Editorial17 Aug 2025
Bridging nuclear physics across energy scales: from neutrinoless double-beta decay to high-energy heavy-ion collisions
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Research article28 Jan 2026
Conceptual design of the Muonium-to-Antimuonium Conversion Experiment (MACE)
The spontaneous conversion of muonium to antimuonium is an interesting charged lepton flavor violation phenomenon that offers a sensitive probe for potential new physics and serves as a tool to constrain the parameter space beyond the Standard Model. The Muonium-to-Antimuonium Conversion Experiment (MACE) was designed to utilize a high-intensity muon beam, a Michel electron magnetic spectrometer, a positron transport system, and a positron detection system to either discover or constrain this rare process with a conversion probability of O(10−13). This article presents an overview of the theoretical framework and a detailed description of the experimental design for muonium-to-antimuonium conversion.
Jian Tang, Xiao-Dong Wang, Ai-Yu Bai, Han-Jie Cai, Chang-Lin Chen, Si-Yuan Chen, Xu-Rong Chen, Yu Chen, Wei-Bin Cheng, Ling-Yun Dai, Rui-Rui Fan, Li Gong, Zi-Hao Guo, Yuan He, Zhi-Long Hou, Yin-Yuan Huang, Huan Jia, Hao Jiang, Han-Tao Jing, Xiao-Shen Kang, Hai-Bo Li, Jin-Cheng Li, Yang Li, Da-Ming Liu, Shu-Lin Liu, Gui-Hao Lu, Han Miao, Yun-Song Ning, Jian-Wei Niu, Hua-Xing Peng, Alexey A. Petrov, Yuan-Shuai Qin, Ming-Chen Sun, Jing-Yu Tang, Ye Tian, Rong Wang, Yi Wang, Zhi-Chao Wang, Chen Wu, Tian-Yu Xing, Wei-Zhi Xiong, Yu Xu, Bao-Jun Yan, De-Liang Yao, Tao Yu, Ye Yuan, Yi Yuan, Yao Zhang, Yongchao Zhang, Zhi-Lv Zhang, Guang Zhao, Shi-Han Zhao
Research article28 Jan 2026
Prototype design of satellite payload for neutron spectrum acquisition
In recent years, there have been fewer missions to detect neutrons in low Earth orbits (LEO), and the data obtained have been extremely limited. Studying the distribution of the neutron energy spectrum in LEO satellites through detection can help solve three major scientific problems: the source of particles in the inner radiation belt, information on solar-accelerated particles, and the proportion of neutrons from different sources in near-Earth space. The detection efficiency and accuracy of neutrons are affected by charged and primary particles in the environment and secondary neutrons produced by the spacecraft itself, which has been a hot research topic. The neutron spectrometer developed in this study adopts two combinations of 15 silicon detectors in terms of detector type and arrangement, which are used for neutron detection via the nuclear reaction method and recoil proton method, respectively, in which a 27 μm-thick 6LiF conversion layer is used for thermal neutron detection up to 0.4 eV and a 300 μm-thick high-density polyethylene conversion layer is used for fast neutron detection up to 14 MeV and below. The design of the detector set can also remove the influence of primary charged particles and secondary neutrons in the detection environment to a certain extent, thereby improving the accuracy of neutron detection. In this study, the neutron spectrometer hardware, firmware, software design, and basic performance of the front-end readout chip SKIROC2A were tested. The readout circuit of each channel baseline ADC code was less than 17; thus, the channel consistency was good. The RMS noise of the channel baseline was only 7.1 mV and exhibited good stability. The maximum number of events that could be processed per second is 75. The overall power consumption was 3 W, the weight was 792 g, and the volume was less than 1 dm3. Furthermore, the neutron spectrometer was tested for principle and detection efficiency using various neutron sources, such as 241Am-Be neutron source, 2.5 MeV neutron beam, and 14 MeV neutron beam, and the experiments were analyzed with corresponding simulations. The experimental data and simulation results were in good agreement and met the design requirements. The intrinsic detection efficiency of the probes used in the neutron spectrometer was 1.05% for 14 MeV fast neutrons.
Xiao-Li Wang, Shu-Cheng Shi, Chen-Yao Han, Yi-Ming Ma, Quan-Qi Shi, Shuai Wang, Jiao Feng
Research article28 Jan 2026
Generalized reduced R-matrix theoretical analysis of the 5He system
Based on the generalized reduced R-matrix theory, the R-matrix analysis code (RAC program) was used to analyze the experimental data of all the nuclear reaction channels related to the 5He system. The current calculations provide accurate and reliable evaluation data and are in good agreement with the experimental data. In this study, self-consistent evaluation data for each reaction were obtained using multi-channel and multi-energy fitting. In particular, the error propagation theory of Generalized Least Squares was used to determine the error of the evaluation data and the covariance matrix of the integral cross section. This R-matrix analysis for the 5He system has three features. First, for the first time, the error in the evaluation data of the T(d,n)4He reaction cross section and the covariance matrix of the integral cross section are provided. Second, we used only one set of R-matrix parameters to depict the reaction cross section of each reaction channel of the 5He system for the entire energy region in our work. Third, in this evaluation, we considered some of the latest measured experimental data, especially after 2000. The T(d,n)4He reaction cross section at 0.1 MeV and below was carefully studied. The effect of different energy levels in T(d,n)4He was analyzed, with the energy levels 3/2+ making a major contribution to the cross section, and the role of the S-wave and P-wave from 3/2- determines the lean forward trend of the angular distributions at 0.01–0.1 MeV.
Tao Ye, Xu Han, Zhen-Peng Chen, Hai-Rui Guo, Wei-Li Sun, Zhi-Hao Sun, Hao-Yang Fan
CURRENT ISSUE
Nuclear Science and TechniquesVol.37, No.4
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International Workshop on Nuclear Dynamics
Nuclear Physicist
Invited Review Articles
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Research Story
Unraveling Asymmetric Collisions with Tsallis Thermodynamics
Speedy Nuclear Measurements for Cleaner Energy
Bromine's Neutron Capture and the s-Process
Nondestructive Neutron Techniques boosts Material Research and Preservation
Speedy Nuclear Measurements for Cleaner Energy
Advancing Particle Analysis with Intelligent Algorithms
Exploring Nuclear Energy with Lithium Reactions
Innovative Neutronics Modeling to Maximize Plutonium-238 Output
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Open Seminar in Frontier of Nuclear Physics
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