The DRAGON recoil mass separator at TRIUMF exists to study radiative proton and alpha capture reactions, which are important in a variety of astrophysical scenarios. DRAGON experiments require a data acquisition system that can be triggered on either
reaction product ($gamma$ ray or heavy ion), with the additional requirement of being able to promptly recognize coincidence events in an online environment. To this end, we have designed and implemented a new data acquisition system for DRAGON which consists of two independently triggered readouts. Events from both systems are recorded with timestamps from a $20$ MHz clock that are used to tag coincidences in the earliest possible stage of the data analysis. Here we report on the design, implementation, and commissioning of the new DRAGON data acquisition system, including the hardware, trigger logic, coincidence reconstruction algorithm, and live time considerations. We also discuss the results of an experiment commissioning the new system, which measured the strength of the $E_{text{c}.text{m}.} = 1113$ keV resonance in the $^{20}$Ne$left(p, gamma right)^{21}$Na radiative proton capture reaction.
The ground state of $^{28}$F has been observed as an unbound resonance $2underline{2}0$ keV above the ground state of $^{27}$F. Comparison of this result with USDA/USDB shell model predictions leads to the conclusion that the $^{28}$F ground state is
primarily dominated by $sd$-shell configurations. Here we present a detailed report on the experiment in which the ground state resonance of $^{28}$F was first observed. Additionally, we report the first observation of a neutron-unbound excited state in $^{27}$F at an excitation energy of $25underline{0}0 (2underline{2}0)$ keV.
The technique of invariant mass spectroscopy has been used to measure, for the first time, the ground state energy of neutron-unbound $^{28}textrm{F},$ determined to be a resonance in the $^{27}textrm{F} + n$ continuum at $2underline{2}0 (underline{5
}0)$ keV. States in $^{28}textrm{F}$ were populated by the reactions of a 62 MeV/u $^{29}textrm{Ne}$ beam impinging on a 288 $textrm{mg/cm}^2$ beryllium target. The measured $^{28}textrm{F}$ ground state energy is in good agreement with USDA/USDB shell model predictions, indicating that $pf$ shell intruder configurations play only a small role in the ground state structure of $^{28}textrm{F}$ and establishing a low-$Z$ boundary of the island of inversion for N=19 isotones.
