Decay Spectroscopy of Exotic Nuclei at FAIR
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Liverpool
Department Name: Physics
Abstract
It is an astonishing fact that most of the chemical elements we observe today were created from the ashes of ancient stellar explosions. The most spectacular events of this type are supernovae. With very high sensitivity modern telescopes we can study the chemical abundances of material ejected from distant supernovae and compare these abundances with those found in our own solar system. Understanding these abundances turns out to crucially depend on nuclear reaction processes. Stars can be thought of as naturally occurring nuclear reactors held together by gravity. Fortunately for us the sun is not currently in an explosive phase of development. However, most of the elements now present in the solar system were in fact produced in earlier generations of exploding stars. In this sense, we can think of ourselves as cosmic debris. The reaction processes in exploding stars are very different to those found in the sun, and involve nuclear species never seen before on our planet. Rather like chemicals that behave very differently according to their electronic shell structure - sodium is highly reactive with water but neon with one less electron is an inert gas - nuclear species can either be very stable or very reactive according to their precise composition of protons and neutrons. Reactions involving these previously unobserved nuclear species are responsible for the chemical abundances we observe today, but until now we have had no chance to study them. The new FAIR accelerator being built in Germany is the only one in the world that can produce intense, high energy beams of the heaviest naturally occurring element, Uranium. This element itself will have been produced during ancient supernova explosions in a chain of nuclear reactions scientists call the r-process in which many neutrons are rapidly absorbed by a seed nucleus! Our experiments will reverse this process, and use advanced separation and detector equipment to observe new exotic nuclear species produced
People |
ORCID iD |
| Robert Page (Principal Investigator) | |
| Paul Nolan (Co-Investigator) |
Publications
Andreyev A
(2014)
a decay of Au 176
in Physical Review C
Andreyev A
(2013)
a -decay spectroscopy of the chain 179 Tl g ? 175 Au g ? 171 Ir g ? 167 Re m
in Physical Review C
Andreyev AN
(2013)
Signatures of the Z = 82 shell closure in a-decay process.
in Physical review letters
Bree N
(2014)
Shape coexistence in the neutron-deficient even-even (182-188)Hg isotopes studied via coulomb excitation.
in Physical review letters
Carroll R
(2015)
Competing Decay Modes of a High-spin Isomer in the Proton-unbound Nucleus $^{158}$Ta
in Acta Physica Polonica B
Carroll R
(2016)
Multiparticle configurations of excited states in Lu 155
in Physical Review C
Carroll R
(2016)
Excited states in the proton-unbound nuclide Ta 158
in Physical Review C
Carroll RJ
(2014)
Blurring the boundaries: decays of multiparticle isomers at the proton drip line.
in Physical review letters
Davis-Merry T
(2015)
Collective excitations in the transitional nuclei Re 163 and Re 165
in Physical Review C
Drummond M
(2013)
Low-lying excited states in the neutron-deficient isotopes 163 Os and 165 Os
in Physical Review C
Drummond M
(2014)
a decay of the p h 11 / 2 isomer in Ir 164
in Physical Review C
Elseviers J
(2013)
ß -delayed fission of 180 Tl
in Physical Review C
Gaffney L
(2014)
Shape coexistence in neutron-deficient Hg isotopes studied via lifetime measurements in Hg 184 , 186 and two-state mixing calculations
in Physical Review C
Ghys L
(2014)
Evolution of fission-fragment mass distributions in the neutron-deficient lead region
in Physical Review C
Grahn T
(2013)
Transition probability studies in 175 Au
in Journal of Physics: Conference Series
Grahn T
(2016)
Excited states and reduced transition probabilities in Os 168
in Physical Review C
Grodner E
(2014)
Hindered Gamow-Teller decay to the odd-odd N=Z (62)Ga: absence of proton-neutron T=0 condensate in A=62.
in Physical review letters
Hall O
(2021)
ß-delayed neutron emission of r-process nuclei at the N = 82 shell closure
in Physics Letters B
Joss D
(2016)
Evolving collective structures in the transitional nuclei W 162 and W 164
in Physical Review C
Kalaninová Z
(2014)
Decay of 201 - 203 Ra and 200 - 202 Fr
in Physical Review C
Kalaninová Z
(2013)
a decay of the very neutron-deficient isotopes 197 - 199 Fr
in Physical Review C
Li H
(2016)
Lifetime measurements in Re 166 : Collective versus magnetic rotation
in Physical Review C
Li H
(2015)
Recoil-decay tagging spectroscopy of 74 162 W 88
in Physical Review C
| Description | Supernova explosions and neutron-star mergers are probable sites for the creation of the heavy elements we find on earth. Relating the processes that take place in these events to the elemental abundances we observe requires a detailed understanding of the beta-decay half-lives and neutron emission probabilities of the nuclei involved. First measurements of these properties obtained as a result of the work funded through this award are now being published and will provide input data to the theoretical modelling of these astrophysical processes. |
| Exploitation Route | The results of this work will provide input data to the theoretical modelling of these astrophysical processes. |
| Sectors | Education,Other |
| Description | Nuclear Physics Consolidated Grant |
| Amount | £2,507,085 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | ST/P004598/1 |
| Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 09/2017 |
| End | 09/2021 |
| Description | Nuclear Physics Consolidated Grant |
| Amount | £2,176,557 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | ST/J000094/1 |
| Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 08/2011 |
| End | 07/2015 |
| Description | Nuclear Physics Consolidated Grant |
| Amount | £2,213,696 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | ST/L005670/1 |
| Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 08/2014 |
| End | 09/2018 |
| Description | AIDA |
| Organisation | Daresbury Laboratory |
| Department | Nuclear Physics Support Group |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Overall design specification, testing and systems integration. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Intellectual contributions to this research and development project, particularly in the ASIC design. |
| Impact | Development of the Advanced Implantation Detector Array (AIDA) for experimental research programmes at GSI/FAIR. |
| Start Year | 2007 |
| Description | AIDA |
| Organisation | Rutherford Appleton Laboratory |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Overall design specification, testing and systems integration. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Intellectual contributions to this research and development project, particularly in the ASIC design. |
| Impact | Development of the Advanced Implantation Detector Array (AIDA) for experimental research programmes at GSI/FAIR. |
| Start Year | 2007 |
| Description | AIDA |
| Organisation | University of Edinburgh |
| Department | School of Physics and Astronomy |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Overall design specification, testing and systems integration. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Intellectual contributions to this research and development project, particularly in the ASIC design. |
| Impact | Development of the Advanced Implantation Detector Array (AIDA) for experimental research programmes at GSI/FAIR. |
| Start Year | 2007 |