For me, one of the most exciting things about studying radioactive decays of rare isotopes is the wide variety of science questions that can be addressed. Precision measurements of nuclear beta decay can be used to constrain properties of the weak interaction and test the Standard Model of particle physics, delayed particle emission offers insight into unbound resonance states that are...
Nuclear theories often operate under the assumption that the strong nuclear force is independent of electric charge. As a result, it is expected that exchanging the number of protons with the number of neutrons in a nucleus will produce a mirror nucleus with identical structure after electromagnetic considerations. However, due to the charge dependence of the strong nuclear force, isospin...
Many nuclear science experiments require gamma-ray spectrometers that offer resolution, efficiency, and selectivity. Systems that excel at all three are rare, but the 8pi gamma-ray spectrometer finds a balance between them, making it a powerful tool for gamma-ray spectroscopy.
Over the past year at Simon Fraser University, the 8pi Bismuth Germanium Oxide (BGO) ball array has been brought into...
The experimental studies of semi-magic Sn ($Z$ = 50) isotopes continue to be of significant interest as they provide valuable insights into the fundamental nucleon-nucleon interactions and offer suggestions for improvements in theoretical models.
The mid-shell Sn isotopes ($A$ = 112-122) exhibit shape coexistence, which is characterized by the presence of intruder proton 2p-2h deformed bands...
Classical novae are significant contributors to the cosmic abundance of several isotopes, including, 13C, 15N, 26Al and the radioactive 22Na. Observations of these elements in the ejected material help astrophysicists study the processes governing stellar evolution and nucleosynthesis. One particular nucleosynthesis site is classical novae, which are explosions resulting from accretion of...
