A measurement of electron antineutrino oscillation by the Daya Bay Reactor Neutrino Experiment is described in detail. Six 2.9-GWth nuclear power reactors of the Daya Bay and Ling Ao nuclear power facilities served as intense sources of ν e 's. Comparison of theν e rate and energy spectrum measured by antineutrino detectors far from the nuclear reactors (∼1500-1950 m) relative to detectors near the reactors (∼350-600 m) allowed a precise measurement ofν e disappearance. More than 2.5 millionν e inverse beta-decay interactions were observed, based on the combination of 217 days of operation of six antineutrino detectors (December, 2011-July, 2012) with a subsequent 1013 days using the complete configuration of eight detectors (October, 2012-July, 2015. Theν e rate observed at the far detectors relative to the near detectors showed a significant deficit, R ¼ 0.949 AE 0.002ðstatÞAE 0.002ðsystÞ. The energy dependence ofν e disappearance showed the distinct variation predicted by neutrino oscillation. Analysis using an approximation for the three-flavor oscillation probability yielded the flavor-mixing angle sin 2 2θ 13 ¼ 0.0841 AE 0.0027ðstatÞ AE 0.0019ðsystÞ and the effective neutrino mass-squared difference of jΔm 2 ee j ¼ ð2.50 AE 0.06ðstatÞ AE 0.06ðsystÞÞ × 10 −3 eV 2 . Analysis using the exact three-flavor probability found Δm

Reactor neutrino experiments play a crucial role in advancing our knowledge of neutrinos. A precise measurement of reactor electron antineutrino flux and spectrum evolution can be key inputs in improving the knowledge of neutrino mass and mixing as well as reactor nuclear physics and searching for physics beyond the standard model. In this work, the evolution of the flux and spectrum as a function of the reactor isotopic content is reported in terms of the inverse-beta-decay yield at Daya Bay with 1958 days of data and improved systematic uncertainties. These measurements are compared with two signature model predictions: the Huber-Mueller model based on the conversion method and the SM2018 model based on the summation method. The measured average flux and spectrum, as well as their evolution with the 239 Pu isotopic fraction, are inconsistent with the predictions of the Huber-Mueller model. In contrast, the SM2018 model is shown to agree with the average flux and its evolution but fails to describe the energy spectrum. Altering the predicted IBD spectrum from 239 Pu fission does not improve the agreement with the measurement for either model. The models can be brought into better agreement with the measurements if either the predicted spectrum due to 235 U fission is changed or the predicted 235 U, 238 U, 239 Pu, and 241 Pu spectra are changed in equal measure.

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The possibility that nucleosynthesis in neutron star mergers may reach fissioning nuclei introduces significant uncertainties in predicting the relative abundances of r-process material from such events. We evaluate the impact of using sets of fission yields given by the 2016 GEF code for spontaneous (sf), neutron-induced ((n,f)), and β-delayed (βdf) fission processes which take into account the approximate initial excitation energy of the fissioning compound nucleus. We further explore energydependent fission dynamics in the r process by considering the sensitivity of our results to the treatment of the energy sharing and de-excitation of the fission fragments using the FREYA code. We show that the asymmetric-to-symmetric yield trends predicted by GEF 2016 can reproduce the high-mass edge of the second r-process peak seen in solar data and examine the sensitivity of this result to the mass model and astrophysical conditions applied. We consider the effect of fission yields and barrier heights on the nuclear heating rates used to predict kilonova light curves. We find that fission barriers influence the contribution of 254 Cf spontaneous fission to the heating at ∼ 100 days, such that a light curve observation consistent with such late-time heating would both confirm that actinides were produced in the event and imply the fission barriers are relatively high along the 254 Cf β-feeding path. We lastly determine the key nuclei responsible for setting the r-process abundance pattern by averaging over thirty trajectories from a 1.2-1.4 M neutron star merger simulation. We show it is largely the odd-N nuclei undergoing (Z,N )(n,f) and (Z,N )βdf that control the relative abundances near the second peak. We find the "hot spots" for β-delayed and neutron-induced fission given all mass models considered and show most of these nuclei lie between the predicted N = 184 shell closure and the location of currently available experimental decay data. arXiv:1810.08133v2 [nucl-th]

Neutron star mergers offer unique conditions for the creation of the heavy elements and additionally provide a testbed for our understanding of this synthesis known as the r-process. We have performed dynamical nucleosynthesis calculations and identified a single isotope, 254 Cf, which has a particularly high impact on the brightness of electromagnetic transients associated with mergers on the order of 15 to 250 days. This is due to the anomalously long half-life of this isotope and the efficiency of fission thermalization compared to other nuclear channels. We estimate the fission fragment yield of this nucleus and outline the astrophysical conditions under which 254 Cf has the greatest impact to the light curve. Future observations in the middle-IR which are bright during this regime could indicate the production of actinide nucleosynthesis.

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