Search results for "Elements"
showing 10 items of 799 documents
Distribution of rare earth elements in marine sediments from the Strait of Sicily (western Mediterranean Sea): Evidence of phosphogypsum waste contam…
2010
Concentrations of rare earth elements (REE), Y, Th and Sc were recently determined in marine sediments collected using a box corer along two onshore–offshore transects located in the Strait of Sicily (Mediterranean Sea). The REE + Y were enriched in offshore fine-grained sediments where clay minerals are abundant, whereas the REE + Y contents were lower in onshore coarse-grained sediments with high carbonate fractions. Considering this distribution trend, the onshore sediments in front of the southwestern Sicilian coast represent an anomaly with high REE + Y concentrations (mean value 163.4 lg g 1) associated to high Th concentrations (mean value 7.9 lg g 1). Plot of shale-normalized REE + …
Trace element data covering 96-7 ka BP from stalagmite CM (Santo Tomas Cave, Cuba)
2020
We present a new speleothem trace element and stable isotope record, which extends previous paleoclimate evidence from Cuban speleothems to the last 96 ka. Stable isotope samples were micromilled at a resolution of 0.10-0.33mm, and measured using an IRMS equipped with a Gasbench. Line scans of Element/Calcium ratios of the speleothem were measured by laser ablation ICPMS and were reduced to the resolution of the stable isotope records.
Understanding the nuclear structure of heavy elements
2013
The study of heavy and superheavy elements has always been one of the cornerstones of nuclear physics studies. These studies are driven by a desire to create new elements and to determine the limits of nuclear stability. Current experiments to synthesize new elements aim at the fabled ?Island of Stability? which should be found in the region of the next ?magic? numbers for protons and neutrons beyond Z?=?82 and N?=?126 (208Pb). The island is predicted to be around proton number 114?126 and neutron number 184. In recent years, another approach to understanding heavy nuclear systems has gained momentum, whereby nuclei with a much lower proton number of around 100 are studied in detail. The mo…
Resonant ionization spectroscopy of autoionizing Rydberg states in cobalt and redetermination of its ionization potential
2017
Multi-step resonance ionization spectroscopy of cobalt has been performed using a hot-cavity laser ion source and three Ti:Sapphire lasers. The photoionization spectra revealed members of five new autoionizing Rydberg series that originate from three different lower levels of 3d74s5s h4F9/2, 3d74s4d f4G11/2, and 3d74s4d f4H13/2 and converge to the first four excited states of singly ionized Co. The analyses of the Rydberg series yield 63564.689 �� 0.036 cm-1 as the first ionization potential of Co, which is an order of magnitude more accurate than the previous estimation. Using a three-step resonance ionization scheme that employs an autoinizing Rydberg state in the last transition, we obta…
Quasifission in heavy and superheavy element formation reactions
2016
Superheavy elements are created in the laboratory by the fusion of two heavy nuclei. The large Coulomb repulsion that makes superheavy elements decay also makes the fusion process that forms them very unlikely. Instead, after sticking together for a short time, the two nuclei usually come apart, in a process called quasifission. Mass-angle distributions give the most direct information on the characteristics and time scales of quasifission. A systematic study of carefully chosen mass-angle distributions has provided information on the global trends of quasifission. Large deviations from these systematics reveal the major role played by the nuclear structure of the two colliding nuclei in de…
Systematic variation of the stellar Initial Mass Function with velocity dispersion in early-type galaxies
2012
An essential component of galaxy formation theory is the stellar initial mass function (IMF), that describes the parent distribution of stellar mass in star forming regions. We present observational evidence in a sample of early-type galaxies (ETGs) of a tight correlation between central velocity dispersion and the strength of several absorption features sensitive to the presence of low-mass stars. Our sample comprises ~40,000 ETGs from the SPIDER survey (z<0.1). The data, extracted from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, are combined, rejecting both noisy data, and spectra with contamination from telluric lines, resulting in a set of 18 stacked spectra at high signal-to-noise ratio (S/N> …
Electron spectra in forbidden β decays and the quenching of the weak axial-vector coupling constant gA
2017
Evolution of the electron spectra with the effective value of the weak axial-vector coupling constant ${g}_{\mathrm{A}}$ was followed for 26 first-, second-, third-, fourth- and fifth-forbidden ${\ensuremath{\beta}}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ decays of odd-$A$ nuclei by calculating the involved nuclear matrix elements (NMEs) in the framework of the microscopic quasiparticle-phonon model (MQPM). The next-to-leading-order terms were included in the $\ensuremath{\beta}$-decay shape factor of the electron spectra. The spectrum shapes of third- and fourth-forbidden nonunique decays were found to depend strongly on the value of ${g}_{\mathrm{A}}$, while first- and second-forbidden decays were mostly unaff…
Study and implementation of a soft X-ray 100 eV -20 keV fixed exit monochromator system
2006
We describe a “built in house” X-ray monochromator which produces a fixed exit X-ray beam tunable in the full energy range 0.1 - 20 keV. The system is based on a double diffraction on two large size parallel crystals positioned using a remotely controlled micropositioning system in order to keep the position of the monochromatic beam for any chosen energy. Up to six different diffracting elements can be selected without breaking the vacuum. This allows to cover the full energy range of interest. The system is part of an upgrading project of the XACT facility at the Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica - Osservatorio Astronomico di Palermo G.S. Vaiana, and will be employed for the testing and c…
X-ray spectroscopy of the Hertzsprung-gap giant star 31 Com, observed with XMM-Newton
2003
We have analysed the XMM-Newton X-ray spectra of the yellow giant 31 Com with the aim of deriving information on the coronal structures of this archetypical Hertzsprung-gap star. To determine the emission measure distribution vs. temperature, EM(T), and the elemental abundances of the coronal plasma, with an accurate line-based approach, we have developed a new method for simple and accurate line measurements, based on rebinning and co-adding the two RGS spectra. We have reconstructed the EM(T) independently with both APED and CHIANTI atomic databases in order to investigate possible differences in the final outcome of the analysis, and we have obtained consistent results. The derived emiss…
Laser Resonance Chromatography of Superheavy Elements.
2020
Optical spectroscopy constitutes the historical path to accumulate basic knowledge on the atom and its structure. Former work based on fluorescence and resonance ionization spectroscopy enabled identifying optical spectral lines up to element 102, nobelium. The new challenges faced in this research field are the refractory nature of the heavier elements and the decreasing production yields. A new concept of ion-mobility-assisted laser spectroscopy is proposed to overcome the sensitivity limits of atomic structure investigations persisting in the region of the superheavy elements. The concept offers capabilities of both broadband-level searches and high-resolution hyperfine spectroscopy of s…