The β-delayed neutron emission probabilities of neutron rich Hg and Tl nuclei have been measured together with β-decay half-lives for 20 isotopes of Au, Hg, Tl, Pb, and Bi in the mass region N≳126. These are the heaviest species where neutron emission has been observed so far. These measurements provide key information to evaluate the performance of nuclear microscopic and phenomenological models in reproducing the high-energy part of the β-decay strength distribution. This provides important constraints on global theoretical models currently used in r-process nucleosynthesis.

The antineutrino spectra measured in recent experiments at reactors are inconsistent with calculations based on the conversion of integral beta spectra recorded at the ILL reactor. 92 Rb makes the dominant contribution to the reactor antineutrino spectrum in the 5-8 MeV range but its decay properties are in question. We have studied 92 Rb decay with total absorption spectroscopy. Previously unobserved beta feeding was seen in the 4.5-5.5 region and the GS to GS feeding was found to be 87.5(25)%. The impact on the reactor antineutrino spectra calculated with the summation method is shown and discussed.

The elusive β − p + decay was observed in 11 Be by directly measuring the emitted protons and their energy distribution for the first time with the prototype Active Target Time Projection Chamber (pAT-TPC) in an experiment performed at ISAC-TRIUMF. The measured β − p + branching ratio is orders of magnitude larger than any previous theoretical model predicted. This can be explained by the presence of a narrow resonance in 11 B above the proton separation energy.

Abstract:Using the high-resolution performance of the fragment separator FRS at GSI we have discovered 60 new neutron-rich isotopes in the atomic number range of 60⩽Z⩽78. The new isotopes were unambiguously identified in reactions with a ²³⁸U beam impinging on a Be target at 1 GeV/nucleon. The production cross-section for the new isotopes have been measured down to the pico-barn level and compared with predictions of different model calculations. For elements above hafnium fragmentation is the dominant reaction mechanism which creates the new isotopes, whereas fission plays a dominant role for the production of the new isotopes up to thulium

Total absorption γ-ray spectroscopy of the β-delayed neutron emitters ^{87}Br, ^{88}Br, and ^{94}Rb We investigate the decay of 87,88 Br and 94 Rb using total absorption γ-ray spectroscopy. These important fission products are β-delayed neutron emitters. Our data show considerable βγ-intensity, so far unobserved in high-resolution γ-ray spectroscopy, from states at high excitation energy. We also find significant differences with the β intensity that can be deduced from existing measurements of the β spectrum. We evaluate the impact of the present data on reactor decay heat using summation calculations. Although the effect is relatively small it helps to reduce the discrepancy between calculations and integral measurements of the photon component for 235 U fission at cooling times in the range 1 − 100 s. We also use summation calculations to evaluate the impact of present data on reactor antineutrino spectra. We find a significant effect at antineutrino energies in the range of 5 to 9 MeV. In addition, we observe an unexpected strong probability for γ emission from neutron unbound states populated in the daughter nucleus. The γ branching is compared to Hauser-Feshbach calculations which allow one to explain the large value for bromine isotopes as due to nuclear structure. However the branching for 94 Rb, although much smaller, hints of the need to increase the radiative width Γγ by one order-of-magnitude. This increase in Γγ would lead to a similar increase in the calculated (n, γ) cross section for this very neutron-rich nucleus with a potential impact on r process abundance calculations.