Forty-six decay chains, assigned to the decay of 115288, were produced using the Am243(Ca48,3n)115288 reaction at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory 88-in. cyclotron. The resulting series of α decays were studied using α-photon and α-x-ray spectroscopies. Multiple α-photon coincidences were observed in the element 115 decay chain members, particularly in the third- and fourth-generation decays (presumed to be Rg280 and Mt276, respectively). Upon combining these data with those from 22 115288 decay chains observed in a similar experiment, updated level schemes in Mt276 and Bh272 (populated by the α decay of Rg280 and Mt276, respectively) are proposed. Photons were observed in the energy range expected for K x rays coincident with the α decay of both Rg280 and Mt276. However, Compton scattering of higher-energy γ rays and discrete transitions are present in the K x-ray region preventing a definitive Z identification to be made based on observation of characteristic K x-ray energies.

Background

Geant4 is a Monte Carlo code extensively used in medical physics for a wide range of applications, such as dosimetry, micro- and nanodosimetry, imaging, radiation protection, and nuclear medicine. Geant4 is continuously evolving, so it is crucial to have a system that benchmarks this Monte Carlo code for medical physics against reference data and to perform regression testing.

Aims

To respond to these needs, we developed G4-Med, a benchmarking and regression testing system of Geant4 for medical physics.

Materials and methods

G4-Med currently includes 18 tests. They range from the benchmarking of fundamental physics quantities to the testing of Monte Carlo simulation setups typical of medical physics applications. Both electromagnetic and hadronic physics processes and models within the prebuilt Geant4 physics lists are tested. The tests included in G4-Med are executed on the CERN computing infrastructure via the use of the geant-val web application, developed at CERN for Geant4 testing. The physical observables can be compared to reference data for benchmarking and to results of previous Geant4 versions for regression testing purposes.

Results

This paper describes the tests included in G4-Med and shows the results derived from the benchmarking of Geant4 10.5 against reference data.

Discussion

Our results indicate that the Geant4 electromagnetic physics constructor G4EmStandardPhysics_option4 gives a good agreement with the reference data for all the tests. The QGSP_BIC_HP physics list provided an overall adequate description of the physics involved in hadron therapy, including proton and carbon ion therapy. New tests should be included in the next stage of the project to extend the benchmarking to other physical quantities and application scenarios of interest for medical physics.

Conclusion

The results presented and discussed in this paper will aid users in tailoring physics lists to their particular application.

To identify the atomic number of superheavy nuclei produced in 48Ca-induced fusion-evaporation reactions, an experiment aiming at measuring characteristic X-rays is being prepared at GSI, Darmstadt, Germany. The gas-filled separator TASCA will be employed, sending the residues towards the multi-coincidence detector setup TASISpec. Two ionoptical modes relying on differing magnetic polarities of the quadrupole magnets can be used at TASCA. New simulations and experimental tests of transmission and background suppression for these two focusing modes into TASISpec are presented.

An upgraded TASISpec setup, with the addition of a veto DSSD and the new Compex detector-germanium array, has been employed with the gas-filled recoil separator TASCA at the GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung Darmstadt, to study flerovium (element 114) decay chains. The detector upgrades along with development of new analytical techniques have improved the sensitivity of the TASISpec setup for measuring α-photon coincidences. These improvements have been assessed with test reactions. The reaction 48Ca+206,207Pb was used for verification of experimental parameters such as transmission to implantation DSSD and target-segment to α-decay correlations. The reaction 48Ca+ nat Hf was used to produce several short-lived nuclei with multiple-α decay chains to investigate pile-up event deconvolution.

Products of the fusion-evaporation reaction 48Ca + 243Am were studied with the TASISpec set-up at the gas-filled separator TASCA at the GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung, Darmstadt, Germany. Amongst the detected thirty correlated α-decay chains associated with the production of element Z=115, two recoil-α-fission and five recoil-α-α-fission events were observed. The latter five chains are similar to four such events reported from experiments performed at the Dubna gas-filled separator, and three such events reported from an experiment at the Berkeley gas-filled separator. The four chains observed at the Dubna gas-filled separator were assigned to start from the 2n-evaporation channel 289115 due to the fact that these recoil-α-α-fission events were observed only at low excitation energies. Contrary to this interpretation, we suggest that some of these recoil-α-α-fission decay chains, as well as some of the recoil-α-α-fission and recoil-α-fission decay chains reported from Berkeley and in this article, start from the 3n-evaporation channel 288115.

Short-lived α-decaying nuclei "northeast" of Pb208 in the chart of nuclides were studied using the reaction Ca48+Am243 with the decay station TASISpec at TASCA, GSI Darmstadt. Decay energies and times from pile-up events were extracted with a tailor-made pulse-shape analysis routine and specific α-decay chains were identified in a correlation analysis. Decay chains starting with the even-even Ra220 and its odd-A neighbors, Fr219, and Ra221,219, with a focus on the Ra219→Rn215 decay, were studied by means of α-γ spectroscopy. A revised α-decay scheme of Ra219 is proposed, including a new decay branch from a previously not considered isomeric state at 17 keV excitation energy. Conclusions on nuclear structure are drawn from the experimental data, aided by Geant4 simulations and a discussion on theoretical calculations.

Produced in the reaction 48Ca+243Am, thirty correlated α-decay chains were observed in an experiment conducted at the GSI Helmholzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung, Darmstadt, Germany. The decay chains are basically consistent with previous findings and are considered to originate from isotopes of element 115 with mass numbers 287, 288, and 289. A set-up aiming specifically for high-resolution charged particle and photon coincidence spectroscopy was placed behind the gas-filled separator TASCA. For the first time, γ rays as well as X-ray candidates were observed in prompt coincidence with the α-decay chains of element 115.

A nuclear spectroscopy experiment was conducted to study α-decay chains stemming from isotopes of flerovium (element Z=114). An upgraded TASISpec decay station was placed behind the gas-filled separator TASCA at the GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung in Darmstadt, Germany. The fusion-evaporation reactions ^{48}Ca+^{242}Pu and ^{48}Ca+^{244}Pu provided a total of 32 flerovium-candidate decay chains, of which two and eleven were firmly assigned to ^{286}Fl and ^{288}Fl, respectively. A prompt coincidence between a 9.60(1)-MeV α particle event and a 0.36(1)-MeV conversion electron marked the first observation of an excited state in an even-even isotope of the heaviest man-made elements, namely ^{282}Cn. Spectroscopy of ^{288}Fl decay chains fixed Q_{α}=10.06(1)  MeV. In one case, a Q_{α}=9.46(1)-MeV decay from ^{284}Cn into ^{280}Ds was observed, with ^{280}Ds fissioning after only 518  μs. The impact of these findings, aggregated with existing data on decay chains of ^{286,288}Fl, on the size of an anticipated shell gap at proton number Z=114 is discussed in light of predictions from two beyond-mean-field calculations, which take into account triaxial deformation.

The Pu244(Ti50,xn)Lv294-x reaction was investigated at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's 88-Inch Cyclotron. The experiment was aimed at the production of a superheavy element with Z≥114 by irradiating an actinide target with a beam heavier than Ca48. Produced Lv ions were separated from the unwanted beam and nuclear reaction products using the Berkeley Gas-filled Separator and implanted into a newly commissioned focal-plane detector system. Two decay chains were observed and assigned to the decay of Lv290. The production cross section was measured to be σprod=0.44(-0.28+0.58) pb at a center-of-target center-of-mass energy of 220(3) MeV. This represents the first published measurement of the production of a superheavy element near the "island of stability,"with a beam of Ti50 and is an essential precursor in the pursuit of searching for new elements beyond Z=118.

The isotopic distribution of nuclei produced in the 50Ti + 249Cf reaction has been studied at the gas-filled recoil separator TASCA at GSI Darmstadt, which separates ions according to differences in magnetic rigidity. The bombardment was performed at an energy around the Bass barrier and with the TASCA magnetic fields set for collecting fusion-evaporation reaction products. Fifty-three isotopes located “north-east” of 208Pb were identified as recoiling products formed in non-fusion channels of the reaction. These recoils were implanted with energies in two distinct ranges; besides one with higher energy, a significant low-energy contribution was identified. The latter observation was not expected to occur according to kinematics of the known types of reactions, namely quasi-elastic, multi-nucleon transfer, deep-inelastic collisions or quasifission. The present observations are discussed within the framework of two-body kinematics passing through the formation of a composite system.