Yuri G. Zdesenko

Yuri G. Zdesenko ( ua, Здесенко Юрій Георгійович); 6 October 1943 – 1 September 2004, was a Ukrainian nuclear physicist known for a significant contribution to investigations of double beta decay.

Early life

Yuri G. Zdesenko was born on 6 October 1943 in Dmytrivka, Bakhmach Raion, Chernihiv Oblast, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic of the Soviet Union to Soviet Army officer Georgy Zdesenko.

Academic career

In 1970 Zdesenko was graduated from the Department of Physics of the T.G.Shevchenko Kyiv State University. He obtained degrees of Candidate of Sciences (Philosophy Doctor) in 1981 ( Institute for Nuclear Research, Moscow, Soviet Union), Doktor nauk in 1990 ( Institute for Nuclear Research, Kyiv, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic) and the academic rank of Full Professor in 2000 ( Institute for Nuclear Research, Kyiv, Ukraine). Taking into account his outstanding scientific achievements, Zdesnko was elected in 2003 a Corresponding Member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.

Research

Zdesenko started researches in the Laboratory of Nuclear Physics of the T.G. Shevchenko Kyiv State University (1970-1971) and then in the Institute of Geochemistry and Physics of Minerals (1971-1980) where he dealt with neutron activation analysis of minerals and radiocarbon dating. At that time he became interested in double beta decay of atomic nuclei.Y.G. Zdesenko,
"Double β decay and conservation of lepton charge."
' ''Sov. J. Part. Nucl. 11 (1980) 542.''

In 1980 he created the Laboratory for Low Background Measurements of the Special Construction Technological Center of the Institute for Nuclear Research of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences (1980-1986) where searches for the double beta decay of ¹³⁰Te,Y.G. Zdesenko et al.,
130Te"">"Study of the double β decay of ¹³⁰Te"
' '' Sov. J. Nucl. Phys. 32 (1980) 312.'' ⁹⁶ZrYu.G. Zdesenko et al.,
96Zr neutrinoless double β-decay"">"Search of ⁹⁶Zr neutrinoless double β-decay"
' ''Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Seriya Fizicheskaya 45 (1981) 1856.'' and ¹⁰⁰MoY.G. Zdesenko et al.,
100Mo"">"Study on the double beta decay of ¹⁰⁰Mo"
' ''Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Seriya Fizicheskaya 28 (1983) 839.'' were realized. In 1986 the laboratory was transformed to the Lepton Physics Department of the Institute for Nuclear Research (Kyiv, Ukraine).

In the early 1980s Zdesenko, supported by Bruno Pontecorvo (who was at that time head of the neutrino council of the Soviet Academy of Sciences), initiated construction of the Solotvina Underground Laboratory in Solotvina, in Zakarpattia Oblast on the west of Ukraine. The Laboratory was located in a salt mine at a depth of 430 m. Low counting experiments were started in the Solotvina laboratory in 1984. Investigations of rare nuclear alpha and beta decays, searches for neutrinoless double beta decay of atomic nuclei were performed in the laboratory. The most valuable results obtained in the Solotvina Underground Laboratory are as following:
# the most stringent limits on neutrinoless double beta decay of ¹¹⁶Cd obtained with the help of cadmium tungstate crystal scintillators enriched in isotope ¹¹⁶Cd at 83%. One of the most stringent limits on the effective Majorana neutrino mass was derived from the experiments;F.A. Danevich et al.,
116Cd with the help of a ¹¹⁶CdWO₄ scintillator"">"Search for 2β decay of ¹¹⁶Cd with the help of a ¹¹⁶CdWO₄ scintillator"
' ''JETP Lett. 49 (1989) 476.''F.A. Danevich et al.,
116Cd with enriched ¹¹⁶CdWO₄ crystal scintillators"">"The research of 2β decay of ¹¹⁶Cd with enriched ¹¹⁶CdWO₄ crystal scintillators"
' ''Phys. Lett. B 344 (1995) 72.''F.A. Danevich et al.,
"Search for 2β decay of cadmium and tungsten isotopes: Final results of the Solotvina experiment
' ''Phys. Rev. C 68 (2003) 035501.''
# observation of the two neutrino double beta decay of ¹¹⁶Cd;F.A. Danevich et al.,
116Cd and new half-life limits on 2β decay of ¹⁸⁰W and ¹⁸⁶W">"Two-neutrino 2β decay of ¹¹⁶Cd and new half-life limits on 2β decay of ¹⁸⁰W and ¹⁸⁶W
' ''Nucl. Phys. A 717 (2003) 129.''
# first observation of the alpha activity of tungsten (isotope ¹⁸⁰W);F.A. Danevich et al.,
"α activity of natural tungsten isotopes"
' ''Phys. Rev. C 67 (2003) 014310''Yu.G. Zdesenko et al.,
4 crystal scintillators"">"Scintillation properties and radioactive contamination of CaWO₄ crystal scintillators"
' ''Nucl. Instrum. Methods A 538 (2005) 657.''
# investigation of rare beta decay of ¹¹³Cd;A. Alessandrello et al.,
113Cd"">"Bolometric measurement of the beta spectrum of ¹¹³Cd"
' ''Nucl. Phys. B (Proc. Suppl.) 35 (1994) 394.''F.A. Danevich et al.,
113Cd"">"Beta decay of ¹¹³Cd"
' ''Phys. At. Nucl. 59 (1996) 1.''
# search for neutrinoless double beta decay of ¹⁶⁰GdS.F. Burachas et al.,
160Gd double beta decay using GSO scintillators"">"A search for ¹⁶⁰Gd double beta decay using GSO scintillators"
' ''Phys. At. Nucl. 58 (1995) 153.''F.A.Danevich et al.,
160Gd and Ce isotopes"">" Quest for double beta decay of ¹⁶⁰Gd and Ce isotopes"
' ''Nucl. Phys. A 694 (2001) 375.'' and ¹⁸⁶W.
# development of low background technique for low counting experiments,F.A.Danevich et al.,
4 crystals as detectors for 2β decay and dark matter experiments"">"ZnWO₄ crystals as detectors for 2β decay and dark matter experiments"
' ''Nucl. Instrum. Methods A 544 (2005) 553.'' in particular, the cadmium tungstate crystal scintillators from enriched isotope cadmium 116

Zdesenko and his group have also contributed to searches for hypothetical decays beyond the Standard Model: decays of nucleons into invisible channels,R. Bernabei et al.,
"Search for the nucleon and di-nucleon decay into invisible channels"
' ''Phys. Lett. B 493 (2000) 12.'' decays of electron with non-conservation of the electric charge,P. Belli et al.,
129Xe induced by the electron's decay on the atomic shell"">"Charge non-conservation restrictions from the nuclear levels excitation of ¹²⁹Xe induced by the electron's decay on the atomic shell"
' ''Phys. Lett. B 465 (1999) 315.'' charge-non-conserving β decays.A.A. Klimenko et al.,
73Ge"">"Experimental limit on the charge non-conserving β decay of ⁷³Ge"
' ''Phys. Lett. B 535 (2002) 77.'' Yuri G. Zdesenko is author or coauthor of above 300 scientific publications for which there are more than 1500 references in papers of other authors.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zdesenko, Yuri G.
20th-century Ukrainian physicists
Soviet physicists
Ukrainian nuclear physicists
1943 births
2004 deaths
Laureates of the State Prize of Ukraine in Science and Technology