Quantification of bulk elemental composition for C-type asteroid Ryugu samples with nondestructive elemental analysis using muon beam

Ninomiya, Kazuhiko*; Osawa, Takahito; Terada, Kentaro*; Wada, Taiga*; Nagasawa, Shunsaku*; Chiu, I.-H.; Nakamura, Tomoki*; 40 of others*

Meteoritics & Planetary Science, 59(8), p.2044 - 2057, 2024/08

https://doi.org/10.1111/maps.14135

Samples from asteroid Ryugu, brought back by asteroid explorer Hayabusa2 are important for investigating the origin and evolution of the solar system. Here, we report the elemental compositions of a 123 mg Ryugu sample determined with a nondestructive muon elemental analysis method. This method is a powerful tool for determining bulk chemical composition, including light elements such as C, N, and O. From the muonic X-ray spectra with three carbonaceous chondrites, the relationship between the elemental composition and muonic X-ray intensity was determined for each element. Calibration curves showed linearity, and the elemental composition of Ryugu was quantitatively determined. The results reflect the average bulk elemental composition of asteroid Ryugu owing to the large amount of samples. Ryugu has an elemental composition similar to that of Orgueil (CI1), and should be classified as CI1. However, the O/Si ratio of Ryugu is 25% lower than that of Orgueil, indicating that Orgueil may have been seriously contaminated by terrestrial materials after its fall to Earth. These results indicate that the Ryugu sample is more representative than the CI chondrites as a solid material of the solar system.

Development of wide range photon detection system for muonic X-ray spectroscopy

Mizuno, Rurie*; Niikura, Megumi*; Saito, Takeshi*; Matsuzaki, Teiichiro*; Sakurai, Hiroyoshi*; Amato, A.*; Asari, Shunsuke*; Biswas, S.*; Chiu, I.-H.; Gianluca, J.*; et al.

Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A, 1060, p.169029_1 - 169029_14, 2024/03

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2023.169029

Development of nondestructive elemental analysis system for Hayabusa2 samples using muonic X-rays

Osawa, Takahito; Nagasawa, Shunsaku*; Ninomiya, Kazuhiko*; Takahashi, Tadayuki*; Nakamura, Tomoki*; Wada, Taiga*; Taniguchi, Akihiro*; Umegaki, Izumi*; Kubo, Kenya*; Terada, Kentaro*; et al.

ACS Earth and Space Chemistry (Internet), 7(4), p.699 - 711, 2023/04

https://doi.org/10.1021/acsearthspacechem.2c00303

The concentrations of carbon and other major elements in asteroid samples provide very important information on the birth of life on the Earth and the solar-system evolution. Elemental analysis using muonic X-rays is one of the best analytical methods to determine the elemental composition of solid materials, and notably, is the only method to determine the concentration of light elements in bulk samples in a non-destructive manner. We developed a new analysis system using muonic X-rays to measure the concentrations of carbon and other major elements in precious and expectedly tiny samples recovered from the asteroid Ryugu by spacecraft Hayabusa2. Here we report the development process of the system in 4 stages and their system configurations, The analysis system is composed of a stainless-steel analysis chamber, an acrylic glove box for manipulating asteroid samples in a clean environment, and Ge semiconductor detectors arranged to surround the analysis chamber. The performance of the analysis system, including the background level, which is crucial for the measurement, was greatly improved from the first stage to the later ones. Our feasibility study showed that the latest model of our muonic X-ray analysis system is capable of determining the carbon concentration in Hayabusa2's sample model with an uncertainty of less than 10 percent in a 6-day measurement.

Non-destructive elemental analysis of a carbonaceous chondrite with direct current Muon beam at MuSIC

Terada, Kentaro*; Sato, Akira*; Ninomiya, Kazuhiko*; Kawashima, Yoshitaka*; Shimomura, Koichiro*; Yoshida, Go*; Kawai, Yosuke*; Osawa, Takahito; Tachibana, Shogo*

Scientific Reports (Internet), 7(1), p.15478_1 - 15478_6, 2017/11

AA2017-0455.pdf:1.15MB

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-15719-5

Electron- or X-ray-induced characteristic X-ray analysis has been widely used to determine chemical compositions of materials in vast research fields. In recent years, analysis of characteristic X-rays from muonic atoms, in which a muon is captured, has attracted attention because both a muon beam and a muon-induced characteristic X-ray have high transmission abilities. Here we report the first non-destructive elemental analysis of a carbonaceous chondrite using one of the world-leading intense direct current muon beam source (MuSIC; MUon Science Innovative Channel). We successfully detected characteristic muonic X-rays of Mg, Si, Fe, O, S and C from Jbilet Winselwan CM chondrite, of which carbon content is about 2 wt percent, and the obtained elemental abundance pattern was consistent with that of CM chondrites.

A New X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy for extraterrestrial materials using muon beam

Terada, Kentaro*; Ninomiya, Kazuhiko*; Osawa, Takahito; Tachibana, Shogo*; Miyake, Yasuhiro*; Kubo, Kenya*; Kawamura, Naritoshi*; Higemoto, Wataru; Tsuchiyama, Akira*; Ebihara, Mitsuru*; et al.

Scientific Reports (Internet), 4, p.5072_1 - 5072_6, 2014/05

https://doi.org/10.1038/srep05072

After the discovery of X-ray by Rontgen, mankind got a new eye to see through things. This fluoroscopy, so-called X-ray radiography that gives the density distribution of the inside of an object, has been applied to the vast research field such as natural/material/medical sciences, industry and technology. The recent development on the intense pulsed muon source at J-PARC MUSE (rate of 106 cps for 60 MeV/c) enabled us to pioneer a new frontier of analytical sciences. Here we report on a non-destructive elemental analysis by using muon capture. Controlling muon's momentum from 32.5 to 57.5 MeV/c. we successfully demonstrated a depth-profile analysis of light elements from several mm-thick layered materials, and non-destructive bulk analyses of meteorites containing organics. Now it is a beginning to utilize a new eye, muon radiography.

A New method for evaluating the specificity of indirect readout in protein-DNA recognition

Yamasaki, Satoshi*; Terada, Toru*; Kono, Hidetoshi; Shimizu, Kentaro*; Sarai, Akinori*

Nucleic Acids Research, 40(17), p.e129_1 - e129_7, 2012/09

https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gks462

Eu isotope measurements on single SiC grains from the Murchison meteorite; A New probe of s-process conditions in parent Asymptotic Giant Branch stars

Terada, Kentaro*; Ito, Katsunori*; Hidaka, Hiroshi*; Yoshida, Takashi*; Iwamoto, Nobuyuki; Aoki, Wako*; Williams, I. S.*

New Astronomy Reviews, 50(7-8), p.582 - 586, 2006/10

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.newar.2006.06.006

Europium isotopic composition could be a good probe to investigate the neutron capture process in Asymptotic Giant Branch stars (AGB stars) and/or supernovae, because the Sm and Sm branchings are sensitive to the neutron densities and temperature. Here, we report Eu isotopic analyses of single SiC grains from primitive meteorites using the sensitive high resolution ion microprobe. The results are compared with Eu isotopic ratios predicted from the s-process model of AGB stars. The observed Eu isotopic composition of SiC grains place constraints on s-process conditions such as the temperature and neutron densities in AGB stars.

Radioactivity production around the surface of a cooling water pipe in a D-T fusion reactor by sequential charged particle reactions

Hori, Junichi; Maekawa, Fujio; Wada, Masayuki*; Ochiai, Kentaro; Yamauchi, Michinori*; Morimoto, Yuichi*; Terada, Yasuaki; Klix, A.; Nishitani, Takeo

Fusion Engineering and Design, 63-64, p.271 - 276, 2002/12

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0920-3796(02)00127-8

In order to the waste management method and the safety design of future D-T fusion reactor, it is important to consider the radioactivity productions via not only primary neutron reactions but also sequential charged particle reactions (SCPR). Especially, on the surface of a coolant channel many recoiled protons are generated by the neutron irradiation with coolant water, so it is apprehensive that the undesirable radioactive nuclide production yields via SCPR are enhanced. In this work, the laminated sample pieces of fusion material foils (V, Fe, W, Ti, Pb, Cu) were made and attached on a polyethylene board to simulate water flowing inside a coolant channel. They were irradiated with D-T neutrons. The effective radioactivity cross section and the depth distribution of the radioactivity production yields due to SCPR were obtained for each material. On the other hand, the estimated values were compared with the experimental ones.

Tritium measurements for Li-enriched LiTiO breeding blanket experiments with D-T neutrons

Klix, A.; Ochiai, Kentaro; Terada, Yasuaki; Morimoto, Yuichi*; Yamauchi, Michinori*; Hori, Junichi; Nishitani, Takeo

Fusion Science and Technology, 41(3, Part2), p.1040 - 1043, 2002/05

Li-enriched LiTiO is one of the candidate materials for the breeding blanket of the fusion DEMO reactor. Therefore, it is necessary to measure the tritium production performance and estimate the accuracy of the measurement method. The JAERI Fusion Neutronics Source (FNS) group has carried out experiments with breeding blanket mock-ups composed of layers of beryllium, ferritic steel F82H and enriched LiTiO. Pellets of enriched LiTiO with a diameter of 12mm and a thickness of 2mm were used as detectors inside the tritium breeding layer. After irradiation, the pellets were dissolved and the tritium activity in the sample solution was measured by liquid scintillation counting. The experimentally obtained tritium production profile in the lithium titanate layer agreed well with MCNP calculations within the estimated error of the measured values (10%). The calculation-experiment ratio was close to one for all samples. Tritium loss from the pellet during storage time (a few days) was experimentally found to be negligible.

Information entropy as a measure of the contribution of indirect readout in protein-DNA recognition

Yamasaki, Satoshi*; Kono, Hidetoshi; Shimizu, Kentaro*; Sarai, Akinori*; Terada, Toru*

no journal, ,