2.500-3.300 nascimentos. A presença de manchas café-au-lait, neurofibromas cutâneos e hamartomas da íris são sinais cardinais da doença. Primeiramente descrita por Ruebi em 1945, a patologia vascular é uma complicação subestimada e pouco reconhecida na NF1. A ocorrência de hemorragia fatal ou quase fatal está reportada ocasionalmente nas cavidades pleural, abdominal, retroperitoneu, tecidos moles do tronco e extremidades. Esta hemorragia massiva é causada pela rutura de vasos sanguíneos friáveis, característicos pelos níveis reduzidos de neurofibromina e consequente proliferação endotelial e de músculo liso nas artérias e veias. Uma das consequências clínicas mais sérias descritas na NF1 é a ocorrência de hemorragia severa e dificuldade em alcançar controlo hemostático. Objetivo: Exposição de caso clínico de extenso hematoma cervical e hemotórax espontâneos por rutura troncos venosos braquiocefálico, veia subclávia e junção subclávio-jugular em doente com NF1. Caso clínico: Relata-se caso clínico de mulher de 51 anos, com antecedentes conhecidos de NF1 e hipertensão arterial. Foi admitida no serviço de urgência em choque hipovolémico hemorrágico, no contexto de dor súbita no ombro direito e volumosa tumefação cervical direita. Em angioTC foi objetivado volumoso hematoma, envolvendo a região cervical direita, a região retrofaríngea-prevertebral, escavado supraclavicular direito, mediastino, associando a importante hemotórax direito. Procedeu-se a abordagem supraclavicular com drenagem do hematoma e identificação de fontes hemorrágicas, nomeadamente: tronco venoso braquicefálico, veia subclávia e confluência subclávio-jugular. Foi necessária secção da clavícula para controlo hemorrágico e realização de rafias dos troncos venosos com prolene. Intraoperatoriamente, foi evidente a fragilidade e friabilidade excessiva dos vasos sanguíneos. Após controlo hemorrágico, foi realizada videotoracoscopia para drenagem de hemotórax e evacuação de coágulos, confirmando-se a ausência de hemorragia ativa. No pós-operatório a doente recuperou estabilidade hemodinâmica, sem evidência analítica de queda de hemoglobina. Realizou-se angioTC, onde se confirmou franca melhoria do hematoma cervical direito e retrofaríngeo em critérios quantitativos, e ausência de extravasamento de contraste. Objetivou-se adicionalmente aneurismas acular da artéria vertebral direita, corrigido ulteriormente através de embolização com coils. Conclusão: A NF1 é uma doença genética que raramente se pode associar a hemorragia life- -threatening. A vasculopatia é uma complicação subestimada e pouco reconhecida na NF1. A existência de friabilidade vascular excessiva com consequente hemorragia espontânea na NF1 é rara e pode ser fatal, exigindo um diagnóstico rápido e tratamento atempado.

Endovascular treatment of multiple anomalous splenic artery aneurysms in a Jehovah witness

Purpose. The present report describes a full endovascular treatment of a multiple anomalous (Splenic artery aneurysms) SAA with combination of coils embolization and proximal occlusion of the splenic artery with the Amplatzer vascular plug. Case report. A 53-year-old Jehovah witness woman presented with multiple aneurysms arising from an anomalous splenic artery. An endovascular treatment was performed by implantation of multiple coils and an Amplatzer Vascular Plug. A CT scan 2 months after the procedure showed complete thrombosis of the aneurysms. Discussion. Aneurysms involving an anomalous or aberrant splenic artery are rarely reported in the literature. Their surgical treatment involves potential difficulties as a consequence of anatomical position and vascular anomalies. A fully endovascular technique can be much more attractive compared to any surgical management, providing an effective and minimally invasive option. Splenic artery - Aberrant splenic artery - Aneurysm - Endovascular treatment - Jehovah witness.

SPACE-DEPLOYED, THIN-WALLED ENCLOSURE FOR A CRYOGENICALLY-COOLED HIGH TEMPERATURE SUPERCONDUCTING COIL

The interaction of magnetic fields generated by large superconducting coils has multiple applications in space, including actuation of spacecraft or spacecraft components, wireless power transfer, and shielding of spacecraft from radiation and high energy particles. These applications require coils with major diameters as large as 20 meters and a thermal management system to maintain the superconducting material of the coil below its critical temperature. Since a rigid thermal management system, such as a heat pipe, is unsuitable for compact stowage inside a 5 meter payload fairing, a thin-walled thermal enclosure is proposed. A 1.85 meter diameter test article consisting of a bladder layer for containing chilled nitrogen vapor, a restraint layer, and multilayer insulation was tested in a custom toroidal vacuum chamber. The material properties found during laboratory testing are used to predict the performance of the test article in low Earth orbit. Deployment motion of the same test article was measured using a motion capture system and the results are used to predict the deployment in space. A 20 meter major diameter and coil current of 6.7 MA is selected as a point design case. This design point represents a single coil in a high energy particle shielding system. Sizing of the thermal and structural components of the enclosure is completed. The thermal and deployment performance is predicted.

Avaliação dos parâmetros de insensibilização e os impactos na qualidade da carne de perus (Meleagris gallopavo)

Brazil is the third largest producer and exporter of turkey meat, especially in Paraná state, with the largest production volume. In worldwide the animal welfare is a prerequisite for food quality of animal origin, especially in Europe. The Regulation of European Community No 1099/2009 provides requirements for poultry stunning that associate with animal welfare as a means to minimize the pain and suffering from the slaughter. Improper application of callousness should produce low-quality meat, and significant industry losses. This Research aimed to evaluate the impacts on the quality of meat from turkeys, applying electrical stunning parameters established in the Regulation No 1099/2009 of the Council of 24 September 2009. Was applied an outline with 8 tests set equidistantly to frequency, and set parameters for current and voltage, and a control test. Were conducted qualitative assessments of hematoms and bruises / fractures in carcasses, hematoms, blood splashed and bleeding in turkey breast, and quantitative pH, color (L *), water holding capacity and shear force in turkey breast. The individual assessments showed no significant difference (p>0,05). In multivariate cluster analysis was the formation of two distinct groups: group 1 - 50 Hz to 200 Hz (low frequency) and group 2 - 633 Hz to 1500 Hz (high frequency), which showed significant difference (p= 0,016). In principal component analysis multivariate, the group 1 tend to have a higher incidence of bruising, blood splashed, bleeding and water holding capacity in breast turkeys, and bruises / fractures and hematoms on carcasses. The Group 2 tends to have a lower incidence of these parameters, and higher pH values, shear force and color (L *). Positive correlation was obtained for the parameters pH and shear force (r= 0.7506, p=0.0198); bleeding and splashed blood (r= 0.8811, p= 0.0017), and negative correlation to color (L*) and splashed blood on breast (r= -0.7889; p= 0.0115); breast hematoms and shear force (r= -0.7844; p= 0.0123). It has been observed that at lower frequencies stunning tends to have higher incidence of defects in the carcasses and turkey breast. The use of high frequencies in stunning, create smaller quantity of trimming, and an increase in turkey breast volume produced, with a financial gain of approximately R$250,000.00 / year. Moreover, there is no need increase the workers to do the trimming tasks and, therefore, higher financial results for companies. Therefore, we recommend the use of high frequencies in the stunning of turkeys.

El principio de oportunidad : análisis de Derecho comparado

La conformidad procesal es una de las manifestaciones más importantes del principio de oportunidad. Éste, en relación constante con el principio de legalidad, tiende a la agilización y el recorte de los trámites procesales, sin perjuicio de las garantías esenciales del procedimiento penal. Debido a sus ventajas se ha instalado tanto en el modelo norteamericano, a través del «plea bargaining», como en el modelo continental europeo.

Disentangling the magnetic force noise contribution in LISA Pathfinder

Magnetically-induced forces on the inertial masses on-board LISA Path finder are expected to be one of the dominant contributions to the mission noise budget, accounting for up to 40%. The origin of this disturbance is the coupling of the residual magnetization and susceptibility of the test masses with the environmental magnetic field. In order to fully understand this important part of the noise model, a set of coils and magnetometers are integrated as a part of the diagnostics subsystem. During operations a sequence of magnetic excitations will be applied to precisely determine the coupling of the magnetic environment to the test mass displacement using the on-board magnetometers. Since no direct measurement of the magnetic field in the test mass position will be available, an extrapolation of the magnetic measurements to the test mass position will be carried out as a part of the data analysis activities. In this paper we show the first results on the magnetic experiments during an end-to-end LISA Path finder simulation, and we describe the methods under development to map the magnetic field on-board.

Collimation of deuterium / 3-helium fusion products for advanced spacecraft propulsion and power

Current space exploration has transpired through the use of chemical rockets, and they have served us well, but they have their limitations. Exploration of the outer solar system, Jupiter and beyond will most likely require a new generation of propulsion system. One potential technology class to provide spacecraft propulsion and power systems involve thermonuclear fusion plasma systems. In this class it is well accepted that d-He3 fusion is the most promising of the fuel candidates for spacecraft applications as the 14.7 MeV protons carry up to 80% of the total fusion power while ‘s have energies less than 4 MeV. The other minor fusion products from secondary d-d reactions consisting of 3He, n, p, and 3H also have energies less than 4 MeV. Furthermore there are two main fusion subsets namely, Magnetic Confinement Fusion devices and Inertial Electrostatic Confinement (or IEC) Fusion devices. Magnetic Confinement Fusion devices are characterized by complex geometries and prohibitive structural mass compromising spacecraft use at this stage of exploration. While generating energy from a lightweight and reliable fusion source is important, another critical issue is harnessing this energy into usable power and/or propulsion. IEC fusion is a method of fusion plasma confinement that uses a series of biased electrodes that accelerate a uniform spherical beam of ions into a hollow cathode typically comprised of a gridded structure with high transparency. The inertia of the imploding ion beam compresses the ions at the center of the cathode increasing the density to the point where fusion occurs. Since the velocity distributions of fusion particles in an IEC are essentially isotropic and carry no net momentum, a means of redirecting the velocity of the particles is necessary to efficiently extract energy and provide power or create thrust. There are classes of advanced fuel fusion reactions where direct-energy conversion based on electrostatically-biased collector plates is impossible due to potential limits, material structure limitations, and IEC geometry. Thermal conversion systems are also inefficient for this application. A method of converting the isotropic IEC into a collimated flow of fusion products solves these issues and allows direct energy conversion. An efficient traveling wave direct energy converter has been proposed and studied by Momota , Shu and further studied by evaluated with numerical simulations by Ishikawa and others. One of the conventional methods of collimating charged particles is to surround the particle source with an applied magnetic channel. Charged particles are trapped and move along the lines of flux. By introducing expanding lines of force gradually along the magnetic channel, the velocity component perpendicular to the lines of force is transferred to the parallel one. However, efficient operation of the IEC requires a null magnetic field at the core of the device. In order to achieve this, Momota and Miley have proposed a pair of magnetic coils anti-parallel to the magnetic channel creating a null hexapole magnetic field region necessary for the IEC fusion core. Numerically, collimation of 300 eV electrons without a stabilization coil was demonstrated to approach 95% at a profile corresponding to Vsolenoid = 20.0V, Ifloating = 2.78A, Isolenoid = 4.05A while collimation of electrons with stabilization coil present was demonstrated to reach 69% at a profile corresponding to Vsolenoid = 7.0V, Istab = 1.1A, Ifloating = 1.1A, Isolenoid = 1.45A. Experimentally, collimation of electrons with stabilization coil present was demonstrated experimentally to be 35% at 100 eV and reach a peak of 39.6% at 50eV with a profile corresponding to Vsolenoid = 7.0V, Istab = 1.1A, Ifloating = 1.1A, Isolenoid = 1.45A and collimation of 300 eV electrons without a stabilization coil was demonstrated to approach 49% at a profile corresponding to Vsolenoid = 20.0V, Ifloating = 2.78A, Isolenoid = 4.05A 6.4% of the 300eV electrons’ initial velocity is directed to the collector plates. The remaining electrons are trapped by the collimator’s magnetic field. These particles oscillate around the null field region several hundred times and eventually escape to the collector plates. At a solenoid voltage profile of 7 Volts, 100 eV electrons are collimated with wall and perpendicular component losses of 31%. Increasing the electron energy beyond 100 eV increases the wall losses by 25% at 300 eV. Ultimately it was determined that a field strength deriving from 9.5 MAT/m would be required to collimate 14.7 MeV fusion protons from d-3He fueled IEC fusion core. The concept of the proton collimator has been proven to be effective to transform an isotropic source into a collimated flow of particles ripe for direct energy conversion.

Caracterização de compósitos Nb-20%cu obtidos por moagem de alta energia e sinterizados por fase líquida

In this work, was studied the formation of a composite of the refractory metal niobium with copper, through the process of high-energy milling and liquid phase sintering. The HEM can be used to synthesize composite powders with high homogeneity and fine size particle distribution. It may also produce the solid solubility in immiscible systems such as Nb-Cu, or extend the solubility of systems with limited solubility. Therefore, in the immiscible system Cu-Nb, the high-energy milling was successfully used to obtain the composite powder particles. Initially, the formation of composite particles during the HEM and the effect of preparation technique on the microstructure of the material was evaluated. Four loads of Nb and Cu powders containing 20%wt Cu were synthesized by MAE in a planetary type ball mill under different periods of grinding. The influence of grinding time on the metal particles is evaluated during the process by the withdrawal of samples at intermediate times of milling. After compaction under different forces, the samples were sintered in a vacuum furnace. The liquid phase sintering of these samples prepared by HEM produced a homogeneous and fine grained. The composite particles forming the sintered samples are the addition of a hard phase (Nb) with a high melting point, and a ductile phase (Cu) with low melting point and high thermal and electrical conductivities. Based on these properties, the Nb-Cu system is a potential material for many applications, such as electrical contacts, welding electrodes, coils for generating high magnetic fields, heat sinks and microwave absorbers, which are coupled to electronic devices. The characterization techniques used in this study, were laser granulometry, used to evaluate the homogeneity and particle size, and the X-ray diffraction, in the phase identification and to analyze the crystalline structure of the powders during milling. The morphology and dispersion of the phases in the composite powder particles, as well the microstructures of the sintered samples, were observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Subsequently, the sintered samples are evaluated for density and densification. And finally, they were characterized by techniques of measuring the electrical conductivity and microhardness, whose properties are analyzed as a function of the parameters for obtaining the composite

Triangular mesh parameterization with trimmed surfaces

Given a 2manifold triangular mesh \(M \subset {\mathbb {R}}^3\), with border, a parameterization of \(M\) is a FACE or trimmed surface \(F=\{S,L_0,\ldots, L_m\}\) -- \(F\) is a connected subset or region of a parametric surface \(S\), bounded by a set of LOOPs \(L_0,\ldots ,L_m\) such that each \(L_i \subset S\) is a closed 1manifold having no intersection with the other \(L_j\) LOOPs -- The parametric surface \(S\) is a statistical fit of the mesh \(M\) -- \(L_0\) is the outermost LOOP bounding \(F\) and \(L_i\) is the LOOP of the ith hole in \(F\) (if any) -- The problem of parameterizing triangular meshes is relevant for reverse engineering, tool path planning, feature detection, redesign, etc -- Stateofart mesh procedures parameterize a rectangular mesh \(M\) -- To improve such procedures, we report here the implementation of an algorithm which parameterizes meshes \(M\) presenting holes and concavities -- We synthesize a parametric surface \(S \subset {\mathbb {R}}^3\) which approximates a superset of the mesh \(M\) -- Then, we compute a set of LOOPs trimming \(S\), and therefore completing the FACE \(F=\ {S,L_0,\ldots ,L_m\}\) -- Our algorithm gives satisfactory results for \(M\) having low Gaussian curvature (i.e., \(M\) being quasi-developable or developable) -- This assumption is a reasonable one, since \(M\) is the product of manifold segmentation preprocessing -- Our algorithm computes: (1) a manifold learning mapping \(\phi : M \rightarrow U \subset {\mathbb {R}}^2\), (2) an inverse mapping \(S: W \subset {\mathbb {R}}^2 \rightarrow {\mathbb {R}}^3\), with \ (W\) being a rectangular grid containing and surpassing \(U\) -- To compute \(\phi\) we test IsoMap, Laplacian Eigenmaps and Hessian local linear embedding (best results with HLLE) -- For the back mapping (NURBS) \(S\) the crucial step is to find a control polyhedron \(P\), which is an extrapolation of \(M\) -- We calculate \(P\) by extrapolating radial basis functions that interpolate points inside \(\phi (M)\) -- We successfully test our implementation with several datasets presenting concavities, holes, and are extremely nondevelopable -- Ongoing work is being devoted to manifold segmentation which facilitates mesh parameterization

New search for the Neutron Electric Dipole Moment using ultracold neutrons at the Spallation Neutron Source

This document introduces the planned new search for the neutron Electric Dipole Moment at the Spallation Neutron Source at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. A spin precession measurement is to be carried out using Ultracold neutrons diluted in a superfluid Helium bath at T = 0.5 K, where spin polarized 3He atoms act as detector of the neutron spin polarization. This manuscript describes some of the key aspects of the planned experiment with the contributions from Caltech to the development of the project.

Techniques used in the design of magnet coils for Nuclear Magnetic Resonance were adapted to the geometry of the experiment. Described is an initial design approach using a pair of coils tuned to shield outer conductive elements from resistive heat loads, while inducing an oscillating field in the measurement volume. A small prototype was constructed to test the model of the field at room temperature.

A large scale test of the high voltage system was carried out in a collaborative effort at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The application and amplification of high voltage to polished steel electrodes immersed in a superfluid Helium bath was studied, as well as the electrical breakdown properties of the electrodes at low temperatures. A suite of Monte Carlo simulation software tools to model the interaction of neutrons, 3He atoms, and their spins with the experimental magnetic and electric fields was developed and implemented to further the study of expected systematic effects of the measurement, with particular focus on the false Electric Dipole Moment induced by a Geometric Phase akin to Berry’s phase.

An analysis framework was developed and implemented using unbinned likelihood to fit the time modulated signal expected from the measurement data. A collaborative Monte Carlo data set was used to test the analysis methods.