Speaker
Description
A leading challenge of nuclear-structure research is to understand the properties of nuclides with extreme isospin. Experiments at radioactive-ion-beam facilities, such as the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams in the US, may answer key questions that address diverse topics including fundamental nuclear physics, stellar nucleosynthesis and nuclear applications. The study of shapes in atomic nuclei has been a major focus ever since the observation of large electric quadrupole moments in the first half of the 20th century, and much effort has been devoted to experimentally establish regions of triaxial or oblate deformation. The neutron-rich Mo-Ru-Pd ($Z=42$ - 46) nuclides, which exhibit filling of the neutron $vh_{11/2}$ and proton $\pi g_{9/2}$ orbitals and an abundance of low-energy 2$_{2}^{+}$ states, have been observed to lie in one such region [1-4]. We performed an experiment with the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams Decay Station initiator (FDSi) to study the structure and decay properties of these nuclides.
Over 100 different nuclides have been identified in a preliminary analysis of the data. The FDSi coming online (e.g, [5-7]) is an exciting development in the community as it is an assembly of cutting-edge clovers, particle detectors, ultra fast-timing capabilities, and a neutron time-of-flight array. First $2_1^+$ lifetime measurements and key spectroscopic data for $^{114}$Ru and $^{116}$Ru will be presented and interpreted in terms of the generalised triaxial rotor model (GTRM). Performance of the FDSi and fast-timing methods will also be discussed. Evidence of triaxiality in $^{114}$Ru and $^{116}$Ru could indicate a lowering of the ground-state masses in the neutron-rich Mo-Ru-Pd region [8], which would directly impact the r-process of stellar nucleosynthesis.
References
[1] 10.1016/j.physletb.2017.01.031
[2] 10.1016/j.nuclphysa.2013.10.002
[3] 10.1016/j.physletb.2017.01.072
[4] 10.1140/epja/i2018-12426-5
[5] 10.1103/PhysRevLett.132.152503
[6] 10.1103/PhysRevLett.130.242501
[7] 10.1103/PhysRevLett.129.212501
[8] 10.1016/j.adt.2008.05.002
| I am the presenting author | Yes |
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