First observation of O

Kondo, Yosuke*; Achouri, N. L.*; Al Falou, H.*; Atar, L.*; Aumann, T.*; Baba, Hidetada*; Boretzky, K.*; Caesar, C.*; Calvet, D.*; Chae, H.*; et al.

Nature, 620(7976), p.965 - 970, 2023/08

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06352-6

no abstracts in English

Intruder configurations in Ne at the transition into the island of inversion; Detailed structure study of Ne

Wang, H.*; Yasuda, Masahiro*; Kondo, Yosuke*; Nakamura, Takashi*; Tostevin, J. A.*; Ogata, Kazuyuki*; Otsuka, Takaharu*; Poves, A.*; Shimizu, Noritaka*; Yoshida, Kazuki; et al.

Physics Letters B, 843, p.138038_1 - 138038_9, 2023/08

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.2023.138038

Detailed -ray spectroscopy of the exotic neon isotope Ne has been performed using the one-neutron removal reaction from Ne. Based on an analysis of parallel momentum distributions, a level scheme with spin-parity assignments has been constructed for Ne and the negative-parity states are identified for the first time. The measured partial cross sections and momentum distributions reveal a significant intruder p-wave strength providing evidence of the breakdown of the N = 20 and N = 28 shell gaps. Only a weak, possible f-wave strength was observed to bound final states. Large-scale shell-model calculations with different effective interactions do not reproduce the large p-wave and small f-wave strength observed experimentally, indicating an ongoing challenge for a complete theoretical description of the transition into the island of inversion along the Ne isotopic chain.

PSTEP: Project for solar-terrestrial environment prediction

Kusano, Kanya*; Ichimoto, Kiyoshi*; Ishii, Mamoru*; Miyoshi, Yoshizumi*; Yoden, Shigeo*; Akiyoshi, Hideharu*; Asai, Ayumi*; Ebihara, Yusuke*; Fujiwara, Hitoshi*; Goto, Tadanori*; et al.

Earth, Planets and Space (Internet), 73(1), p.159_1 - 159_29, 2021/12

https://doi.org/10.1186/s40623-021-01486-1

The PSTEP is a nationwide research collaboration in Japan and was conducted from April 2015 to March 2020, supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan. It has made a significant progress in space weather research and operational forecasts, publishing over 500 refereed journal papers and organizing four international symposiums, various workshops and seminars, and summer school for graduate students at Rikubetsu in 2017. This paper is a summary report of the PSTEP and describes the major research achievements it produced.

Quasifree neutron knockout from Ca corroborates arising neutron magic number

Chen, S.*; Lee, J.*; Doornenbal, P.*; Obertelli, A.*; Barbieri, C.*; Chazono, Yoshiki*; Navrtil, P.*; Ogata, Kazuyuki*; Otsuka, Takaharu*; Raimondi, F.*; et al.

Physical Review Letters, 123(14), p.142501_1 - 142501_7, 2019/10

AA2019-0306.pdf:0.57MB

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.123.142501

no abstracts in English

Nuclear moments of the low-lying isomeric state of Al; Investigation on the neutron excitation across in the island of inversion

Xu, Z. Y.*; Heylen, H.*; Asahi, Koichiro*; Boulay, F.*; Daugas, J. M.*; de Groote, R. P.*; Gins, W.*; Kamalou, O.*; Koszors, .*; Lykiardopoupou, M.*; et al.

Physics Letters B, 782, p.619 - 626, 2018/07

AA2018-0159.pdf:0.5MB

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.2018.06.009

no abstracts in English

Current status of the next generation fast reactor core & fuel design and related R&Ds in Japan

Maeda, Seiichiro; Oki, Shigeo; Otsuka, Satoshi; Morimoto, Kyoichi; Ozawa, Takayuki; Kamide, Hideki

Proceedings of International Conference on Fast Reactors and Related Fuel Cycles; Next Generation Nuclear Systems for Sustainable Development (FR-17) (USB Flash Drive), 10 Pages, 2017/06

The next generation fast reactor is being investigated in Japan, aiming at several targets such as "safety", "reduction of environmental burden" and "economic competitiveness". As for the safety aspect, FAIDUS concept is adopted to avoid re-criticality in core destructive accidents. The uranium-plutonium mixed oxide fuel, in which minor actinide elements are included, will be applied to reduce the amount and potential radio-toxicity of radioactive wastes. The high burn-up fuel is pursued to reduce fuel cycle cost. The candidate concept of the core and fuel design, which could satisfy various design criteria by design devisals, has been established. In addition, JAEA is investigating material properties and irradiation behavior of MA-MOX fuel. JAEA is developing the fuel design code especially for the fuel pin with annular pellets of MA-bearing MOX. Furthermore, JAEA is developing oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) ferritic steel cladding for the high burnup fuel.

Nitric oxide-mediated bystander signal transduction induced by heavy-ion microbeam irradiation

Tomita, Masanori*; Matsumoto, Hideki*; Funayama, Tomoo; Yokota, Yuichiro; Otsuka, Kensuke*; Maeda, Munetoshi*; Kobayashi, Yasuhiko

Life Sciences in Space Research, 6, p.36 - 43, 2015/07

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lssr.2015.06.004

A radiation-induced bystander response is generally known as a cellular response induced in unirradiated cell by receiving bystander signaling factors released from directly irradiated cells of a cell population. Bystander responses induced by high-LET heavy ions at low fluence are an important problem concerning the health of astronauts in the space environment. Here we set out NO-mediated bystander signal transductions induced by high-LET heavy-ion microbeam irradiation in normal human fibroblasts. Our findings suggest that Akt- and NF-B-dependent signaling pathway involving COX-2 plays an important role in the NO-mediated high-LET heavy-ion-induced bystander responses. Additionally, COX-2 may be used as a molecular marker of high-LET heavy-ion-induced bystander cells, which are distinguish form directly irradiated cells.

Low-lying structure of Ar and the =32 subshell closure

Steppenbeck, D.*; Takeuchi, Satoshi*; Aoi, Nori*; Doornenbal, P.*; Matsushita, Masafumi*; Wang, H.*; Utsuno, Yutaka; Baba, Hidetada*; Go, Shintaro*; Lee, J.*; et al.

Physical Review Letters, 114(25), p.252501_1 - 252501_6, 2015/06

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.114.252501

The neutron-rich nucleus Ar is produced by the fragmentation reactions of Ca, Sc, and Ti at the RIBF facility in RIKEN, and its deexcited rays are observed for the first time. The first level in Ar is identified to lie at 1178(18)keV from the most intense -ray spectra. This experimental data, together with the systematics of the levels for surrounding nuclei, is analyzed with large-scale shell-model calculations. Consequently, the sub-shell gap in Ar is equivalent to that of Ca, thus making the level in Ar higher than that of Ar. The shell-model calculation also predicts that the sub-shell gap enhances in going from Ca to Ar, which will be verified by forthcoming experiments for Ar.

Mechanisms for the induction of radioadaptive response by radiation-induced bystander response

Matsumoto, Hideki*; Tomita, Masanori*; Otsuka, Kensuke*; Hatashita, Masanori*; Maeda, Munetoshi*; Funayama, Tomoo; Yokota, Yuichiro; Suzuki, Michiyo; Sakashita, Tetsuya; Ikeda, Hiroko; et al.

JAEA-Review 2014-050, JAEA Takasaki Annual Report 2013, P. 76, 2015/03

https://doi.org/10.11484/jaea-review-2014-050

The objective of this project is to elucidate molecular mechanisms for the induction of radioadaptive response through radiation-induced bystander responses induced by irradiation with heavy ion microbeams in JAEA. We found that the adaptive response was induced by Ar (520 MeV Ar) microbeam-irradiation of a limited number of cells, followed by the broad beam-irradiation and that the adaptive response was almost completely suppressed by the addition of carboxy-PTIO, as a nitric oxide (NO) scavenger. In addition, we found several genes induced specifically and preferentially when radioadaptive response could be induced. We confirmed that expression was specifically induced only when radioadaptive response could be induced. Our findings strongly suggested that radioadaptive response can be induced by NO-mediated bystander responses evoked by irradiation with heavy ion microbeams.

Rotational level structure of sodium isotopes inside the "island of inversion"

Doornenbal, P.*; Scheit, H.*; Takeuchi, Satoshi*; Utsuno, Yutaka; Aoi, Nori*; Li, K.*; Matsushita, Masafumi*; Steppenbeck, D.*; Wang, H.*; Baba, Hidetada*; et al.

Progress of Theoretical and Experimental Physics (Internet), 2014(5), p.053D01_1 - 053D01_9, 2014/05

https://doi.org/10.1093/ptep/ptu057

no abstracts in English