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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 523 records · Page 29
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1985

Stopping relativistic Xe, Ho, Au and U nuclei in nuclear emulsions

Nuclei of Xe-54, Ho-67, Au-79 and U-92 accelerated at the Bevalac to energies between 1200 and 900 MeV/n were stopped in nuclear emulsions. The observed residual ranges were compared with those calculated from various models of energy loss and shown to be most consistent with a calculation that includes those higher order correction terms proposed previously to describe the energy loss of highly charged particles, for which the first Born approximation is not valid.

Waddington, C. J.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Stopping relativistic Xe, Ho, Au, and U nuclei in nuclear emulsions

Nuclei of Xe-54, Ho-67, Au-79 and U-92 accelerated at the Bevalac to energies between 1200 and 900 MeV/n were stopped in nuclear emulsions. The observed residual ranges were compared with those calculated from various models of energy loss and shown to be most consistent with a calculation that includes those higher order correction terms proposed previously to describe the energy loss of highly changed particles, for which the first Born approximation is not valid.

Waddington, C. J.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Energetics of monopole production

The relativistic kinematics of monopole production and mechanisms of energy loss and gain for monopoles in free space and in the upper atmosphere are studied. It is shown that a monopole produced in a nuclear interaction must have a laboratory energy greater than about 200,000 GeV if its mass is greater than 600 GeV per sq cm. A study of energy loss mechanisms of such an energetic monopole in the earth's magnetic field and atmosphere rules out the possibility of observing such a monopole with the parameters observed by Price et al. (1975). The very low velocity of the observed monopole also makes an extraterrestrial production mechanism very unlikely.

Badhwar, G. D.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Nuclear fragmentation studies for microelectronic application

A formalism for target fragment transport is presented with application to energy loss spectra in thin silicon devices. Predicted results are compared to experiments with the surface barrier detectors of McNulty et al. The intranuclear cascade nuclear reaction model does not predict the McNulty experimental data for the highest energy events. A semiempirical nuclear cross section gives an adequate explanation of McNulty's experiments. Application of the formalism to specific electronic devices is discussed.

Ngo, Duc M.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Distribution of energy in polymers due to incident electrons and protons

The recoil spectrum of nuclei in polymers for incident protons below 10 MeV in energy is calculated by using the Rutherford cross-section with screening corrections. Employing the work of McKinley and Feshbach on the Coulomb scattering of relativistic electrons by nuclei, the recoil spectrum of the nuclei is also calculated for electron energies varying from threshold to 10 MeV. The partitioning of energy between electronic excitation and ionization and nuclear recoil is then studied to search for possible difference in polymer radiation response as a function of radiation energy and type.

NASA Discipline Number 22-70↗
NASA NTRS1972

K-shell photoionization cross-sections.

Approximate values for the threshold energies, threshold cross sections, and energy dependence of the cross sections for K-shell photoionization are tabulated for H, He, C, N, O, Ne, Mg, Si, and S in all stages of ionization. The approximation of these data is based on the assumptions that the threshold energy is a simple function of the nuclear charge and the number of electrons present in the atom, and that the threshold values and energy dependence of the cross sections are determined only by the threshold energy.

Daltabuit, E.↗
NASA NTRS1970

Gas core nuclear rockets

Nuclear light bulb and coaxial flow gaseous core nuclear rocket reactors based on energy transfer via thermal radiation

Mclafferty, G. H.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Skylab neutron environment experiment (Science Demonstration SD-34 (TV108)). Description and preliminary results

Neutron and proton induced radioactivity at various locations within Skylab were measured. Samples of five metals were formed into activation packets and deployed at the following locations on the Skylab 4 mission: orbital workshop film vault, water storage tank, and two opposing orbital workshop internal locations. Radioactive nuclides were produced in the packets by nuclear interactions of high-energy protons and secondary neutrons within Skylab. Low-level gamma ray spectroscopy measurements were made on the returned packets to determine the incident neutron and proton fluxes and spectra and their variations with mass distribution.

Fishman, G. J.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Systematics of heavy ion enhancements in solar flares

Using Lexan and glass detectors, the composition of solar particles with atomic number 2 or greater was determined as a function of energy from approximately 0.2 to 50 MeV/nucleon in four flares of quite different intensity and during a time when the sun was nearly quiet. Fe is nearly completely stripped. The enhancement factor increases with atomic number at a given energy but decreases with energy. Heavy element enhancements are detectable at higher energies in stronger flares. They occurred in ancient as well as in present-day flares. We have observed Li and Be in one flare. Incomplete ionization, preferential leakage of heavy ions, energy loss by ionization, and nuclear reactions appear to be involved in solar particle production.

Price, P. B.↗
NASA NTRS1976

Heavy ion fragmentation experiments at the bevatron

Collaborative research efforts to study the fragmentation processes of heavy nuclei in matter using heavy ion beams of the Bevatron/Bevalac are described. The goal of the program is to obtain the single particle inclusive spectra of secondary nuclei produced at 0 deg by the fragmentation of heavy ion beam projectiles. The process being examined is B+T yields F + anything, where B is the beam nucleus, T is the target nucleus, and F is the detected fragment. The fragments F are isotopically identified by experimental procedures involving magnetic analysis, energy loss and time-of-flight measurements. Effects were also made to: (a) study processes of heavy nuclei in matter, (b) measure the total and partial production cross section for all isotopes, (c) test the applicability of high energy multiparticle interaction theory to nuclear fragmentation, (d) apply the cross section data and fragmentation probabilities to cosmic ray transport theory, and (e) search for systematic behavior of fragment production as a means to improve existing semi-empirical theories of cross-sections.

Heckman, H. H.↗
NASA NTRS1976

Diffuse galactic gamma ray lines

The origin and observability were studied of diffuse gamma ray line emission from the galaxy. It was found that such lines could be formed by nuclear excitation interactions of low energy cosmic rays with both interstellar gas and dust grains. The gamma ray emission lines from deexcitation of grain nuclei are sharp with Doppler widths of the order of 10 kev or less; the lines from gas nuclei are also relatively sharp with widths of the order of 100 kev for the most intense line; and the lines from cosmic ray nuclei are broad with widths of the order of several hundred kev. A detailed evaluation is presented of the production rate of the 4.44 Mev line for a variety of assumed cosmic ray spectra. Results are compared with reported galactic gamma ray line intensities and it is concluded that the measurements are consistent with a low energy cosmic ray density which increases toward the galactic center in proportion to the molecular gas density.

Lingenfelter, R. E.↗
NASA NTRS1977

Competitively priced hydrogen via high-efficiency nuclear electrolysis

A fully dedicated nuclear-electrolytic hydrogen-production facility, based on advanced (1985) technology, has been synthesized and assessed at the conceptual level. The facility integrates an HTGR operating a binary shaftpower-extraction cycle at 980 C top temperature, direct dc electricity generation via acyclic generators, and high-current density high-pressure electrolyzers based on the solid polymer electrolyte approach. All subsystems are close-coupled and optimally interfaced. Pipeline-pressure hydrogen and coproduct oxygen are produced at 6900 kPa. On consistent costing bases, the advanced facility concept was found to provide hydrogen costs that were approximately half those associated with conventional, contemporary-technology nuclear electrolysis. The nuclear heat-to-hydrogen energy conversion efficiency for the advanced system was estimated as 43%, against 25% for the baseline present-day approach.

Escher, W. J. D.↗
NASA NTRS1979

Electron impact cross section measurements related to 'nuclear pumping'

In direct nuclear pumped lasers the high energy fission fragments generate a large number of secondary electrons and these electrons are mainly responsible for achieving the population inversion in the lasing media. Laboratory measurements concerned with these electron impact processes are summarized and new results are presented on rare gases, N2, CO, CF3I and UF6.

Trajmar, S.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Rotational and vibrational spectra of ethynol from quantum-mechanical calculations

It is noted that ethynol (HCCOH), despite the theoretical prediction of its stability to tautomerization to ketene, has thus far not been observed. It is shown here that the identification of this unknown molecule, both in space and in the laboratory, can be aided by an ab initio calculation of spectroscopic parameters. At the HF/3-21G level, harmonic vibrational frequencies are computed by way of analytic second differentiation of the Hartee-Fock (HF) energy with respect to the nuclear coordinates. After applying an empirical scale factor, the resultant frequencies are (per cm) 473, 517, 773, 841, 1003, 1217, 2206, 3285, and 3418. The computed dipole moment at the CISD/DZ+P level is 1.79 D. At the CISD+Q/DZ+P level, the molecule's rotational constants are determined. After scaling by empirical correction factors, they are used in deriving the 4(04) - 3(03) frequency of 76.81 + or - 0.3 GHz with a triplet splitting of 0.30 + or - 0.01 GHz. The triplet splitting involves 4(14) - 3(13) and 4(13) - 3(12) relative to the 4(04) - 3(03) transition as the central line.

Defrees, D. J.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Thermionic technology infrastructure for space power

An assessment is made of the potential effectiveness, designs, and technological difficulties involved in the construction of space nuclear reactors coupled to thermionic energy converters (TEC). The TECs can be positioned either inside or outside of the reactor core. The out-of-core design lowers the reactor shielding requirements, as well as removing the need for mechanically pumped coolant for the reactor. R&D is still needed for the heat pipes for the reactor and the collectors, electrical insulation, and to reduce the potential losses in the interelectrode space. A cylindrical converter for the out-of-core configuration consists of a tungsten emitter heated by a tungsten-lithium heat pipe. The collector is a layer of tungsten oxide deposited on a Nb-1%Zr alloy, and has been tested at emitter temperatures of 1300-1850 K and a collector temperature range of 700-850 K. A design of a superheated thermionic converter is described, noting that a prototype has been operated at 1730 K for 12,000 hr.

Huffman, F.↗
NASA NTRS1984

SU(2) x U(1) vacuum and the Centauro events

It is proposed that the fireballs invoked to explain the Centauro events are bubbles of a metastable superdense state of nuclear matter, created in high energy (E is approximately 10 to the 15th power eV) cosmic ray collisions at the top of the atmosphere. If these bubbles are created with a Lorentz factor gamma approximately = 10 at their CM frame, the objections against the origin of these events in cosmic ray interactions are overcome. Assuming further, that the Centauro events are to the explosive decay of these metastable bubbles, a relationship between their lifetime, tau, and the threshold energy for bubble formation, E sub th, is derived. The minimum lifetime consistent with such an interpretation in tau is approximately 10 to the -8th power sec, while the E sub th appears to be insensitive to the value of tau and always close to E sub th is approximately 10 to the 15th power eV. Finally it is speculated that if the available CM energy is thermalized in such collisions, these bubbles might be manifestations of excitations of the SU(2) x U(1) false vacuum. The absence of neutral pions in the Centauro events is then explained by the decay of these excitations.

Kazanas, D.↗
NASA NTRS1985

SU(2) x U(1) vacuum and the Centauro events

It is proposed that the fireballs invoked to explain the Centauro events are bubbles of a metastable superdense state of nuclear matter, created in high energy (E approximately 10 to the 15th power eV) cosmic ray collisions at the top of the atmosphere. If these bubbles are created with a Lorentz factor gamma approximately equals 10 at their CM frame, the objections against the origin of these events in cosmic ray interactions are overcome. A relationship then between their lifetime, tau, and the threshold energy for bubble formation, E sub th, appears to be insensitive to the value of tau and always close to E sub th approximately 10 to 15th power eV. Finally it is speculated that these bubbles might be manifestations of the SU(2) x U(1) false vacuum excited in these collisions. The absence of in the Centauro events is then explained by the decay modes of these excitations.

Kazanas, D.↗