Physics
Scientific paper
Mar 1982
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1982phdt........23f&link_type=abstract
Thesis (PH.D.)--WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY, 1982.Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 43-09, Section: B, page: 2933
Physics
Scientific paper
This thesis describes a series of experiments to find evidence to confirm or contradict the hypothesis that isotopically anomalous Xe (called CCF-Xe) in carbonaceous chondrite meteorites results from the fission decay of a superheavy element (Anders, 1969). The first two experiments were searches for fossil evidence--fission tracks and isotopic anomalies--of superheavy fission decay in the Allende carbonaceous chondrite. We demonstrated that chromite, a mineral rich in CCF-Xe, records fission tracks, and we performed a search for such tracks in Allende chromite, with negative results. We also demonstrated that, in certain CCF-Xe rich phases of Allende, isotopic anomalies like those seen in Xe should be detectable in Ba and the light rare earths. Preliminary results from a collaborative measurement (with the University of Paris) show the Ba isotopic ratios to be normal in a CCF-Xe rich Allende sample. The third experiment was motivated by reports of the detection of a live, fissioning superheavy element, using a neutron counting technique, in bulk Allende (Flerov, 1978). Since almost all of the allegedly fissiogenic Xe in Allende is concentrated in certain acid insoluble phases, we developed a technique to detect low-level fission activity in these phases. Allende acid insoluble residue (provided by the University of Chicago) was dispersed in a 1 mg/cm('2) layer, between two track recording detectors. An automatic track locating system was developed to allow large detector areas to be scanned for rare fission events. We have detected no fission tracks in 900 cm('2) of detector, exposed to 900 mg of Allende residue for 1.25 years. This limits the present fission activity in the residue to less than 1 fission/gm-year. We conclude that if the CCF-Xe is due to fission, the half-life of the progenitor must be less than 3.7 x 10('8) years. Further, the fissioning element reported in bulk Allende is not substantially concentrated in the residue, thus it is not the same fissioning superheavy as the progenitor of CCF-Xe.
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