No Arabic abstract
Transfer reactions are a powerful probe of the properties of atomic nuclei. When used in inverse kinematics with radioactive ion beams they can provide detailed information on the structure of exotic nuclei and can inform nucleosynthesis calculations. There are a number of groups around the world who use these reactions, usually with particle detection in large silicon arrays. Sometimes these arrays are coupled to gamma-ray detectors, and occasionally smaller arrays of silicon detectors are mounted within a solenoid magnet. Modern techniques using transfer reactions in inverse kinematics are covered, with specific examples, many from measurements made with beams from the Holifield Radioactive Ion Beam Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Direct reaction techniques are powerful tools to study the single-particle nature of nuclei. Performing direct reactions on short-lived nuclei requires radioactive ion beams produced either via fragmentation or the Isotope Separation OnLine (ISOL) method. Some of the most interesting regions to study with direct reactions are close to the magic numbers where changes in shell structure can be tracked. These changes can impact the final abundances of explosive nucleosynthesis. The structure of the chain of tin isotopes is strongly influenced by the Z=50 proton shell closure, as well as the neutron shell closures lying in the neutron-rich, N=82, and neutron-deficient, N=50, regions. Here we present two examples of direct reactions on exotic tin isotopes. The first uses a one-neutron transfer reaction and a low-energy reaccelerated ISOL beam to study states in 131Sn from across the N=82 shell closure. The second example utilizes a one-neutron knockout reaction on fragmentation beams of neutron-deficient 106,108Sn. In both cases, measurements of gamma rays in coincidence with charged particles proved to be invaluable.
The 11Be(p,d)10Be reaction has been performed in inverse kinematics with a radioactive 11Be beam of E/A = 35.3 MeV. Angular distributions for the 0+ ground state, the 2+, 3.37 MeV state and the multiplet of states around 6 MeV in 10Be were measured at angles up to 16 deg CM by detecting the 10Be in a dispersion-matched spectrometer and the coincident deuterons in a silicon array. Distorted wave and coupled-channels calculations have been performed to investigate the amount of 2+ core excitation in 11Be gs. The use of realistic 11Be wave functions is emphasised and bound state form factors have been obtained by solving the particle-vibration coupling equations. This calculation gives a dominant 2s component in the 11Be gs wave function with a 16% [2+ x 1d] core excitation admixture. Cross sections calculated with these form factors are in good agreement with the present data. The Separation Energy prescription for the bound state wave function also gives satisfactory fits to the data, but leads to a significantly larger [2 x 1d] component in 11Be gs.
With the recent advances in radioactive ion beam technology, Coulomb excitation at safe energies becomes an important experimental tool in nuclear-structure physics. The usefulness of the technique to extract key information on the electromagnetic properties of nuclei has been demonstrated since the 1960s with stable beam and target combinations. New challenges present themselves when studying exotic nuclei with this technique, including dealing with low statistics or number of data points, absolute and relative normalisation of the measured cross sections and a lack of complimentary experimental data, such as excited-state lifetimes and branching ratios. This paper addresses some of these common issues and presents analysis techniques to extract transition strengths and quadrupole moments utilising the least-squares fit code, {rmfamily textsc{gosia}}.
A compact, quasi-4pi position sensitive silicon array, TIARA, designed to study direct reactions induced by radioactive beams in inverse kinematics is described here. The Transfer and Inelastic All-angle Reaction Array (TIARA) consists of 8 resistive charge division detectors forming an octagonal barrel around the target and a set of double-sided silicon-strip annular detectors positioned at each end of the barrel. The detector was coupled to the -ray array EXOGAM and the spectrometer VAMOS at the GANIL Laboratory to demonstrate the potential of such an apparatus with radioactive beams. The 14N(d,p)15N reaction, well known in direct kinematics, has been carried out in inverse kinematics for that purpose. The observation of the 15N ground state and excited states at 7.16 and 7.86 MeV is presented here as well as the comparison of the measured proton angular distributions with DWBA calculations. Transferred l-values are in very good agreement with both theoretical calculations and previous experimental results obtained in direct kinematics.
Nuclear masses are the most fundamental of all nuclear properties, yet they can provide a wealth of knowledge, including information on astrophysical sites, constraints on existing theory, and fundamental symmetries. In nearly all applications, it is necessary to measure nuclear masses with very high precision. As mass measurements push to more short-lived and more massive nuclei, the practical constraints on mass measurement techniques become more exacting. Various techniques used to measure nuclear masses, including their advantages and disadvantages are described. Descriptions of some of the world facilities at which the nuclear mass measurements are performed are given, and brief summaries of planned facilities are presented. Future directions are mentioned, and conclusions are presented which provide a possible outlook and emphasis on upcoming plans for nuclear mass measurements at existing facilities, those under construction, and those being planned.