Related papers: Speeding-up Thorium decay
Hydrogen incorporation in native surface oxides of metal alloys often controls the onset of metal hydriding, with implications for materials corrosion and hydrogen storage. A key representative example is titania, which forms as a…
We show that exciton-type transport in certain materials can be dramatically modified by their inclusion in an optical cavity: the modification of the electromagnetic vacuum mode structure introduced by the cavity leads to transport via…
The challenge of achieving ultrafast switching of electric polarization in ferroelectric materials remains unsolved, as there is no experimental evidence of such switching to date. In this study, we have developed an enhanced model that…
A preferred candidate for neutrinoless double-{\beta} decay, 150Nd, is present in natural neodymium at an abundance level of 5.64%. However, neodymium could be activated by cosmic rays during the period it spends on the Earth's surface. Its…
The resonance strength of the two-step process of nuclear excitation by electron capture followed by $\gamma$ decay of the nucleus can be significantly increased in highly charged ions if the resonant capture proceeds via an excited…
High levels of deuterium fractionation of $\rm N_2H^+$ (i.e., $\rm D_{frac}^{N_2H^+} \gtrsim 0.1$) are often observed in pre-stellar cores (PSCs) and detection of $\rm N_2D^+$ is a promising method to identify elusive massive PSCs. However,…
We present here direct evidence for neutrons causing nucleation of supercooled water. Highly purified water (20 nm filtration) is cooled to well below freezing (as low as -20 degrees C) with a radioactive calibration source of neutrons /…
We investigate the deexcitation of the $^{229}$Th nucleus via the excitation of an electron. Detailed calculations are performed for the enhancement of the nuclear decay width due to this so called electron bridge (EB) compared to the…
We study the effects of ions on the reorientation dynamics of liquid water with polarization-resolved femtosecond mid-infared spectroscopy. We probe the anisotropy of the excitation of the O-D stretch vibration of HDO molecules in solutions…
Solid and liquid sodium combustion with liquid water occurs through a thin gas layer where exothermic reactions happen with sodium and water vapors. It thus involves multiple interfaces separating liquid and gas in the presence of surface…
Despite its relevance in biology and engineering, the molecular mechanism driving cavitation in water remains unknown. Using computer simulations, we investigate the structure and dynamics of vapor bubbles emerging from metastable water at…
Phase transformations such as freezing typically start with heterogeneous nucleation. Heterogeneous nucleation near a wetting transition, of a crystalline phase is studied. The wetting transition occurs at or near a vapour-liquid transition…
We investigate the process of nuclear excitation via a two-photon electron transition (NETP) for the case of the doubly charged thorium. The theory of the NETP process has been devised originally for heavy helium-like ions. In this work, we…
The nucleation process of polyethylene under quiescent and shear flow conditions are comparatively studied with all_atom molecular dynamical simulations. At both conditions, nucleation are demonstrated to be two_step processes, which,…
Laser-induced cavitation in liquids originates from optical breakdown processes that depend sensitively on both laser-plasma dynamics and the chemical microenvironment of the solvent. Herein, we experimentally decouple the effects of ionic…
High-speed visible imaging of sub-microsecond electric explosion of wires at the low specific energy deposition threshold reveals three distinct modes of wire failure as capacitor charge voltage and energy deposition are increased. For 100…
We consider reaction-diffusion equations with combustion-type non-linearities in two dimensions and study speed-up of their pulsating fronts by general periodic incompressible flows with a cellular structure. We show that the occurence of…
It is well known that a solid (e.g. wood or rubber) can be put under tensile stress by pulling on it. Once a critical stress is overcome, the solid breaks, leaving an empty space. Similarly, due to internal cohesion, a liquid can withstand…
Internal dissipation in a tidally perturbed librating body differs from the tidal dissipation in a steadily spinning rotator. First, libration changes the spectral distribution of tidal damping across the tidal modes, as compared to the…
While sub-mm melt droplets should rapidly lose alkali elements in a vacuum at liquidus temperatures, chondrules are only modestly depleted in them (by less than one order of magnitude). The detection of sodium in olivine cores has…