TOF-Brho Mass Measurements of Very Exotic Nuclides for Astrophysical Calculations at the NSCL

TL;DR

This paper discusses the implementation of a TOF-Brho mass measurement technique at NSCL, enabling the study of very exotic neutron-rich nuclides crucial for astrophysical models, especially when Penning traps are limited.

Contribution

Introduction of a TOF-Brho method at NSCL for measuring masses of exotic nuclides relevant to astrophysics.

Findings

Mass measurements of neutron-rich Fe-region nuclides performed

Technique provides complementary data to Penning trap measurements

Results support astrophysical r-process and neutron star crust models

Abstract

Atomic masses play a crucial role in many nuclear astrophysics calculations. The lack of experimental values for relevant exotic nuclides triggered a rapid development of new mass measurement devices around the world. The Time-of-Flight (TOF) mass measurements offer a complementary technique to the most precise one, Penning trap measurements, the latter being limited by the rate and half-lives of the ions of interest. The NSCL facility provides a well-suited infrastructure for TOF mass measurements of very exotic nuclei. At this facility, we have recently implemented a TOF-Brho technique and performed mass measurements of neutron-rich nuclides in the Fe region, important for r-process calculations and for calculations of processes occurring in the crust of accreting neutron stars.