Evolution of the current density profile associated with magnetic island formation in JT-60U.

Evolution of the current density profile associated with magnetic island formation of an m/n=2/1 tearing mode was measured using a motional Stark effect (MSE) diagnostic for the first time in the JT-60U tokamak. With the island growth, the current density profile turned flat at the radial region of the island, followed by an appearance of a hollow structure. As the island shrank, the flat region became narrower, and it finally diminished after the disappearance of the island.

Microbeams of heavy charged particles.

We have established a single cell irradiation system, which allows selected cells to be individually hit with defined number of heavy charged particles, using a collimated heavy-ion microbeam apparatus at JAERI-Takasaki. This system has been developed to study radiobiological processes in hit cells and bystander cells exposed to low dose and low dose-rate high-LET radiations, in ways that cannot be achieved using conventional broad-field exposures. Individual cultured cells grown in special dishes were irradiated in the atmosphere with a single or defined numbers of 18.

System of cell irradiation with a defined number of heavy ions (III).

A single cell irradiation system has been developed at JAERI-Takasaki to study radiobiological processes in single-ion-hit mammalian cells and bystander cells, in ways that cannot be achieved using conventional broad field exposures. Individual mammalian cultured cells are irradiated in the atmosphere on the cell dish, the bottom of which is made of ion-track-detector CR-39, with a single or defined numbers of 13.0 MeV/amu 20Ne and 11.

Radiation response mechanisms of the extremely radioresistant bacterium Deinococcus radiodurans.

Effect of microgravity on recovery of bacterial cells from radiation damage was examined in IML-2, S/MM-4 and S/MM-9 experiments using the extremely radioresistant bacterium Deinococcus radiodurans. The cells were irradiated with gamma rays before the space flight and incubated on board the Space Shuttle. The survival of the wild type cells incubated in space increased compared with the ground controls, suggesting that the recovery of this bacterium from radiation damage was enhanced under the space environment.

Input-output analysis of in vivo photoassimilate translocation using Positron-Emitting Tracer Imaging System (PETIS) data.

The Positron-Emitting Tracer Imaging System (PETIS) is introduced for monitoring the distribution of (11)C-labelled photoassimilates in Sorghum. The obtained two-dimensional image data were quantitatively analysed using a transfer function analysis approach. While one half of a Sorghum root in a split root system was treated with either 0, 100, or 500 mM NaCl dissolved in the nutrient solution, tracer images of the root halves and the lower stem section were recorded using PETIS.

Yield of OH radicals in water under high-density energy deposition by heavy-ion irradiation.

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the dependence of the OH radical yield on the atomic number and the energy of the heavy ions to understand chemical reactions of aqueous solutions. The total yields of oxidized products from phenol in water increased superlinearly as the incident energy increased from 5 MeV/nucleon to 18 MeV/nucleon for carbon and neon ions. The radiolytic yields of OH radicals produced by the ions were determined by analyzing the relationships of the oxidation yields of phenol to the incident energies up to 18 MeV/nucleon for ions in the range of LET from 110 eV/nm to 550 eV/nm and from 320 eV/nm to 1100 eV/nm for carbon and neon ions, respectively.

Magnetic fluctuations of filled skutterudites emerging in the transition region between singlet and triplet states.

In order to clarify magnetic properties of filled skutterudites, we analyze the Anderson model including seven f orbitals hybridized with an au conduction band using a numerical technique. For n=2 corresponding to Pr-based filled skutterudites, where n is the local f-electron number, even if the ground state is a singlet, there remain significant magnetic fluctuations from a triplet state with a small excitation energy. This result can be understood by the fact that f-electron states are clearly distinguished as itinerant and localized ones in the filled skutterudite structure.

Charge-order pattern of the low-temperature phase from a monoclinic single domain of NaV2O5 uniquely determined by resonant x-ray scattering.

The present resonant x-ray scattering has been performed on a monoclinically split single domain of NaV(2)O(5). The observation of a critically enhanced contrast between V(4+) and V(5+) ions has led us to the unequivocal conclusion of the charge-order pattern of the low-temperature phase of NaV(2)O(5) below T(c) = 35 K. In spite of the possible four types of configuration of the zigzag-type charge-order patterns in the ab plane (A,A',B and B'), the stacking sequence along the c axis is determined as the AAA'A' type by comparison with model calculations.

Decomposition of 2-deoxy-D-ribose by irradiation with 0.6 keV electrons and by 0.5 keV ultrasoft X-rays.

Purpose: To compare the molecular decomposition of 2-deoxy-D-ribose induced by 0.6 keV electron irradiation or by 0.5keV ultrasoft X-ray irradiation.

"In situ" observation of guanine radicals induced by ultrasoft X-ray irradiation around the K-edge regions of nitrogen and oxygen.

Purpose: In order to understand the molecular mechanism of nucleobase damage caused by ultrasoft X-ray irradiation, guanine radicals have been studied using an X-band EPR (electron paramagnetic resonance) spectrometer installed in a synchrotron soft X-ray beamline.

Materials And Methods: Guanine pellets were irradiated under vacuum with ultrasoft X-rays obtained from a soft X-ray beamline (BL23SU) in SPring-8. The energy regions around the nitrogen (0.

DNA strand breaks by direct energy deposition by Auger and photo-electrons ejected from DNA constituent atoms following K-shell photoabsorption.

Purpose: To study DNA strand breaks induced by direct energy deposition by photo- and Auger electrons ejected following K-shell photoabsorption of DNA constituent atoms (carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and phosphorus).

Method: Using a Monte Carlo code which has been developed to simulate the photoelectric effect on plasmid DNA pBR322, the energy deposition pattern of secondary electrons ejected after photoabsorption in DNA constituent atoms (not including the hydration shell) was calculated. Experimentally obtained X-ray absorption near edge structures were considered of the cross-sections at the K-shell resonant absorption (1 s-->sigma*) of carbon, nitrogen and oxygen, and the K-shell resonant absorption (1 s-->t2*) of phosphorus.

H6+ in irradiated solid para-hydrogen and its decay dynamics: reinvestigation of quartet electron paramagnetic resonance lines assigned to H2-.

The quartet electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) lines observed in gamma- and X-ray irradiated solid para-H2, which have previously been assigned to H2-, are reinvestigated. We have reassigned the quartet lines to H6 rather than H2- mainly due to comparison of experimentally obtained EPR parameters to theoretical results. Based on the new assignment, trapping site, rotation, ortho-para conversion, quantum diffusion and isotope effect of H+ have been reinterpreted by the precise reanalysis as follows.

Ectopic endoreduplication caused by sterol alteration results in serrated petals in Arabidopsis.

The Arabidopsis frill1 (frl1) mutant, that has serrated petals and sepals but no other large changes in plant morphology, was studied. The frl1 had a mutation in STEROL METHYLTRANSFERASE 2 and an altered sterol composition. It was found that the frl1 mutation causes ectopic endoreduplication in petal tips that do not normally endoreduplicate.

Electron acceleration by a nonlinear wakefield generated by ultrashort (23-fs) high-peak-power laser pulses in plasma.

We study experimentally the interaction of the shortest at present (23-fs) , relativistically intense (20-TW), tightly focused laser pulses with underdense plasma. MeV electrons constitute a two-temperature distribution due to different plasma wave-breaking processes at a plasma density of 10(20) cm(-3). These two groups of electrons are shown numerically to constitute bunches with very distinctive time durations.

Competitive inhibition and selectivity enhancement by Ca in the uptake of inorganic elements (Be, Na, Mg, K, Ca, Sc, Mn, Co, Zn, Se, Rb, Sr, Y, Zr, Ce, Pm, Gd, Hf) by carrot (Daucus carota cv. U.S. harumakigosun).

We investigated the uptake of inorganic elements (Be, Na, Mg, K, Ca, Sc, Mn, Co, Zn, Se, Rb, Sr, Y, Zr, Ce, Pm, Gd, and Hf) and the effect of Ca on their uptake in carrots (Daucus carota cv. U.S.

Analysis of mutations induced by carbon ions in Arabidopsis thaliana.

To investigate the nature of mutations induced by accelerated ions in higher plants, the effects of carbon-ion-irradiation were compared with those of electron-irradiation in Arabidopsis thaliana. Point-like mutations and rearrangements were induced at a similar frequency after carbon-ion-irradiation, whereas point-like mutations were more frequently induced after electron-irradiation. Sequence analysis revealed that carbon-ion-induced point-like mutations were mostly short deletions.

Hydration of Y3+ ion: a Car-Parrinello molecular dynamics study.

The solvation shell structure of Y3+ and the dynamics of the hydrated ion in an aqueous solution of 0.8 M YCl3 are studied in two conditions with and without an excess proton by using first principles molecular dynamics method. We find that the first solvation shell around Y3+ contains eight water molecules forming a square antiprism as expected from x-ray absorption near edge structure in both the conditions we examined.

Grain boundary decohesion by impurity segregation in a nickel-sulfur system.

The sulfur-induced embrittlement of nickel has long been wrapped in mystery as to why and how sulfur weakens the grain boundaries of nickel and why a critical intergranular sulfur concentration is required. From first-principles calculations, we found that a large grain-boundary expansion is caused by a short-range overlap repulsion among densely segregated and neighboring sulfur atoms. This expansion results in a drastic grain-boundary decohesion that reduces the grain-boundary tensile strength by one order of magnitude.

UCN Production With a Single Crystal of Ortho-Deuterium.

The present paper reports on the preliminary experimental results concerning a new concept of ultracold neutron production with a single crystal converter of ortho-deuterium lying in the ground rotational state at the low temperature of about 10 K, which should make it possible to utilize a guided cold neutron beam instead of irradiating the converter material in the inside of high radiation fields. The successful observation of the clear Bragg scattering pattern from the single crystal converter and the reasonable results from the first experimental trial of the ultracold neutron production with the single crystal are shown.

Normal-Mode Analysis of Circular DNA at the Base-Pair Level. 2. Large-Scale Configurational Transformation of a Naturally Curved Molecule.

Fine structural and energetic details embedded in the DNA base sequence, such as intrinsic curvature, are important to the packaging and processing of the genetic material. Here we investigate the internal dynamics of a 200 bp closed circular molecule with natural curvature using a newly developed normal-mode treatment of DNA in terms of neighboring base-pair "step" parameters. The intrinsic curvature of the DNA is described by a 10 bp repeating pattern of bending distortions at successive base-pair steps.

Normal-Mode Analysis of Circular DNA at the Base-Pair Level. 1. Comparison of Computed Motions with the Predicted Behavior of an Ideal Elastic Rod.

We have extended a newly developed approach to study the low-frequency normal modes of mesoscopic fragments of linear DNA in order to investigate the dynamics of closed circular molecules of comparable size, i.e., a few hundred base pairs.

Concentration fluctuations in polymer gel investigated by neutron scattering: static inhomogeneity in swollen gel.

By using small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) and neutron spin echo (NSE), we have quantitatively investigated the static inhomogeneity in poly (N-isopropyl acrylamide) gel (PNIPA) in microscopic length scales of 0.015 View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Novel superfluidity in a trapped gas of Fermi atoms with repulsive interaction loaded on an optical lattice.

We investigate a possibility of superfluidity in a trapped gas of Fermi atoms with a repulsive interaction in the presence of an optical lattice. Applying the exact diagonalization method to a one-dimensional Hubbard model including the trap potential, we find that, when the strength of the repulsive interaction exceeds a critical value, the binding energy of two Fermi atoms becomes negative below the half-filling case, indicating that an attractive interaction effectively works between Fermi atoms. In this case, a "Mott insulating core" appears in the center of the trap, where each site is occupied by one atom.

Observation of supercontinuum generation in the direct simulation of an intense laser pulse propagating in a neutral gas.

The propagation of high power short pulse laser pulses in neutral gases is a surprisingly complex phenomenon. In order to study the detailed propagation dynamics a code has been developed which explicitly solves Maxwell's equations including the finite response time background neutral gas polarization and optical field ionization. In large scale two dimensional simulations of a high power laser pulse propagating in hydrogen-like gas the generation of ultrabroadband white light, the so-called supercontinuum generation, is observed.

Integration of the Lorentz-Dirac equation: Interaction of an intense laser pulse with high-energy electrons.

Usually the motion of an electron under the influence of electromagnetic fields is influenced to a small extent by radiation damping. With the advent of high power high irradiance lasers it has become possible to generate focused laser irradiances where electrons interacting with the laser become highly relativistic over very short time and spatial scales. By focusing petawatt class lasers to very small spot sizes the amount of radiation emitted by electrons can become very large.