13-17 October 2014
Das Wormser
Europe/Berlin timezone

Nuclear Masses and their Importance for Nuclear Structure, Nuclear Astrophysics and Fundamental Studies

16 Oct 2014, 16:30
40m
Mozartsaal (Das Wormser)

Mozartsaal

Das Wormser

Das Wormser, Rathenaustraße 11, 67547 Worms, ‎ Tel: 06241/2000420

Speaker

Klaus Blaum (MPI Kernphysik)

Description

The mass of the nucleus reflects the total energy of this many-body system and thus is a key property for a variety of nuclear structure and fundamental investigations. Modern experimental techniques, like storage ring or Penning-trap mass spectrometry, have pushed in recent years the limits of sensitivity, resolution and accuracy. This has allowed to access exotic species very far from the valley of beta-stability. This could be done due to tremendous progress in production and preparation techniques for short-lived nuclides, e.g. by new target and ion sources combinations and the development of a multi-reflection time-of-flight separator. The use of new manipulation techniques for stored ions has improved the resolving power by almost two orders of magnitude giving access to low lying isomeric states. The mass accuracy achieved even for very short-lived species in the ms regime and below allowed, e.g., to probe the shell structures and their evolution toward the neutron dripline or to perform in some regions fine examinations of the mass surface. The latter includes many exciting results like, for instance, an intriguing observation in the heavy mass region reflecting either a N = 134 subshell closure or an octupolar deformation, testing of isospin symmetry in mirror nuclei, behavior of proton-neutron interaction across the closed shells, sensitivity of masses to collective structure of the nucleus and many others. In addition, with the nowadays achievable accuracy in Penning-trap mass spectrometry on short-lived exotic nuclides, precision fundamental tests can be performed, among them a test of the Standard Model, in particular with regard to the weak interaction and the unitarity of the Cabibbo–Kobayashi–Maskawa quark mixing matrix. Furthermore, accurate mass values of specific nuclides are important for nuclear astrophysics and neutrino physics as well as for the search of physics beyond the Standard Model. In this review, recent trends in the determination of nuclear masses, their impact on nuclear structure, nuclear astrophysics and fundamental studies and the comparison to modern calculations will be presented.

Primary author

Klaus Blaum (MPI Kernphysik)

Presentation Materials