[en] The population and γ-decay of n-rich nuclei around 4^8Ca was measured at LNL using deep-inelastic collisions on 6^4Ni, at an energy ∼2.5 times above the Coulomb barrier. The experimental setup consisted of the CLARA Ge array coupled to the PRISMA magnetic spectrometer. These high energy collisions are proved to be a powerful tool for the production of nuclei far from stability. In this connection a good understanding of the reaction mechanisms is a starting point for extracting nuclear structure information. In fact, they provide information on basic physical quantities, such as potentials, spectroscopic factors, particle-vibration coupling and pair transfer. In this contribution we present a detailed investigation of the reaction properties: angular distributions for pure elastic scattering and for the inelastic excitation of the first excited states of target and projectile, as shown in the bottom part of the figure. In the top panels total cross sections of the most relevant transfer channels are shown. The experimental results are compared with predictions from the semiclassical multi-nucleon transfer model of ref. [1], which is found to reproduce well the data corresponding to (-1p) and (+1p) channels. In addition, for some of the most intense channels, energy integrated angular distributions are also obtained. Finally, for some one-nucleon transfer channels it has been possible to extract also the angular distributions corresponding to the excitation of the first excited state.(author)

[en] The deep inelastic reaction ⁴⁸Ca + ⁶⁴Ni at 6 MeV/A has been studied using the CLARA-PRISMA setup. Angular distributions for pure elastic scattering and total cross-sections of the most relevant transfer channels have been measured. The experimental results are compared with predictions from a semiclassical model, showing good agreement for the presently analyzed few neutrons transfer channels. The γ - decay of the most intense reaction products has also been studied, giving indications of the population of states with very short lifetimes. (author)

No abstract available

[en] The "1"2C+"1"2C fusion reaction is one of the key reactions governing the evolution of massive stars as well as being critical to the physics underpinning various explosive astrophysical scenarios. Our understanding of the "1"2C+"1"2C reaction rate in the Gamow window - the energy range relevant to the different astrophysical scenarios - is presently confused. This is due to the large number of resonances around the Coulomb barrier and persisting down to the lowest energies measured. In usual circumstances, where the fusion cross-section is smooth it can be readily extrapolated from the energy range measured in the laboratory down to the Gamow window but this is not possible for "1"2C+"1"2C. Moreover, the existing data on this reaction obtained either through detection of evaporated charged particles or detection of gamma rays do not agree. This is a known problem which has been attributed to low-level contamination of targets with e.g. deuterium. In addition, there is considerable disagreement in the theoretical extrapolation of the data down to the Gamow window. Classically, the origin of the resonances has been attributed to molecular states based on a "1"2C+"1"2C configuration, while more recently Jiang et al. have attributed it to low level density in the compound system. The STELLA experiment has recently been commissioned at IPN Orsay. A intense "1"2C beam from the Andromede accelerator is incident on thin self-supporting "1"2C foils. A target rotations system can allow for cooling supporting beam currents in excess of 1 eµA. Evaporated charged particles are detected with a dedicated silicon array while gamma rays are detected in coincidence with an array of 30 LaBr_3 detectors. The design and status of STELLA will be presented along with initial results showing good agreement with earlier measurements of the "1"2C+"1"2C system

[en] A proposal for a very large liquid argon (68,000 kg) based neutrino detector is being studied. To validate the design principles and the detector technology, and to gain experience in the development of the cryostats and the cryogenic systems needed for such large experiments, several smaller scale installations will be developed and implemented, at Fermilab and CERN.The cryogenic systems for these installations will be developed, constructed, installed and commissioned by an international engineering team. These installations shall bring the required cooling power under specific conditions to the experiments for the initial cool-down and the long term operation, and shall also guarantee the correct distribution of the cooling power within the cryostats to ensure a homogeneous temperature distribution within the cryostat itself. The cryogenic systems shall also include gaseous and liquid phase argon purification devices to be used to reach and maintain the very stringent purity requirements needed for these installations (parts per trillion of oxygen equivalent contamination).This paper gives an overview of the installations involved in these cryogenic projects, describes the functional demands made to these cryogenic systems and presents the initial studies on which these future cryogenic systems will be based. (paper)

[en] The γ-decay of the excited nucleus provides experimental information on the nuclear structure properties at extreme conditions of temperature, angular momentum and isospin. First, the order-to-chaos transition is studied in the warm rotating ¹⁶³Er nucleus, in terms of vanishing of selection rules on the K quantum number. Second, the properties of the excited superdeformed bands in ¹⁵¹Tb and ¹⁹⁶Pb nuclei are investigated in connection with their decay-out into the low deformation states. Finally, the population of highly excited low-spin states in moderately neutron-rich systems is discussed in connection with deep-inelastic reactions

[en] The ¹²C+¹²C fusion reaction is one of the most important for nuclear astrophysics since it determines the carbon ignition in stellar environments. Two experiments which make use of the γ-particle coincidence technique to measure the ¹²C+¹²C S-factors at deep sub barrier energies are discussed. Results are presented showing a decrease of the S-factor below E-c.m. = 3 MeV. (authors)

[en] The Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) will host the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE), an international multi-kiloton Long-Baseline neutrino experiment that will be installed about a mile underground in Lead, SD. In the current configuration four cryostats will contain a modular detector and a total of 68,400 tons of ultrapure liquid argon, with a level of impurities lower than 100 parts per trillion of oxygen equivalent contamination. The Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility (LBNF) provides the conventional facilities and the cryogenic infrastructure to support DUNE. The system is comprised of three sub-systems: External/Infrastructure, Proximity and Internal cryogenics. An international engineering team will design, manufacture, commission, and qualify the LBNF cryogenic system. This contribution presents the modes of operations, layout and main features of the LBNF cryogenic system. The expected performance, the functional requirements and the status of the design are also highlighted. (paper)

[en] With the experimental station STELLA (STELlar LAboratory) we will measure fusion cross sections of astrophysical relevance making use of the coincident detection of charged particles and gamma rays for background reduction. For the measurement of gamma rays from the de-excitation of fusion products a compact array of 36 UK FATIMA LaBr₃ detectors is designed based on efficiency studies with Geant4. The photo peak efficiency in the region of interest compares to other gamma detection systems used in this field. The features of the internal decay of ¹³⁸La is used in a background study to obtain an online calibration of the gamma detectors. Background data are fit to the Monte Carlo model of the self activity assuming crude exponential behavior of external background. Accuracy in the region of interest is of the order of some keV in this first study. (paper)

[en] The gamma decay of neutron-rich nuclei around ⁴⁸Ca was measured at Legnaro National Laboratory with the PRISMA-CLARA setup, using the multi-nucleon transfer reaction ⁴⁸Ca on ⁶⁴Ni at 282 MeV. Evidence is found for a large spin alignment which allows to use angular distributions and polarizations of gamma rays to firmly establish, for the first time, spin and parities of several excited states. In the one neutron transfer channels, ⁴⁹Ca and ⁴⁷Ca, states arising by coupling a single particle to the 3⁻ phonon of ⁴⁸Ca are observed, showing the robustness of nuclear collectivity in rather light systems. The work demonstrates the feasibility of complete in-beam γ-spectroscopy with heavy-ion transfer reactions and provides a method that can be further exploited in the future with heavy targets and radioactive beams.