NSF-Arizona Accelerator Facility for Radioisotope Analysis

该合同为美国国家科学基金会-亚利桑那大学加速器质谱（AMS）设施的运行和维护提供支持。亚利桑那州的AMS设施运行着一个串联加速器和相关的样品制备设施，代表着广泛的国家研究人员社区，他们依靠它来分析稀有的宇宙生成同位素（主要是放射性碳或14C），用于测定自然样品和人工制品的年代。AMS技术能够对极小样品或浓度极低的放射性14C进行独特敏感的分析。美国国家科学基金会-亚利桑那大学AMS设施最近的项目包括分析极地冰和湖泊沉积物岩心以获取古气候记录，确定都灵裹尸布的年代，确定化石样本中特定有机分子成分的年代，确定陨石和陆地侵蚀表面的暴露年龄，确定早期美国玉米遗骸的年代，确定化石骨骼遗骸的年代，一般考古年代测定，史前艺术年代测定，以及地球科学、水文学、大气科学和农学方面的许多项目。

This award provides support for the operation and maintenance of the NSF-University of Arizona Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) Facility. The AMS Facility at Arizona operates a tandem accelerator and associated sample preparation facilities on behalf of a wide-ranging national community of researchers who depend on it for analysis of rare cosmogenic isotopes (mainly radiocarbon or 14C) used for dating of natural samples and artifacts. The AMS technique enables uniquely sensitive analysis for radioactive 14C in extremely small samples or where the concentration is extremely low. Recent projects at the NSF-University of Arizona AMS Facility have included analysis of polar ice and lake sediment cores for paleoclimate records, definitive dating of the Shroud of Turin, dating of specific organic molecular components in fossil samples, determining exposure ages of meteorites and terrestrial erosion surfaces, dating of early American maize remains, dating of fossil human skeletal remains, general archeological dating, dating prehistoric art, as well as numerous projects in earth sciences, hydrology, atmospheric sciences, and agronomy.