Sarah Naimi (CNRS)
July 4(Mon) - July 4(Mon), 2022
13:00 KST
IBS HQ C312
The mass of the atomic nucleus is essential to our understanding of Nature, from the definition of the age of the sun to the structure of the nucleus as well as the physics of neutron stars. The increasingly precise knowledge of atomic masses continues to play an important role in our understanding of the evolution of the universe. The observation of gravitationalwave signals by LIGO/VIRGO simultaneously with a light source detected by Fermi/INTEGRAL from a neutron star merger event GW170817 was a turning point in the history of the nucleosynthesis of chemical elements. In this context, atomic masses of exotic nuclei are the most important nuclear properties for understanding the synthesis of half of the heavy chemical elements produced in such cataclysmic event. I will show the key role of mass spectrometry advances in overcoming the challenges of mass measurements of exotic nuclei, with emphasize on the recent development of the Rare-RI Ring at RI Beam Factory (RIBF) in RIKEN.
The Rare-RI Ring is based on the Isochronous Mass Spectrometry technique that allows for reaching a mass measurement precision of 10-6 within less than 1 ms. Therefore, mass measurements of extremely short-lived nuclei with low production yields are made possible at the RIBF. I will introduce the unique features of this new type of mass spectrometer and show the first mass measurement of nuclei in the south east of 132Sn and its implication for the main r-process nucleosynthesis.
Finally, I will present the prospects for the mass measurements that are planned to be conducted in the near future at the Rare-RI Ring as well as their relevance in the nuclear structure and astrophysics.