Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:42:58Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T14:07:48Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 04998.pdf: 12289396 bytes, checksum: b5eab2f60110a5631abee15b1a6f7817 (MD5) / Tese (Doutoramento) / IPEN/T / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares - IPEN/CNEN-SP

Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:23:12Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T13:56:05Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 00868.pdf: 8105372 bytes, checksum: 760345cfee59eb2c2b451f97a789a035 (MD5) / Tese (Doutoramento) / IEA/T / Instituto de Fisica, Universidade de Sao Paulo - IF/USP

Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:37:02Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T13:56:36Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 04488.pdf: 5615581 bytes, checksum: 5c91eb9ed6f1954cedefb34ecd8cbfc1 (MD5) / Dissertacao (Mestrado) / IPEN/D / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares - IPEN/CNEN-SP

Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:42:58Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T14:07:48Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 04998.pdf: 12289396 bytes, checksum: b5eab2f60110a5631abee15b1a6f7817 (MD5) / Tese (Doutoramento) / IPEN/T / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares - IPEN/CNEN-SP

The cosmic ray neutron method was developed for intermediate-scale soil moisture detection, but may potentially be used for other hydrological applications. The neutron signal of different hydrogen pools is poorly understood and separating them is difficult based on neutron measurements alone. Including neutron transport modeling may accommodate this shortcoming. However, measured and modeled neutrons are not directly comparable. Neither the scale nor energy ranges are equivalent, and the exact neutron energy sensitivity of the detectors is unknown. Here a methodology to enable comparability of the measured and modeled neutrons is presented. The usual cosmic ray soil moisture detector measures moderated neutrons by means of a proportional counter surrounded by plastic, making it sensitive to epithermal neutrons. However, that configuration allows for some thermal neutrons to be measured. The thermal contribution can be removed by surrounding the plastic with a layer of cadmium, which absorbs neutrons with energies below 0.5 eV. Likewise, cadmium shielding of a bare detector allows for estimating the epithermal contribution. First, the cadmium difference method is used to determine the fraction of thermal and epithermal neutrons measured by the bare and plastic-shielded detectors, respectively. The cadmium difference method results in linear correction models for measurements by the two detectors, and has the greatest impact on the neutron intensity measured by the moderated detector at the ground surface. Next, conversion factors are obtained relating measured and modeled neutron intensities. Finally, the methodology is tested by modeling the neutron profiles at an agricultural field site and satisfactory agreement to measurements is found.

The neutron-neutron (n-n) scattering length is a fundamental parameter in nuclear physics; however, measurements are plagued with large uncertainties caused by neutron detector cross talk. Many experimentalists also rely upon computer code to calibrate their neutron detectors. Experiments give one of two different numbers but there is still no adequate explanation for this discrepancy. We have developed a new neutron detector expressly for the purpose of improving the n-n scattering length measurement. It offers two important advantages: 1) minimal cross talk and 2) high counting efficiency. We calibrated the detector from 1 MeV to 6 MeV at 1 MeV increments. We have shown that the computer code, MCNP, does not always give the correct detector efficiency, and that reliance upon this code for calibration could be a large factor for error in previous experiments. Preliminary tests show no cross talk between two like detectors and suggest that these detectors in a n-n scattering length measurement.

No description available.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:42:16Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T14:05:21Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Dissertação (Mestrado) / IPEN/D / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares - IPEN-CNEN/SP

Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:42:16Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T14:05:21Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Doses absorvidas e doses efetivas podem ser calculadas utilizando códigos computacionais de transporte de radiação. A qualidade desses cálculos depende dos dados nucleares, no entanto, são raras as informações sobre as diferenças nas doses causadas por diferentes bibliotecas. O objetivo desse estudo é comparar os valores de dose (absorvida e efetiva) obtidos utilizando diferentes bibliotecas de dados nucleares devido a uma fonte externa de nêutrons na faixa de 10-11 a 20 MeV. As bibliotecas de dados nucleares são: JENDL 4.0, JEFF 3.1.1 e ENDF/B-VII.0. Cálculos de doses foram realizados utilizando o código MCNPX considerando o modelo antropomórfico da ICRP-110. As diferenças nos valores das doses absorvidas utilizando as bibliotecas JEFF 3.1.1 e a ENDF/B.VII são pequenas, em torno de 1%, porém os resultados obtidos com a JENDL 4.0 apresentam diferenças de até 85 % compara aos resultados da ENDF/B-VII.0 e JEFF 3.1.1. Diferenças nas doses efetivas são em torno de 1,5% entre ENDF/B-VII.0 e JEFF 3.1.1, e 11 % entre ENDF/B-VII.0 e JENDL 4.0. / Dissertação (Mestrado) / IPEN/D / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares - IPEN-CNEN/SP

Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:46:41Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T13:56:33Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 07611.pdf: 2728562 bytes, checksum: f4e2c166198e6ed56d8ad3f09429fc60 (MD5) / Dissertacao (Mestrado) / IPEN/D / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares - IPEN/CNEN-SP