Description
Among all nuclear ground-state properties, atomic masses are highly specific for each particular combination of N and Z and the data obtained apply to a variety of physics topics. One of the most crucial questions to be addressed in mass spectrometry of unstable radionuclides is the one of understanding the processes of element formation in the Universe. To this end, accurate atomic mass values of a large number of exotic nuclei participating in nucleosynthesis are among the key input data in large-scale reaction network calculations.
However, the nuclides involved, e.g., in the r-process, the process responsible for the synthesis of about one half of the matter heavier than iron, are as a rule very short-lived and, moreover, have very tiny production cross-sections. Therefore, the modern mass-spectrometry techniques have to be fast and extremely efficient, such that in special cases even a single nucleus can be sufficient to determine its mass with high accuracy.
An overview on the latest achievements and future perspectives in mass spectrometry for nuclear astrophysics will be given with a focus on some recent highlights from precision Penning trap and storage ring mass measurements.
