Mass measurements and ion-manipulation techniques applied to the heaviest elements

Abstract

Abstract. High-precision mass measurements of radionuclides with stateof-the-art mass spectrometry allows us to obtain accurate binding energies. These reflect changes in the nuclear structure. Two-nucleon separation energies, for example, are sensitive indicators of shell closures and the onset of deformation. In addition, masses provide a benchmark for theoretical nuclear models and support their improvement with respect to a better predictive power. In the region of the heaviest elements this enables mapping the strength of shell effects and their extension as recently demonstrated for N = 152. Accurate masses can furthermore provide anchor points to fix decay chains in the mass surface. Moreover, advanced ion-manipulation techniques developed in the context of mass spectrometry pave the way for novel types of experiments such as trap-assisted decay spectroscopy of nuclear state-selected samples. This opens new perspectives for a mass number assignment of decay chains originating from yet unknown superheavy nuclides.

Alpha Decay and Beta-Delayed Fission: Tools for Nuclear Physics Studies

“…Penning trap mass spectroscopy is an excellent tool to measure absolute values of atomic masses [79] and it has been applied to the heavy mass region measuring 252−254 No (Z = 102) [80,81]. These measurements revealed new masses and binding energies for a wide range of isotopes giving information on the deformed shell closures around N=152 and N=162 [81]. Other mass spectroscopic techniques like multi-reflection time of flight mass spectrometer (MR-ToF-MS) have recently been commissioned and are now used in the super heavy element region [82].…”