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1. The 3-Helium Problem

   Balser, D.; Bania, T. (January 2020, American Astronomical Society meeting #235)

   The light element 3He is produced in copious amounts during the first three minutes after the Big Bang. The 3He abundance is then modified primarily by nucleosynthesis in stars, whereby low-mass stars (< 2 solar masses) are expected to produce 3He due to the astration of deuterium. The higher temperatues in more massive stars fuse 3He completely into 4He thus destroying 3He. Measurements of 3He are made via observations of the hyperfine transition of 3He+ at 3.46 cm. Observations of 3He+ in HII regions located throughout the Milky Way disk reveal very little variation in the 3He/H abundance ratio — the "3He Plateau", indicating that the net effect of 3He production in stars is negligible. This is in contrast to much higher 3He/H abundance ratios found in some planetary nebula (PNe). This discrepancy is known as the "3He Problem." One solution to this problem is that thermohaline mixing occurs just above the hydrogen-burning shell to process 3-Helium: 3He(3He, 2p)4He. Thermohaline mixing is a double-diffusive instability that occurs in oceans and is also called thermohaline convection. We discuss how more accurate observations of the 3He/H abundance ratio can constrain stellar evolution models that include thermohaline mixing. 

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2. Proton transparency and neutrino physics: New methods and modeling

   https://doi.org/10.1103/7xct-5jcp  

   Dytman, S; Betancourt, M; Steinberg, N; Weinstein, L B; Ashkenazi, A; Tena-Vidal, J; Papadopoulou, A; Chambers-Wall, G; Smith, J; Achenbach, P; et al (May 2026, Physical Review D)

   Extracting accurate results from neutrino oscillation and cross section experiments requires accurate simulation of the neutrino-nucleus interaction. The rescattering of outgoing hadrons (final state interactions) by the rest of the nucleus is an important component of these interactions. We present a new measurement of proton transparency (defined as the fraction of outgoing protons that emerge without significant rescattering) using electron-nucleus scattering data recorded by the CLAS detector at Jefferson Laboratory on helium, carbon, and iron targets. This analysis uses a new data-driven method to extract the transparency. It defines transparency as the ratio of electron-scattering events with a detected proton to quasi-elastic electron-scattering events where a proton should have been knocked out. Our results are consistent with previous measurements that determined the transparency from the ratio of measured events to theoretically predicted events. We find that the GENIE event generator, which is widely used by oscillation experiments to simulate neutrino-nucleus interactions, needs to better describe both the nuclear ground state and proton rescattering in order to reproduce our measured transparency ratios, especially at lower proton momenta. 

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3. 2019. Hydrogen isotopes in high 3He/4He submarine basalts: Primordial vs. recycled water and the veil of mantle enrichment. , 508, .

   Loewen, Matthew W. (February 2019, Earth and planetary science letters)

   The hydrogen isotope value (δD) of water indigenous to the mantle is masked by the early degassing and recycling of surface water through Earth's history. High 3He/4He ratios in some ocean island basalts, however, provide a clear geochemical signature of deep, primordial mantle that has been isolated within the Earth's interior from melting, degassing, and convective mixing with the upper mantle. Hydrogen isotopes were measured in high 3He/4He submarine basalt glasses from the Southeast Indian Ridge (SEIR) at the Amsterdam–St. Paul (ASP) Plateau (δD = −51 to −90‰, 3He/4He = 7.6 to 14.1 RA) and in submarine glasses from Loihi seamount south of the island of Hawaii (δD = −70 to −90‰, 3He/4He = 22.5 to 27.8 RA). These results highlight two contrasting patterns of δD for high 3He/4He lavas: one trend toward high δD of approximately −50‰, and another converging at δD = −75‰. These same patterns are evident in a global compilation of previously reported δD and 3He/4He results. We suggest that the high δD values result from water recycled during subduction that is carried into the source region of mantle plumes at the core–mantle boundary where it is mixed with primordial mantle, resulting in high δD and moderately high 3He/4He. Conversely, lower δD values of −75‰, in basalts from Loihi seamount and also trace element depleted mid-ocean ridge basalts, imply a primordial Earth hydrogen isotopic value of −75‰ or lower. δD values down to −100‰ also occur in the most trace element-depleted mid-ocean ridge basalts, typically in association with 87Sr/86Sr ratios near 0.703. These lower δD values may be a result of multi-stage melting history of the upper mantle where minor D/H fractionation could be associated with hydrogen retention in nominally anhydrous residual minerals. Collectively, the predominance of δD around −75‰ in the majority of mid-ocean ridge basalts and in high 3He/4He Loihi basalts is consistent with an origin of water on Earth that was dominated by accretion of chondritic material. 

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4. Hydrogen isotopes in high 3He/4He submarine basalts: Primordial vs. recycled water and the veil of mantle enrichment

   Loewen, Matthew W. (January 2019, Earth and planetary science letters)

   The hydrogen isotope value (δD) of water indigenous to the mantle is masked by the early degassing and recycling of surface water through Earth’s history. High 3He/4He ratios in some ocean island basalts, however, provide a clear geochemical signature of deep, primordial mantle that has been isolated within the Earth’s interior from melting, degassing, and convective mixing with the upper mantle. Hydrogen isotopes were measured in high 3He/4He submarine basalt glasses from the Southeast Indian Ridge (SEIR) at the Amsterdam–St. Paul (ASP) Plateau (δD =−51 to −90, 3He/4He =7.6 to 14.1 RA) and in submarine glasses from Loihi seamount south of the island of Hawaii (δD =−70 to −90, 3He/4He =22.5 to 27.8 RA). These results highlight two contrasting patterns of δD for high 3He/4He lavas: one trend toward high δD of approximately −50, and another converging at δD =−75. These same patterns are evident in a global compilation of previously reported δD and 3He/4He results. We suggest that the high δD values result from water recycled during subduction that is carried into the source region of mantle plumes at the core–mantle boundary where it is mixed with primordial mantle, resulting in high δD and moderately high 3He/4He. Conversely, lower δD values of −75, in basalts from Loihi seamount and also trace element depleted mid-ocean ridge basalts, imply a primordial Earth hydrogen isotopic value of −75or lower. δD values down to −100also occur in the most trace element-depleted mid-ocean ridge basalts, typically in association with 87Sr/86Sr ratios near 0.703. These lower δD values may be a result of multi-stage melting history of the upper mantle where minor D/H fractionation could be associated with hydrogen retention in nominally anhydrous residual minerals. Collectively, the predominance of δD around −75in the majority of mid-ocean ridge basalts and in high 3He/4He Loihi basalts is consistent with an origin of water on Earth that was dominated by accretion of chondritic material. 

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5. Hydrogen isotopes in high 3He/4He submarine basalts: Primordial vs. recycled water and the veil of mantle enrichment

   https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2018.12.012  

   Loewen MW, Graham DW (February 2019, Earth and planetary science letters)

   The hydrogen isotope value (δD) of water indigenous to the mantle is masked by the early degassing and recycling of surface water through Earth’s history. High 3He/4He ratios in some ocean island basalts, however, provide a clear geochemical signature of deep, primordial mantle that has been isolated within the Earth’s interior from melting, degassing, and convective mixing with the upper mantle. Hydrogen isotopes were measured in high 3He/4He submarine basalt glasses from the Southeast Indian Ridge (SEIR) at the Amsterdam–St. Paul (ASP) Plateau (δD = −51 to −90 per mil, 3He/4He = 7.6 to 14.1 RA) and in submarine glasses from Loihi seamount south of the island of Hawaii (δD = −70 to −90 per mil, 3He/4He = 22.5 to 27.8 RA). These results highlight two contrasting patterns of δD for high 3He/4He lavas: one trend toward high δD of approximately −50 per mil, and another converging at δD = −75 per mil. These same patterns are evident in a global compilation of previously reported δD and 3He/4He results. We suggest that the high δD values result from water recycled during subduction that is carried into the source region of mantle plumes at the core–mantle boundary where it is mixed with primordial mantle, resulting in high δD and moderately high 3He/4He. Conversely, lower δD values of −75 per mil, in basalts from Loihi seamount and also trace element depleted mid-ocean ridge basalts, imply a primordial Earth hydrogen isotopic value of −75 per mil or lower. δD values down to −100per mil also occur in the most trace element depleted mid-ocean ridge basalts, typically in association with 87Sr/86Sr ratios near 0.703. These lower δD values may be a result of multi-stage melting history of the upper mantle where minor D/H fractionation could be associated with hydrogen retention in nominally anhydrous residual minerals. Collectively, the predominance of δD around −75 per mil in the majority of mid-ocean ridge basalts and in high 3He/4He Loihi basalts is consistent with an origin of water on Earth that was dominated by accretion of chondritic material. 

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