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Beams of polarized protons play an important part in the study of the spin dependence of the nuclear force by measuring the analyzing power in nuclear reactions. The source at iThemba LABS produces a beam of polarized protons that is pre-accelerated by an injector cyclotron (SPC2) to a energy of 8 MeV before acceleration by the main separated-sector cyclotron to 200 MeV for physics research. The polarized ion source is one of the two external ion sources of SPC2. Inside the ion source hydrogen molecules are dissociated into atoms in the dissociator and cooled to a temperature of approximately 30 K in the nozzle. The atoms are polarized by a pair of sextupole magnets and the nucleus is polarized by RF transitions between hyperfine levels in hydrogen atoms. The atoms are then ionized by electrons in the ionizer. The source has various sensitive devices, which influence beam intensity and polarization. Nitrogen gas is used to prevent recombination of atoms after dissociation. The amount of nitrogen and the temperature at which it is used plays a very important role in optimizing the beam current. The number of electrons released in the ionizer is influenced by the size and shape of the filament. Optimization of the source will ensure that beams of better quality (a better current and stability) are produced.

Collapsing magnetic traps (CMTs) have been suggested as one of the mechanisms that could contribute to particle energisation in solar flares. The basic idea behind CMTs is that charged particles will be trapped on the magnetic field lines below the reconnection region of a flare. This thesis discusses a number of important new aspects in particle energisation processes in CMTs, based on the model by Giuliani et al. (2005). In particular, we extend previous studies of particle acceleration in this CMT model to the relativistic regime and compare our results obtained using relativistic guiding centre theory with results obtained using the non-relativistic guiding centre theory. The similarities and differences found are discussed. We then present a detailed study of the question, what leads to the trapping or escape of particle orbits from CMTs. The answer to this question is investigated by using results from the non-relativistic orbit calculations with guiding centre theory and a number of simple models for particle energy gain in CMTs. We find that there is a critical pitch angle dividing trapped particle orbits from the escaping particle orbits and that this critical pitch angle does not coincide with the initial loss cone angle. Furthermore, we also present a calculation of the time evolution of an anisotropic pressure tensor and of the plasma density under the assumptions that they evolve in line with our kinematic MHD CMT model and that the pressure tensor satisfies the double-adiabatic Chew-Goldburger-Low (CGL) theory. Finally, we make a first step to introduce Coulomb scattering by a Maxwellian background plasma into our guiding centre equations by changing them into a set of stochastic differential equations. We study the influence of a static background plasma onto selected particle orbits by pitch angle scattering and energy losses, and look at its effect on the particle energy and the trapping conditions.

Magister Scientiae - MSc / Beams of polarized protons play an important part in the study of the spin dependence of the nuclear force by measuring the analyzing power in nuclear reactions. The source at iThemba LABS produces a beam of polarized protons that is pre-accelerated by an injector cyclotron (SPC2) to a energy of 8 MeV before acceleration by the main separated-sector cyclotron to 200 MeV for physics research. The polarized ion source is one of the two external ion sources of SPC2. Inside the ion source hydrogen molecules are dissociated into atoms in the dissociator and cooled to a temperature of approximately 30 K in the nozzle. The atoms are polarized by a pair of sextupole magnets and the nucleus is polarized by RF transitions between hyperfine levels in hydrogen atoms. The atoms are then ionized by electrons in the ionizer. The source has various sensitive devices, which influence beam intensity and polarization. Nitrogen gas is used to prevent recombination of atoms after dissociation. The amount of nitrogen and the temperature at which it is used plays a very important role in optimizing the beam current. The number of electrons released in the ionizer is influenced by the size and shape of the filament. Optimization of the source will ensure that beams of better quality (a better current and stability) are produced. / South Africa

Magnetic reconnection is an important mechanism for the restructuring of magnetic fields, and the conversion of magnetic energy into plasma heating and non-thermal particle kinetic energy in a wide range of laboratory and astrophysical plasmas. In this thesis, reconnection is studied in two semi-collisional plasma environments: flares in the solar corona, and the start-up phase of the Mega-Ampere Spherical Tokamak (MAST) magnetic confinement device. Numerical simulations are presented using two different plasma descriptions; the test-particle approach combined with analytical magnetohydrodynamic fields is used to model populations of high-energy particles, and a two-fluid approach is used to model the bulk properties of a semi-collisional plasma. With the first approach, a three-dimensional magnetic null-point is examined as a possible particle acceleration site in the solar corona. The efficiency of acceleration, both within the external drift region and in the resistive current sheet, is studied for electrons and protons using two reconnection models. Of the two models, it is found that the fan-reconnection scenario is the most efficient, and can accelerate bulk populations of protons due to fast and non-uniform electric drifts close to the fan current-sheet. Also, the increasing background field within the fan-current sheet is shown to stabilise particle orbits, so that the energy gain is not limited by ejection. With the second approach, the effects of two-fluid physics on merging flux-ropes is examined, finding fast two-fluid tearing-type instabilities when the strength of dissipation is weak. The model is then extended to the tight-aspect ratio toroidal-axisymmetric geometry of the MAST device, where the final state after merging is a MAST-like spherical tokamak with nested flux-surfaces and a monotonically increasing q-profile. It is also shown that the evolution of simulated 1D radial density profiles closely resembles the Thomson scattering electron density measurements in MAST. An intuitive explanation for the origin of the measured density structures is proposed, based upon the results of the toroidal Hall-MHD simulations.

While the standard model is enormously successful and internally self consistent, it does not explain a great number of phenomena and is far from a complete theory of particle interactions. Among these missing pieces are a particle theory of dark matter and the Strong CP problem in Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD). A hypothetical axion-like particle (ALP) is a prospective solution to both problems and can be searched for at accelerator produced beam dump experiments. Neutrino detectors can be used for such a search, due to the similar energy regimes and interactions channels of such detections. The Coherent CAPTAIN Mills (CCM) experiment at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANCSE) has carried out a search for these ALPs across a number of theoretical models, including dark sector variants and the light QCD axion. An initial run with 120 photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) was used to identify 95\% confidence limits placed across parameter space using an engineering run, which identified several paths to improvement for a longer term search to probe the majority of theoretically motivated parameter space.

QC 20100618

Turbulent magnetic fields are ubiquitous in space physics and astrophysics. The influence of magnetic turbulence on the motions of charged particles contains the essential physics of the transport and acceleration of energetic charged particles in the heliosphere, which is to be explored in this thesis. After a brief introduction on the energetic charged particles and magnetic fields in the heliosphere, the rest of this dissertation focuses on three specific topics: 1. the transport of energetic charged particles in the inner heliosphere, 2. the acceleration of ions at collisionless shocks, and 3. the acceleration of electrons at collisionless shocks. We utilize various numerical techniques to study these topics. In Chapter 2 we study the propagation of charged particles in turbulent magnetic fields similar to the propagation of solar energetic particles in the inner heliosphere. The trajectories of energetic charged particles in the turbulent magnetic field are numerically integrated. The turbulence model includes a Kolmogorov-like magnetic field power spectrum containing a broad range of scales from those that lead to large-scale field-line random walk to small scales leading to resonant pitch-angle scattering of energetic particles. We show that small-scale variations in particle intensities (the so-called "dropouts") and velocity dispersions observed by spacecraft can be reproduced using this method. Our study gives a new constraint on the error of "onset analysis", which is a technique commonly used to infer information about the initial release of energetic particles. We also find that the dropouts are rarely produced in the simulations using the so-called "two-component" magnetic turbulence model (Matthaeus et al., 1990). The result questions the validity of this model in studying particle transport. In the first part of Chapter 3 we study the acceleration of ions in the existence of turbulent magnetic fields. We use 3-D self-consistent hybrid simulations (kinetic ions and fluid electrons) to investigate the acceleration of low-energy particles (often termed as "injection problem") at parallel shocks. We find that the accelerated particles always gain the first amount of energy by reflection and acceleration at the shock layer. The protons can move off their original field lines in the 3-D electric and magnetic fields. The results are consistent with the acceleration mechanism found in previous 1-D and 2-D simulations. In the second part of Chapter 3, we use a stochastic integration method to study diffusive shock acceleration in the existence of large-scale magnetic variations. We show that the 1-D steady state solution of diffusive shock acceleration can be significantly modified in this situation. The results suggest that the observations of anomalous cosmic rays by Voyager spacecraft can be explained by a 2-D shock that includes the large-scale magnetic field variations. In Chapter 4 we study electron acceleration at a shock passing into a turbulent magnetic field by using a combination of hybrid simulations and test-particle electron simulations. We find that the acceleration of electrons is greatly enhanced by including the effect of large-scale magnetic turbulence. Since the electrons mainly follow along the magnetic lines of force, the large-scale braiding of field lines in space allows the fast-moving electrons interacting with the shock front multiple times. Ripples in the shock front occurring at various scales also contribute to the acceleration by mirroring the electrons. Our calculation shows that this process favors electron acceleration at perpendicular shocks. We discuss the application of this process in interplanetary shocks and flare termination shocks. We also discuss the implication of this study to solar energetic particles (SEPs) by comparing the acceleration of electrons with that of protons. The intensity correlation of electrons and ions in SEP events indicates that perpendicular or quasi-perpendicular shocks play an important role in accelerating charged particles. In Chapter 5 we summarize the results of this thesis and discuss possible future work.

Neste trabalho apresentamos o início de operação do sistema injetor do Mícrotron do IFUSP. São apresentados estudos inéditos do tratamento de desalinhamentos tanto de uma única lente quanto de um conjunto delas. As lentes magnéticas deste estágio foram alinhadas com precisão melhor que 0,18 mm. Estabelecemos um sistema de aquisição de imagens do feixe e com ele fizemos medidas da emitância, cujo valor foi determinado em (2,32 ± 0,05) pi.mm.mrad, independentemente da tensão de aceleração no canhão de elétrons, devido à limitação imposta pelo colimador da entrada do chopper. / In this work we present the commissioning of the IFUSP Microtron injector system. We developed a new method to treat misalignments on a single lens as well as in a group of them. We installed an image acquisition system to acquire beam images from the fluorescent screen monitor. Emittance was measured and found to be (2,32 ± 0,05) pi.mm.mrad, independently of the beam energy, showing the limitation imposed by the collimator placed at the entrance of the chopper cavity.

Medidas inéditas de Interferência Coulombiana-Nuclear (ICN) nos núcleos ímpares ANTPOT.99,101 Ru complementam a investigação da coletividade da primeira excitação quadrupolar dos isótopos pares de Ru ao redor de A~100, com projéteis que interagem isoescalamente com núcleo. As distribuições angulares do espalhamento inelástico com dêuterons incidentes de 13 MeV, nos núcleos ímpares estáveis de rutênio, foram obtidas no sistema Acelerador Pelletron - Espectrógrafo Magnético Enge, utilizando emulsões nucleares no plano focal. Foram medidos espectros associados a catorze e dezesseis ângulos de espalhamento nos ANTPOT.99 Ru e ANTPOT.101 Ru, respectivamente, com excelente caracterização do mínimo de interferência na primeira excitação qadrupolar do caroço. O exame da ICN foi realizado na descrição DWBA-DOMP com parâmetros globais de potencial óptico, mantendo tratamento consistente com outras análises de ICN na região. O ajuste das previsões teóricas às distribuições angulares experimentais, através da minimização do Chi2 pelo método iterativo de Gauss-Marquardt, possibilitou a extração simultânea do comprimento de deformação de massa ( POT.N) e da razão entre os comprimentos de deformação de carga ( POT.C) e de massa (C= POT.C/ POT.N). Simulações de Monte Carlo com 5000 novos conjuntos de dados, gerados por sorteio gaussiano, mostraram a adequação estatística do método. Os valores experimentais de C se posicionaram ao redor de 1,25 para o ANTPOT.99 Ru 1,40 para o ANTPOT.101 Ru, com incertezas em torno de 5%, indicando maior contribuição de prótons do que de nêutrons na excitação, na comparação com s razões N/Z. As medidas de POT.N, com incertezas menores que 5%, revelaram valores inferiores aos relatados para os núcleos pares vizinhos. Os valores de C e POT.N extraídos permitiram o cálculo das razões B(E2)/B(IS2) para os estados analisados. / Coulomb-Nuclear Interference measurements not previously reported in the 99,10 Ru odd nuclei complement the investigation of the collectivity of the first quadrupolar excitation in even Ru isotopes around A-I00, with projectiles that interact isoscarlarly with the nucleus. The Inelastic scattering angular distributions with 13 MeV incident deuterons on odd Ru stable nuclei were obtained in the facility Pelletron Accelerator - Enge Magnetic Spectrograph, using nuclear emulsion plates in the focal plane. Spectra associated with fourteen and sixteen scattering angles in 99Ru and 101Ru, respectively, were measured achieving an excellent characterization of the interference minimum of the core first quadrupolar excitation. The DWBADOMP description of the CNI with global optical model parameters employed allows the consistent analysis of the data in comparison with other analysis of the region. The simultaneous extraction of g N, mass deformation length and of C = C/N, ratio of charge (C ) and mass (N ) deformation lengths, was obtained in the fit of the theoretical predictions to the experimental angular distributions through the X2 minimization using the iterative Gauss-Marquardt method. Monte Carlo simulations of 5000 new sets of data, gaussian randomly generated, show the statistical adequacy of the method. The experimental values of C obtained distributed around 1.25 for 99Ru and 1.40 for lOlRu, with uncertainties of approximately 5%, indicating higher contribution of protons than neutrons in the excitations, in comparison with the N/Z ratios. The N measurements, with uncertainties less than 5%, point to lower values than published for even neighbor isotopes. The values of N and C extracted allow for the calculation of B(IS2), isoscalar reduced transition probability, and B(E2)/B(IS2), the ratio between electric (B(E2)) and isoscalar reduced transition probabilities.