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SUMMARY:PANDORA: A New Experimental Setup for Measuring in-Plasma Nuclear 
 β-Decays
DTSTART:20250429T141500Z
DTEND:20250429T151500Z
DTSTAMP:20260521T173400Z
UID:indico-event-21510@indico.gsi.de
CONTACT:l.wunderlich@gsi.de\;+49 (0)6159-71-1879
DESCRIPTION:Speakers: David Mascali (Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare
  – Laboratori Nazionali del Sud)\n\nThe abundance of elements in the Cos
 mos is currently a topic of active investigation. Since the dawn of nuclea
 r astrophysics\, various processes have been identified to explain the nuc
 leosynthesis process. Among these\, the slow (s-) and rapid (r-) neutron c
 apture processes generate 99% of all elements beyond the iron peak. The co
 rresponding nucleosynthesis models are sensitive to a variety of inputs\, 
 such as neutron capture cross sections and β-decay rates. Both theory [1\
 ,2] and experiments on fully stripped ions [3] have shown that β-decay li
 fetimes can change by even orders of magnitude in ionized matter. The PAND
 ORA (Plasmas for Astrophysics\, Nuclear Decay Observation and Radiation fo
 r Archaeometry) project [4\,5] aims at building a first of its kind experi
 mental facility\, at INFN-LNS Catania\, for probing for the first time the
  nuclear β-decay rates in hot plasmas. In this facility the plasma will m
 imic some thermodynamical stellar conditions\, especially in terms of temp
 erature and consequent in-plasma charge state distribution. The setup cons
 ists of a compact\, superconducting B-minimum magnetic trap\, where plasma
 s of various elements can be generated via Electron Cyclotron Resonance an
 d reach densities ne~1011-1013 cm-3\, with a “tunable” temperature in 
 the range Te~0.1-30 keV. An array of 14 HpGe detectors will be used for me
 asuring the decay rates\, counting the gammas emitted by the de-excitation
  of the daughter nuclei. The number of decays per unit of time will be mon
 itored simultaneously and mapped to the measurement of thermodynamical pla
 sma parameters\, achieved by a multi-diagnostic system (RF interferometers
  and polarimeters\, optical and X-ray spectroscopy\, X-ray imaging and spa
 ce resolved spectroscopy). The facility is now under construction\, and fi
 rst plasma is expected in 2026. The setup enables other astrophysical rele
 vant experiments\, such as the first measurement of optical opacities of m
 etallic plasmas resembling plasma ejecta from binary neutron stars coalesc
 ence. This study is valuable for constraining the electromagnetic signal a
 rising after the merger\, known as kilonovae\, and the r-process nucleosyn
 thesis yields occurring in such explosive events [5\, and papers therein].
  While more than a hundred physics cases have been shortlisted\, the first
  measurements will focus on: 94Nb (t1/2 ~ 2 x104 y)\, 134Cs (t1/2  ~ 2.06
  y)\, 176Lu (t1/2 ~ 3.76x1010). The facility construction is rapidly progr
 essing\, and in the meantime the collaboration has developed a generalized
  theory of β-decay in LTE and nLTE plasmas\, benchmarking models predicti
 ons with 7Be\, 140Pr\, 163Dy\, in H- or He-like configurations\, which hav
 e been already measured in Storage Ring experiments at GSI.\n \n[1] K. Ta
 kahashi and K. Yokoi\, Nuclear β-decays of highly ionized heavy atoms in 
 stellar interiors. Nuclear Physics A 404(3):578-598 · August 1983. DOI: 1
 0.1016/0375-9474(83)90277-4\n[2] K. Takahashi and K. Yokoi\, Beta-decay ra
 tes of highly ionized heavy atoms in stellar interiors\, Atomic Data and N
 uclear Data Tables. Volume 36\, Issue 3\, May 1987\, Pages 375-409 DOI: ht
 tps://doi.org/10.1016/0092-640X(87)90010-6\n[3] Y. A. Litvinov and F. Bosc
 h\, Beta decay of highly charged ions 2011 Rep. Prog. Phys. 74 016301\n[4]
  D. Mascali et al A Novel Approach to β-Decay: PANDORA\, a New Experiment
 al Setup for Future In Plasma Measurements. Universe 2022\, 8\, 80. https:
 //doi.org/10.3390/universe8020080\n[5] Mascali\, D.\, Palmerini\, S.\, Tor
 risi\, G.\, De Angelis\, G.\, Santonocito\, D.\, Kratz\, K.-L.\, eds. (202
 3). Nuclear physics and astrophysics in plasma traps. Special-Issue in Fro
 ntiers in Physics\, Lausanne: Frontiers Media SA. doi: 10.3389/978-2-83251
 -062-9\n \n\nhttps://indico.gsi.de/event/21510/
LOCATION:Main Lecture Hall (GSI)
URL:https://indico.gsi.de/event/21510/
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