Thermally altered subsurface material of asteroid (162173) Ryugu

Kitazato, Kohei*; Milliken, R. E.*; Iwata, Takahiro*; Abe, Masanao*; Otake, Makiko*; Matsuura, Shuji*; Takagi, Yasuhiko*; Nakamura, Tomoki*; Hiroi, Takahiro*; Matsuoka, Moe*; et al.

Nature Astronomy (Internet), 5(3), p.246 - 250, 2021/03

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-020-01271-2

Here we report observations of Ryugu's subsurface material by the Near-Infrared Spectrometer (NIRS3) on the Hayabusa2 spacecraft. Reflectance spectra of excavated material exhibit a hydroxyl (OH) absorption feature that is slightly stronger and peak-shifted compared with that observed for the surface, indicating that space weathering and/or radiative heating have caused subtle spectral changes in the uppermost surface. However, the strength and shape of the OH feature still suggests that the subsurface material experienced heating above 300 C, similar to the surface. In contrast, thermophysical modeling indicates that radiative heating does not increase the temperature above 200 C at the estimated excavation depth of 1 m, even if the semimajor axis is reduced to 0.344 au. This supports the hypothesis that primary thermal alteration occurred due to radiogenic and/or impact heating on Ryugu's parent body.

High order harmonics from relativistic electron spikes

Pirozhkov, A. S.; Kando, Masaki; Esirkepov, T. Z.; Faenov, A. Y.*; Pikuz, T. A.*; Kawachi, Tetsuya; Sagisaka, Akito; Koga, J. K.; Mori, Michiaki; Kawase, Keigo*; et al.

RAL-TR-2015-025, P. 22, 2015/00

https://www.clf.stfc.ac.uk/Pages/2014-15.aspx

Enhanced analysis methods to derive the spatial distribution of I deposition on the ground by airborne surveys at an early stage after the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident

Torii, Tatsuo; Sugita, Takeshi*; Okada, C. E.*; Reed, M. S.*; Blumenthal, D. J.*

Health Physics, 105(2), p.192 - 200, 2013/08

https://doi.org/10.1097/HP.0b013e318294444e

In March 2011 the second largest accidental release of radioactivity in history occurred at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant following a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunami. Teams from the US Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration Office of Emergency Response performed aerial surveys to provide initial maps of the dispersal of radioactive material in Japan. The initial results from the surveys did not report the concentration of iodine-131 (I). This work reports on analyses performed on the initial survey data by a joint Japan-US collaboration to determine I ground concentration. As a result of this analysis, although the analytical results show a high concentration of I northwest of the NPP, consistent with the previously reported radioactive cesium (Cs and Cs) deposition, the I deposition shows a significant concentration south of the plant which is not represented in the radioactive cesium map.

High-order harmonics from bow wave caustics driven by a high-intensity laser

Esirkepov, T. Z.; Pirozhkov, A. S.; Kando, Masaki; Gallegos, P.*; Ahmed, H.*; Ragozin, E. N.*; Faenov, A.*; Pikuz, T.; Kawachi, Tetsuya; Sagisaka, Akito; et al.

AIP Conference Proceedings 1465, p.172 - 180, 2012/07

https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4737558

The bow wave induced mechanism of high-order harmonics generation was discovered using simulations and catastrophe theory. This mechanism feasibility was successfully demonstrated in 3D and 2D PIC simulations. The mechanism and the simulations explained high-order harmonics in the XUV spectral region seen in recent experiments with terawatt lasers. Development of new XUV light and X-ray source based on the high-order harmonics generation mechanism is proposed.

Event structure and double helicity asymmetry in jet production from polarized collisions at = 200 GeV

Adare, A.*; Afanasiev, S.*; Aidala, C.*; Ajitanand, N. N.*; Akiba, Y.*; Al-Bataineh, H.*; Alexander, J.*; Aoki, K.*; Aphecetche, L.*; Armendariz, R.*; et al.

Physical Review D, 84(1), p.012006_1 - 012006_18, 2011/07

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.84.012006

We report on the event structure and double helicity asymmetry () of jet production in longitudinally polarized collisions at = 200 GeV. Photons and charged particles were measured by the PHENIX experiment. Event structure was compared with the results from PYTHIA event generator. The production rate of reconstructed jets is satisfactorily reproduced with the next-to-leading-order perturbative QCD calculation. We measured = -0.0014 0.0037 at the lowest bin and -0.0181 0.0282 at the highest bin. The measured is compared with the predictions that assume various distributions.

Azimuthal correlations of electrons from heavy-flavor decay with hadrons in and Au+Au collisions at = 200 GeV

Adare, A.*; Afanasiev, S.*; Aidala, C.*; Ajitanand, N. N.*; Akiba, Yasuyuki*; Al-Bataineh, H.*; Alexander, J.*; Aoki, Kazuya*; Aphecetche, L.*; Aramaki, Y.*; et al.

Physical Review C, 83(4), p.044912_1 - 044912_16, 2011/04

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.83.044912

Measurements of electrons from the decay of open-heavy-flavor mesons have shown that the yields are suppressed in Au+Au collisions compared to expectations from binary-scaled collisions. Here we extend these studies to two particle correlations where one particle is an electron from the decay of a heavy flavor meson and the other is a charged hadron from either the decay of the heavy meson or from jet fragmentation. These measurements provide more detailed information about the interaction between heavy quarks and the quark-gluon matter. We find the away-side-jet shape and yield to be modified in Au+Au collisions compared to collisions.

Observation of high-order harmonics produced by relativistic laser-plasma interaction

Kando, Masaki; Pirozhkov, A. S.; Esirkepov, T. Z.; Gallegos, P.*; Ahmed, H.*; Ragozin, E. N.*; Faenov, A.*; Pikuz, T.*; Kawachi, Tetsuya; Sagisaka, Akito; et al.

no journal, , 

When we focus laser pulses to the relativistic intensities (10 W/cm) in helium plasma, modulated spectra in the ultraviolet region (80- 300 eV) are observed in the forward direction. Some spectra contain odd and even high harmonics of the nearly fundamental frequency of the laser, continuum frequencies, and modulated structures. When we use a higher peak power laser (50-170 TW, 50fs), these spectral features are reproduced almost 100% probability. Also these spectra are observed when the laser polarization is changed to circular. The mechanism observed in our experiment is different from usual high-harmonics from gas targets, betatron radiation of electrons in wakefield, or nonlinear Thomson scattering due to above experimental conditions and results. We propose a theoretical model that electron density cusps formed by intense laser pulses radiate coherently. The validity of the model is confirmed with computer simulations.

High-order harmonic generation in gas jet targets in the relativistic laser-plasma interaction regime

Pirozhkov, A. S.; Kando, Masaki; Esirkepov, T. Z.; Gallegos, P.*; Ahmed, H.*; Ragozin, E. N.*; Faenov, A. Ya.*; Pikuz, T.; Kawachi, Tetsuya; Sagisaka, Akito; et al.

no journal, , 

We experimentally demonstrate a new regime of high-order harmonic generation by relativistic-irradiance lasers in gas jet targets. Bright harmonics with both the odd and even orders are generated in the forward direction by either linearly or circularly polarized pulses, while the base harmonic frequency is downshifted. With a 9 TW laser, the harmonics reach the "water window" spectral region. Using a 120 TW laser, we demonstrate the photon number scalability up to 40 uJ/sr per harmonic at 120 eV. We introduce a new harmonic generation mechanism based on the relativistic plasma phenomena and catastrophe theory.