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We integrated a TES X-ray spectrometer with a charged kaon beam line at J-PARC to perform X-ray spectroscopy of kaonic helium atoms. Limited beam intensity and a broad beam spot size made it crucial to increase the detector acceptance angle as much as possible, requiring significant development. To this end, our TES system shared the same vacuum with a cryogenic system of the liquid helium experimental target. We also specially developed a target cell for liquid helium and a thinned aperture array on top of the TES detector. Additionally, thermal and magnetic shields and infrared filters were optimized in terms of a larger acceptance angle and energy resolution of the detector. The scientific campaign was performed in June, 2018, where the whole system was stably operated for almost one month.

A performance evaluation of superconducting transition-edge sensors (TESs) in the environment of a pion beam line at a particle accelerator is presented. Averaged across the 209 functioning sensors in the array, the achieved energy resolution is 5.2 eV FWHM at Co K α (6.9 keV) when the pion beam is off and 7.3 eV at a beam rate of 1.45 MHz. Absolute energy uncertainty of ± 0.04 eV is demonstrated for Fe K α (6.4 keV) with in-situ energy calibration obtained from other nearby known X-ray lines. To achieve this small uncertainty, it is essential to consider the non-Gaussian energy response of the TESs and thermal cross-talk pile-up effects due to charged particle hits in the silicon substrate of the TES array.

The kaonic deuterium measurement at J-PARC and DAΦNE will provide a piece of information still missing to the antikaon-nucleon interaction close to threshold, providing valuable information to answer one of the most fundamental problems in hadron physics today - to the yet unsolved puzzle of how the hadron mass is generated. For this a new X-ray detector system has been developed to measure the shift and width of the 2p → 1s transition of kaonic deuterium with a precision of 60 eV and 140 eV, respectively.

High-resolution pionic atom X-ray spectroscopy was performed with an X-ray spectrometer based on a 240 pixel array of superconducting transition-edge sensor (TES) microcalorimeters at the πM1 beam line of the Paul Scherrer Institute. X-rays emitted by pionic carbon via the 4f→3d transition and the parallel 4d→3p transition were observed with a full width at half maximum energy resolution of 6.8 eV at 6.4 keV. The measured X-ray energies are consistent with calculated electromagnetic values which considered the strong interaction effect assessed via the Seki–Masutani potential for the 3p energy level, and favor the electronic population of two filled 1s electrons in the K-shell. Absolute energy calibration with an uncertainty of 0.1 eV was demonstrated under a high-rate hadron beam condition of 1.45 MHz. This is the first application of a TES spectrometer to hadronic atom X-ray spectroscopy and is an important milestone towards next-generation high-resolution kaonic atom X-ray spectroscopy.

We are preparing for an ultra-high resolution X-ray spectroscopy of kaonic atoms using an X-ray spectrometer based on an array of superconducting transition-edge-sensor microcalorimeters developed by NIST. The instrument has excellent energy resolutions of 2–3 eV (FWHM) at 6 keV and a large collecting area of about 20 mm 2 . This will open new door to investigate kaon-nucleus strong interaction and provide new accurate charged-kaon mass value.

This paper describes the liquid hydrogen system constructed for The Muon Ionization Cooling Experiment (MICE); MICE was built at the STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory to demonstrate the principle of muon beam phase-space reduction via ionization cooling. Muon beam cooling will be required at a future proton-derived neutrino factory or muon collider. Ionization cooling is achieved by passing the beam through an energy-absorbing material, such as liquid hydrogen, and then re-accelerating the beam using RF cavities. This paper describes the system creating the 22l of liquid hydrogen within the MICE beamline; the necessary safety engineering, the liquid hydrogen absorber and its associated cryogenic and gas systems are presented, along with its performance.

Upon direct inspection of surgically removed ossicles from the ears of patients with long-term post-mastoidectomy cavity problems, the extent of malleus destruction often appears greater in patients with a longer duration of cavity problems, whereas the extent of incus destruction does not appear to correlate with the duration of cavity problems. This study aimed to investigate this impression. As a result of total middle-ear reconstruction, 41 ossicles (21 malleus and 20 incus bones) were obtained from 31 patients with post-mastoidectomy cavity problems. The ossicles were examined histopathologically, and the proportion of lamellar bone area to total bone area (expressed as percentage lamellar bone) was measured. We also calculated the inter-operation time, i.e. the time period between the previous mastoidectomy and the recent total middle-ear reconstruction; this parameter was used as an approximate measure of the duration of the patient's cavity problem. Correlations between percentage lamellar bone and inter-operation time were calculated for the two ossicles. The range of inter-operation times was seven to 65 years. We observed a correlation between percentage lamellar bone and inter-operation time for malleus bones (r = -0.512, p < 0.05), but not for incus bones. These results were in agreement with our pre-study impressions.

A simple model developed from the Gompertz equation was used to describe the cumulative methane production curve in the batch culture. By using this model, three key parameters, namely methane production rate, potential and lagphase time, in a cumulative methane production curve were exactly estimated based on the experimental data. The results indicate that each gram of dry organic waste of a sludge cake, meat, carrot, rice, potato and cabbage had a methane production potential of 450, 424, 269, 214, 203 and 96 mL, respectively. The methanogenic activity of these digesters decreased with a decrease in the moisture content. The moisture content threshold limit, at which the methanogenic activity dropped to zero, was found to be 56.6% for the sludge cake, but greater than 80% for meat, carrot and cabbage. In the high-solids sludge digestion, the relative methanogenic activity dropped from 100% to 53% when the moisture content decreased from 96% to 90%. The rate of methane production at moisture contents of 90% to 96% functioned in a pH range between 6.6 and 7.8, but optimally at pH 6.8, and the process may fail if the pH was lower than 6.1 or higher than 8.3. On the other hand, the methanogenic activity was dependent on the level of ammonium, NH4+, but not free ammonia, NH3, indicating that the NH4+ was the more significant factor rather than the NH3 in affecting the methanogenic activity of a well-acclimatized bacterial system. In the wide pH range of 6.5 to 8.5, the methanogenic activity decreased with the increase in the NH4+; dropped 10% at the NH4+-N concentration of 1670-3720 mg·L−1, 50% at 4090-5550 mg·L−1 and dropped to zero at 5880-6600 mg·L−1. However, the lagphase time was dependent on the NH3 level, but not on NH4+, and when NH3-N was higher than 500 mg·L−1, a notable shock was observed. This suggests that the NH3 level was the more sensitive factor than the NH4+ level for an unacclimatized bacterial system.

The basic concept of polarisation analysers with bender type supermirrors on the polarised neutron spectrometer, POLANO, which is now under construction in J-PARC/MLF, is described.

Asimple model developed from the Gompertz equation was used to describe the cumulative methane production curve in the batch culture. By using this model, three key parameters, namely methane production rate, potential and lagphase time, in a cumulative methane production curve were exactly estimated based on the experimental data. The results indicate that each gram of dry organic waste of a sludge cake, meat, carrot, rice, potato and cabbage had a methane production potential of 450,424,269,214,203 and 96 mL, respectively. The methanogenic activity of these digesters decreased with a decrease in the moisture content. The moisture content threshold limit, at which the methanogenic activity dropped to zero, was found to be 56.6% for the sludge cake, but greater than 80% for meat, carrot and cabbage. In the high-solids sludge digestion, the relative methanogenic activity dropped from 100% to 53% when the moisture content decreased from 96% to 90%. The rate of methane production at moisture contents of 90% to 96% functioned in a pH range between 6.6 and 7.8, but optimally at pH 6.8, and the process may fail if the pH was lower than 6.1 or higher than 8.3. On the other hand, the methanogenic activity was dependent on the level of ammonium, NH4+, but not free ammonia, NH3 , indicating that the NH4+ was the more significant factor rather than the NH3 in affecting the methanogenic activity of a well-acclimatized bacterial system. In the wide pH range of 6.5 to 8.5, the methanogenic activity decreased with the increase in the NH4+; dropped 10% at the NH4+-N concentration of 1670–3720 mg·L−1, 50% at 4090–5550 mg·L−1 and dropped to zero at 5880–6600 mg·L−1. However, the lagphase time was dependent on the NH3 1evel, but not on NH4+, and when NH3-N was higher than 500 mg°L−1, a notable shock was observed. This suggests that the NH3 level was the more sensitive factor than the NH4+ level for an unacclimatized bacterial system.