Photon-photon and pomeron-pomeron processes in peripheral heavy ion collisions

We estimate the cross sections for the production of resonances, pion pairs, and a central cluster of hadrons in peripheral heavy-ion collisions through two-photon and double-pomeron exchange, at energies that will be available at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) and the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The effect of the impact parameter in the diffractive reactions is introduced, and by imposing the condition for realistic peripheral collisions we verify that in the case of very heavy ions the pomeron-pomeron contribution is indeed smaller than the electromagnetic one. However, they give a non-negligible background in the collision of light ions. This diffractive background will be more important at RHIC than at LHC.

Study of Heavy-ion Induced Fission for Heavy Element Synthesis

Fission fragment mass distributions were measured in heavy-ion induced fission of 238U. The mass distributions changed drastically with incident energy. The results are explained by a change of the ratio between fusion and quasifission with nuclear orientation. A calculation based on a fluctuation dissipation model reproduced the mass distributions and their incident energy dependence. Fusion probability was determined in the analysis. Evaporation residue cross sections were calculated with a statistical model for the reactions of 30Si+238U and 34S+238U using the obtained fusion probability in the entrance channel. The results agree with the measured cross sections of 263,264Sg and 267,268Hs, produced by 30Si+238U and 34S+238U, respectively. It is also suggested that sub-barrier energies can be used for heavy element synthesis.

A molecular dynamics study of swift heavy ion irradiation of amorphous silica: the role of thermal effects

Irradiation with swift heavy ions (SHI), roughly defined as those having atomic masses larger than 15 and energies exceeding 1 MeV/amu, may lead to significant modification of the irradiated material in a nanometric region around the (straight) ion trajectory (latent tracks). In the case of amorphous silica, SHI irradiation originates nano-tracks of higher density than the virgin material (densification). As a result, the refractive index is increased with respect to that of the surroundings. Moreover, track overlapping leads to continuous amorphous layers that present a significant contrast with respect to the pristine substrate. We have recently demonstrated that SHI irradiation produces a large number of point defects, easily detectable by a number of experimental techniques (work presented in the parallel conference ICDIM). The mechanisms of energy transfer from SHI to the target material have their origin in the high electronic excitation induced in the solid. A number of phenomenological approaches have been employed to describe these mechanisms: coulomb explosion, thermal spike, non-radiative exciton decay, bond weakening. However, a detailed microscopic description is missing due to the difficulty of modeling the time evolution of the electronic excitation. In this work we have employed molecular dynamics (MD) calculations to determine whether the irradiation effects are related to the thermal phenomena described by MD (in the ps domain) or to electronic phenomena (sub-ps domain), e.g., exciton localization. We have carried out simulations of up to 100 ps with large boxes (30x30x8 nm3) using a home-modified version of MDCASK that allows us to define a central hot cylinder (ion track) from which heat flows to the surrounding cold bath (unirradiated sample). We observed that once the cylinder has cooled down, the Si and O coordination numbers are 4 and 2, respectively, as in virgin silica. On the other hand, the density of the (cold) cylinder increases with respect to that of silica and, furthermore, the silica network ring size decreases. Both effects are in agreement with the observed densification. In conclusion, purely thermal effects do not explain the generation of point defects upon irradiation, but they do account for the silica densification.

Os efeitos nucleares em processos de produ¸c˜ao de quarkonium no Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) e no Large Hadron Collider (LHC)

Neste trabalho de disserta¸c˜ao, investigamos os efeitos nucleares em processos de produ¸c˜ao de quarkonium no Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) e no Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Para tanto, consideramos o Modelo de Evapora¸c˜ao de Cor (CEM), baseado em processos partˆonicos calculados mediante a QCD perturbativa e em intera¸c˜oes n˜ao perturbativas via troca de gl´uons suaves para a forma¸c˜ao do quarkonium. Supress˜ao de quarkonium ´e um dos sinais de forma¸c˜ao do assim chamado Plasma de Quarks e Gl´uons (QGP) em colis˜oes ultrarelativ´ısticas de ´ıons pesados. No entanto, a supress˜ao n˜ao ´e somente causada em colis˜oes n´ucleo-n´ucleo (AA) devido `a forma¸c˜ao do QGP. De fato, a supress˜ao de quarkonium tamb´em foi observada em colis˜oes pr´oton-n´ucleo (pA). A fim de separar os efeitos da mat´eria quente (devidos ao QGP) e fria (efeitos n˜ao devidos ao QGP), pode-se olhar primeiro para colis˜oes pA, onde somente efeitos de mat´eria fria desempenham um papel fundamental, e depois aplicar esses efeitos em colis˜oes AA, uma vez que parte da supress˜ao ´e devido a efeitos de mat´eria fria. No regime de altas energias, a produ¸c˜ao do quarkonium ´e fortemente dependente da distribui¸c˜ao de gl´uons nuclear, o que viabiliza uma oportunidade ´unica de estudar o comportamento de pequeno x dos gl´uons dentro do n´ucleo e, consequentemente, restringir os efeitos nucleares. Estudamos os processos nucleares utilizando distintas parametriza¸c˜oes para as distribui¸c˜oes partˆonicas nucleares. Calculamos a raz˜ao nuclear para processos pA e AA em fun¸c˜ao da vari´avel rapidez para a produ¸c˜ao de quarkonium, o que permite estimar os efeitos nucleares. Al´em disso, apresentamos uma compara¸c˜ao com os dados do RHIC para a produ¸c˜ao do m´eson J/Ψ em colis˜oes pA, demonstrando que a an´alise deste observ´avel ´e uma quest˜ao em aberto na literatura. Adicionalmente, estimamos a produ¸c˜ao de quarks pesados e quarkonium na etapa inicial e durante a fase termal de uma colis˜ao ultrarelativ´ıstica de ´ıons pesados. O objetivo deste estudo ´e estimar as distintas contribui¸c˜oes para a produ¸c˜ao e de alguns efeitos do meio nuclear.

Conducting polymer formed by low energy gold ion implantation

A buried conducting layer of metal/polymer nanocomposite was formed by very low energy gold ion implantation into polymethylmethacrylate. The conducting layer is similar to 3 nm deep and of width similar to 1 nm. In situ resistivity measurements were performed as the implantation proceeded, and the conductivity thus obtained as a function of buried gold concentration. The measured conductivity obeys the behavior well established for composites in the percolation regime. The critical concentration, below which the polymer remains an insulator, is attained at a dose similar to 1.0 x 10(16) atoms/cm(2) of implanted gold ions. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics.

FLUCTUATIONS AND INITIAL STATE GRANULARITY IN HEAVY ION COLLISIONS AND THEIR EFFECTS ON OBSERVABLES FROM HYDRODYNAMICS

A comparison is made between results obtained using smooth initial conditions and event-by-event initial conditions in the hydrodynamical description of relativistic nuclear collisions. Some new results on directed flow are also included.

Identifying Multiquark Hadrons from Heavy Ion Collisions

Identifying hadronic molecular states and/or hadrons with multiquark components either with or without exotic quantum numbers is a long-standing challenge in hadronic physics. We suggest that studying the production of these hadrons in relativistic heavy ion collisions offers a promising resolution to this problem as yields of exotic hadrons are expected to be strongly affected by their structures. Using the coalescence model for hadron production, we find that, compared to the case of a nonexotic hadron with normal quark numbers, the yield of an exotic hadron is typically an order of magnitude smaller when it is a compact multiquark state and a factor of 2 or more larger when it is a loosely bound hadronic molecule. We further find that some of the newly proposed heavy exotic states could be produced and realistically measured in these experiments.

Charged Kaon Interferometric Probes of Space-Time Evolution in Au plus Au Collisions at s(NN)=200 GeV

Bose-Einstein correlations of charged kaons are used to probe Au+Au collisions at s(NN)=200 GeV and are compared to charged pion probes, which have a larger hadronic scattering cross section. Three-dimensional Gaussian source radii are extracted, along with a one-dimensional kaon emission source function. The centrality dependences of the three Gaussian radii are well described by a single linear function of N(part)(1/3) with a zero intercept. Imaging analysis shows a deviation from a Gaussian tail at r greater than or similar to 10 fm, although the bulk emission at lower radius is well described by a Gaussian. The presence of a non-Gaussian tail in the kaon source reaffirms that the particle emission region in a heavy-ion collision is extended, and that similar measurements with pions are not solely due to the decay of long-lived resonances.

Empirical determination of the very high energy heavy quark cross section from nonaccelerator data

To cosmic rays incident near the horizon the Earth's atmosphere represents a beam dump with a slant depth reaching 36 000 g cm-2 at 90. The prompt decay of a heavy quark produced by very high energy cosmic ray showers will leave an unmistakable signature in this dump. We translate the failure of experiments to detect such a signal into an upper limit on the heavy quark hadroproduction cross section in the energy region beyond existing accelerators. Our results disfavor any rapid growth of the cross section or the gluon structure function beyond conservative estimates based on perturbative QCD.

New method for measuring longitudinal fuctuations and directed flow in ultrarelativistic heavy ion reactions

It has been shown in recent ALICE@LHC measurements that the odd flow harmonics, in particular, a directed flow v1, occurred to be weak and dominated by random fluctuations. In this work we propose a new method, which makes the measurements more sensitive to the flow patterns showing global collective symmetries. We demonstrate how the longitudinal center of mass rapidity fluctuations can be identified, and then the collective flow analysis can be performed in the event-by-event center of mass frame. Such a method can be very effective in separating the flow patterns originating from random fluctuations, and the flow patterns originating from the global symmetry of the initial state.

Effects and Modifications in In/Se and In/Sb Systems by Swift Heavy Ion Irradiation

Department of Physics, Cochin University of Science and Technology

Fabrication of thin films and nano columnar structures of Fe-Ni amorphous alloys and modification of its surface properties by thermal annealing and swift heavy ion irradiation for tailoring the magnetic properties

Department of Physics, Cochin University of Science and Technology

On the Tailoring of Magnetic Properties of Fe-Based Alloy Thin Films by Swift Heavy Ion Irradiation and Thermal Annealing

The development of new materials has been the hall mark of human civilization. The quest for making new devices and new materials has prompted humanity to pursue new methods and techniques that eventually has given birth to modern science and technology. With the advent of nanoscience and nanotechnology, scientists are trying hard to tailor materials by varying their size and shape rather than playing with the composition of the material. This, along with the discovery of new and sophisticated imaging tools, has led to the discovery of several new classes of materials like (3D) Graphite, (2D) graphene, (1D) carbon nanotubes, (0D) fullerenes etc. Magnetic materials are in the forefront of applications and have beencontributing their share to remove obsolescence and bring in new devices based on magnetism and magnetic materials. They find applications in various devices such as electromagnets, read heads, sensors, antennas, lubricants etc. Ferromagnetic as well as ferrimagnetic materials have been in use in the form of various devices. Among the ferromagnetic materials iron, cobalt and nickel occupy an important position while various ferrites finds applications in devices ranging from magnetic cores to sensors.

Swift heavy ion induced surface modification for tailoring coercivity in Fe–Ni based amorphous thin films

Fe–Ni based amorphous thin films were prepared by thermal evaporation. These films were irradiated by 108 MeV Ag8+ ions at room temperature with fluences ranging from 1 1012 to 3 1013 ions/cm2 using a 15 UD Pelletron accelerator. Glancing angle x-ray diffraction studies showed that the irradiated films retain their amorphous nature. The topographical evolution of the films under swift heavy ion SHI bombardment was probed using atomic force microscope and it was noticed that surface roughening was taking place with ion beam irradiation. Magnetic measurements using a vibrating sample magnetometer showed that the coercivity of the films increases with an increase in the ion fluence. The observed coercivity changes are correlated with topographical evolution of the films under SHI irradiation. The ability to modify the magnetic properties via SHI irradiation could be utilized for applications in thin film magnetism