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High-precision measurement of half-life and Qa value of neutral and highly charged a emitters is a major subject of investigation currently. In this framework, we recently pushed half-life measurements of neutral emitters to a precision of a few per mil. This result was achieved by using different techniques and apparatuses at Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare Laboratori Nazionali del Sud (INFN-LNS) and GSI Darmstadt. Here we report on 213Fr half-life determination [T1/2(213Fr) =34.14 ± 0.06 s] at INFN-LNS, detailing the measurement protocol used. Direct comparison with the accepted value in the literature shows a discrepancy of more than three sigma. We propose this new value as a reference, discussing previous experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In the present work, the differential cross sections for small-angle proton elastic scattering on the 12,14Be nuclei were measured in inverse kinematics, using secondary radioactive beams with energies near 700 MeV/u produced with the fragment separator FRS at GSI. The main part of the experimental setup was the active target IKAR, which was used simultaneously as a target and a detector for the recoil protons. Auxiliary detectors for projectile tracking and isotope identification completed the setup. The measured differential cross sections were analyzed using the Glauber multiple-scattering theory. For the evaluation of the data several phenomenological nuclear-matter density parametrizations and a sum of Gaussian parametrization were used. The nuclear-matter radii and radial density distributions of the isotopes 12,14Be were deduced. Extended nuclear-matter density distributions were observed in both isotopes, and the halo structure of 14Be was confirmed. The results were also compared with microscopic few-body and fermionic molecular dynamics model calculations concerning the structure of these neutron-rich nuclei. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

New measurements of the interaction cross sections of 22,230 at 900A MeV performed at the GSI, Darmstadt are reported that address the unsolved puzzle of the large cross section previously observed for 230. The matter radii for these oxygen isotopes extracted through a Glauber model analysis are in good agreement with the new predictions of the ab initio coupled-cluster theory reported here. They are consistent with a 220 + neutron description of 230 as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interaction cross sections of 32-35Mg at 900A MeV have been measurmed using the fragment separator at GSI. The deviation from the r0A1/3 trend is slightly larger for 35Mg, signaling the possible formation of a longer tail in the neutron distribution for 35Mg. The radii extracted from a Glauber model analysis with Fermi densities are consistent with models predicting the development of neutron skins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 11B(7Li, 7Be)11Be charge exchange reaction has been studied at an incident energy of 57 MeV. Spectra were measured at forward angles, θcm⩽35°. The good energy resolution (∼50 keV) allowed the identification of transitions both to the 7Be (3/2−, gs) and 7Be(1/2−, 429 keV) exit channels and hence the direct measurement of the ratio of the respective cross sections and angular distributions. Besides the bound ground and first excited state of 11Be several low lying excitations just above the neutron threshold are observed. A structure seen at E*=94 MeV with FWHM ∼7 MeV is compatible with the spin dipole resonance (SDR). The data are analysed in a many-body approach. For the projectile transitions shell model results are used. In order to account properly for the special features of the weakly bound 11Be system the target transitions are described microscopically by Hartree–Fock–Bogoliubov (HFB) and quasi-particle random phase approximation (QRPA) theory. The HFB ground state densities and the QRPA transition densities, respectively, are used in folding calculations for the optical potentials and transition form factors. Spectra and β-decay transitions strengths are reasonably well described. The measured cross section are well reproduced by one-step direct charge exchange distorted wave born approximation (DWBA) calculations. A dominance of unnatural parity transitions is found. This is explained in terms of the spin transfer behaviour of the nucleon–nucleon isovector interaction at low bombarding energy. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The large angular (∼50 msr) and momentum (∼20%) acceptance spectrometer MAGNEX is under construction at the South National Laboratories INFN. In the spectrometer, positions of ions in two planes near the focal plane and their vertical positions near the target are measured. The energy resolution of about 1000 is achieved due to the use of the reconstruction of trajectories and reconstructive correction of aberrations. Main features of the spectrometer ion optics are considered.A numerical method of calculation of an arbitrary order transfer map is proposed. In this method, a transfer map is calculated using, as input, initial and final coordinates of a set of rays in an ion-optical system. The rays start at the nods of a regular multi-dimensional mesh in the particle phase space. Rays of the set are chosen automatically according to the order and dimension of the map to be calculated. Final coordinates of the rays are calculated with a regular numerical integration. The proposed is, in fact, a general (ray tracing based) method of calculation of a transfer map, of any order and dimension, for an arbitrary ion-optical system. The method has been used for numerical simulations of the reconstructive correction of aberrations in the MAGNEX spectrometer. Simulation results are considered.A C++ class library has been developed to realize the proposed transfer map calculation method. Elementary operations with vectors and maps, both being C++ objects, are realized as C++ operator functions. The map order is defined by a user at the moment of initialization of the corresponding map object. Its maximum value is limited only by an available computer memory. Computational aspects of the method are discussed in brief. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

We report the charge-changing cross sections (σ cc ) of 24 p-shell nuclides on both hydrogen and carbon at about 900A MeV, of which 8,9 Li, 10-12 Be, 10,14,15 B, 14,15,17-22 N and 16 O on hydrogen and 8,9 Li on carbon are for the first time. Benefiting from the data set, we found a new and robust relationship between the scaling factor of the Glauber model calculations and the separation energies of the nuclei of interest on both targets. This allows us to deduce proton radii (R p ) for the first time from the cross sections on hydrogen. Nearly identical R p values are deduced from both target data for the neutron-rich carbon isotopes; however, the R p from the hydrogen target is systematically smaller in the neutron-rich nitrogen isotopes. This calls for further experimental and theoretical investigations., (Copyright © 2024 Science China Press. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Objective . Beams of stable ions have been a well-established tool for radiotherapy for many decades. In the case of ion beam therapy with stable 12 C ions, the positron emitters 10,11 C are produced via projectile and target fragmentation, and their decays enable visualization of the beam via positron emission tomography (PET). However, the PET activity peak matches the Bragg peak only roughly and PET counting statistics is low. These issues can be mitigated by using a short-lived positron emitter as a therapeutic beam. Approach. An experiment studying the precision of the measurement of ranges of positron-emitting carbon isotopes by means of PET has been performed at the FRS fragment-separator facility of GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung GmbH, Germany. The PET scanner used in the experiment is a dual-panel version of a Siemens Biograph mCT PET scanner. Main results. High-quality in-beam PET images and activity distributions have been measured from the in-flight produced positron emitting isotopes 11 C and 10 C implanted into homogeneous PMMA phantoms. Taking advantage of the high statistics obtained in this experiment, we investigated the time evolution of the uncertainty of the range determined by means of PET during the course of irradiation, and show that the uncertainty improves with the inverse square root of the number of PET counts. The uncertainty is thus fully determined by the PET counting statistics. During the delivery of 1.6 × 10 7 ions in 4 spills for a total duration of 19.2 s, the PET activity range uncertainty for 10 C, 11 C and 12 C is 0.04 mm, 0.7 mm and 1.3 mm, respectively. The gain in precision related to the PET counting statistics is thus much larger when going from 11 C to 10 C than when going from 12 C to 11 C. The much better precision for 10 C is due to its much shorter half-life, which, contrary to the case of 11 C, also enables to include the in-spill data in the image formation. Significance . Our results can be used to estimate the contribution from PET counting statistics to the precision of range determination in a particular carbon therapy situation, taking into account the irradiation scenario, the required dose and the PET scanner characteristics., (Creative Commons Attribution license.)

Owing to the favorable depth-dose distribution and the radiobiological properties of heavy ion radiation, ion beam therapy shows an improved success/toxicity ratio compared to conventional radiotherapy. The sharp dose gradients and very high doses in the Bragg peak region, which represent the larger physical advantage of ion beam therapy, make it also extremely sensitive to range uncertainties. The use of β + C and 11 C beams were produced and isotopically separated with the FRagment Separator (FRS) at GSI. The 10 C beams were produced and isotopically separated with the FRagment Separator (FRS) at GSI. The β + C and ∼ 10 6 particle per spill for the 10 C beam, respectively. The impact of different ion optical parameters on the depth dose distribution was studied with a precision water column system. In this work, the measured depth dose distributions are presented together with results from Monte Carlo simulations using the FLUKA software.7 particle per spill for the 11 C beam, respectively. The impact of different ion optical parameters on the depth dose distribution was studied with a precision water column system. In this work, the measured depth dose distributions are presented together with results from Monte Carlo simulations using the FLUKA software., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Marco Durante reports financial support was provided by European Research Council.

The root mean square radii of the proton density distribution in ^{16-24}O derived from measurements of charge changing cross sections with a carbon target at ∼900A  MeV together with the matter radii portray thick neutron skin for ^{22-24}O despite ^{22,24}O being doubly magic. Imprints of the shell closures at N=14 and 16 are reflected in local minima of their proton radii that provide evidence for the tensor interaction causing them. The radii agree with ab initio calculations employing the chiral NNLO_{sat} interaction, though skin thickness predictions are challenged. Shell model predictions agree well with the data.

Several techniques are under development for image-guidance in particle therapy. Positron (β + ) emission tomography (PET) is in use since many years, because accelerated ions generate positron-emitting isotopes by nuclear fragmentation in the human body. In heavy ion therapy, a major part of the PET signals is produced by β + -emitters generated via projectile fragmentation. A much higher intensity for the PET signal can be obtained using β + -radioactive beams directly for treatment. This idea has always been hampered by the low intensity of the secondary beams, produced by fragmentation of the primary, stable beams. With the intensity upgrade of the SIS-18 synchrotron and the isotopic separation with the fragment separator FRS in the FAIR-phase-0 in Darmstadt, it is now possible to reach radioactive ion beams with sufficient intensity to treat a tumor in small animals. This was the motivation of the BARB (Biomedical Applications of Radioactive ion Beams) experiment that is ongoing at GSI in Darmstadt. This paper will present the plans and instruments developed by the BARB collaboration for testing the use of radioactive beams in cancer therapy., Competing Interests: Author AP was employed by company MedAuston GmbH. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Boscolo, Kostyleva, Safari, Anagnostatou, Äystö, Bagchi, Binder, Dedes, Dendooven, Dickel, Drozd, Franczack, Geissel, Gianoli, Graeff, Grahn, Greiner, Haettner, Haghani, Harakeh, Horst, Hornung, Hucka, Kalantar-Nayestanaki, Kazantseva, Kindler, Knöbel, Kuzminchuk-Feuerstein, Lommel, Mukha, Nociforo, Ishikawa, Lovatti, Nitta, Ozoemelam, Pietri, Plaß, Prochazka, Purushothaman, Reidel, Roesch, Schirru, Schuy, Sokol, Steinsberger, Tanaka, Tanihata, Thirolf, Tinganelli, Voss, Weber, Weick, Winfield, Winkler, Zhao, Scheidenberger, Parodi, Durante and the Super-FRS Experiment Collaboration.)

Taking benefit of the R3B/SOFIA setup to measure the mass and the nuclear charge of both fission fragments in coincidence with the total prompt-neutron multiplicity, the scission configurations are inferred along the thorium chain, from the asymmetric fission in the heavier isotopes to the symmetric fission in the neutron-deficient thorium. Against all expectations, the symmetric scission in the light thorium isotopes shows a compact configuration, which is in total contrast to what is known in the fission of the heavier thorium isotopes and heavier actinides. This new main symmetric scission mode is characterized by a significant drop in deformation energy of the fission fragments of about 19 MeV, compared to the well-known symmetric scission in the uranium-plutonium region.

The most remote isotope from the proton dripline (by 4 atomic mass units) has been observed: ^{31}K. It is unbound with respect to three-proton (3p) emission, and its decays have been detected in flight by measuring the trajectories of all decay products using microstrip detectors. The 3p emission processes have been studied by the means of angular correlations of ^{28}S+3p and the respective decay vertices. The energies of the previously unknown ground and excited states of ^{31}K have been determined. This provides its 3p separation energy value S_{3p} of -4.6(2)  MeV. Upper half-life limits of 10 ps of the observed ^{31}K states have been derived from distributions of the measured decay vertices.

The emission of neutron pairs from the neutron-rich N=12 isotones ^{18}C and ^{20}O has been studied by high-energy nucleon knockout from ^{19}N and ^{21}O secondary beams, populating unbound states of the two isotones up to 15 MeV above their two-neutron emission thresholds. The analysis of triple fragment-n-n correlations shows that the decay ^{19}N(-1p)^{18}C^{*}→^{16}C+n+n is clearly dominated by direct pair emission. The two-neutron correlation strength, the largest ever observed, suggests the predominance of a ^{14}C core surrounded by four valence neutrons arranged in strongly correlated pairs. On the other hand, a significant competition of a sequential branch is found in the decay ^{21}O(-1n)^{20}O^{*}→^{18}O+n+n, attributed to its formation through the knockout of a deeply bound neutron that breaks the ^{16}O core and reduces the number of pairs.

Quasifree one-proton knockout reactions have been employed in inverse kinematics for a systematic study of the structure of stable and exotic oxygen isotopes at the R^{3}B/LAND setup with incident beam energies in the range of 300-450  MeV/u. The oxygen isotopic chain offers a large variation of separation energies that allows for a quantitative understanding of single-particle strength with changing isospin asymmetry. Quasifree knockout reactions provide a complementary approach to intermediate-energy one-nucleon removal reactions. Inclusive cross sections for quasifree knockout reactions of the type ^{A}O(p,2p)^{A-1}N have been determined and compared to calculations based on the eikonal reaction theory. The reduction factors for the single-particle strength with respect to the independent-particle model were obtained and compared to state-of-the-art ab initio predictions. The results do not show any significant dependence on proton-neutron asymmetry.

Proton radii of ^{12-19}C densities derived from first accurate charge changing cross section measurements at 900A  MeV with a carbon target are reported. A thick neutron surface evolves from ∼0.5  fm in ^{15}C to ∼1  fm in ^{19}C. The halo radius in ^{19}C is found to be 6.4±0.7  fm as large as ^{11}Li. Ab initio calculations based on chiral nucleon-nucleon and three-nucleon forces reproduce the radii well.

The β-delayed neutron emission probabilities of neutron rich Hg and Tl nuclei have been measured together with β-decay half-lives for 20 isotopes of Au, Hg, Tl, Pb, and Bi in the mass region N≳126. These are the heaviest species where neutron emission has been observed so far. These measurements provide key information to evaluate the performance of nuclear microscopic and phenomenological models in reproducing the high-energy part of the β-decay strength distribution. This provides important constraints on global theoretical models currently used in r-process nucleosynthesis.

Previously unknown isotopes (30)Ar and (29)Cl have been identified by measurement of the trajectories of their in-flight decay products (28)S+p+p and (28)S+p, respectively. The analysis of angular correlations of the fragments provided information on decay energies and the structure of the parent states. The ground states of (30)Ar and (29)Cl were found at 2.25(-0.10)(+0.15) and 1.8±0.1  MeV above the two- and one-proton thresholds, respectively. The lowest states in (30)Ar and (29)Cl point to a violation of isobaric symmetry in the structure of these unbound nuclei. The two-proton decay has been identified in a transition region between simultaneous two-proton and sequential proton emissions from the (30)Ar ground state, which is characterized by an interplay of three-body and two-body decay mechanisms. The first hint of a fine structure of the two-proton decay of (30)Ar*(2(+)) has been obtained by detecting two decay branches into the ground and first-excited states of the (28)S fragment.

The first determination of radii of point proton distribution (proton radii) of (12-17)B from charge-changing cross sections (σ(CC)) measurements at the FRS, GSI, Darmstadt is reported. The proton radii are deduced from a finite-range Glauber model analysis of the σ(CC). The radii show an increase from ¹³B to ¹⁷B and are consistent with predictions from the antisymmetrized molecular dynamics model for the neutron-rich nuclei. The measurements show the existence of a thick neutron surface with neutron-proton radius difference of 0.51(0.11) fm in ¹⁷B.

The E1 strength distribution in 68Ni has been investigated using Coulomb excitation in inverse kinematics at the R3B-LAND setup and by measuring the invariant mass in the one- and two-neutron decay channels. The giant dipole resonance and a low-lying peak (pygmy dipole resonance) have been observed at 17.1(2) and 9.55(17) MeV, respectively. The measured dipole polarizability is compared to relativistic random phase approximation calculations yielding a neutron-skin thickness of 0.17(2) fm. A method and analysis applicable to neutron-rich nuclei has been developed, allowing for a precise determination of neutron skins in nuclei as a function of neutron excess.

A measurement of the reduced transition probability for the excitation of the ground state to the first 2+ state in 104Sn has been performed using relativistic Coulomb excitation at GSI. 104Sn is the lightest isotope in the Sn chain for which this quantity has been measured. The result is a key point in the discussion of the evolution of nuclear structure in the proximity of the doubly magic nucleus 100Sn. The value B(E2; 0+ → 2+) = 0.10(4) e2b2 is significantly lower than earlier results for 106Sn and heavier isotopes. The result is well reproduced by shell model predictions and therefore indicates a robust N = Z = 50 shell closure.

A β-decaying high-spin isomer in (96)Cd, with a half-life T(1/2)=0.29(-0.10)(+0.11) s, has been established in a stopped beam rare isotope spectroscopic investigations at GSI (RISING) experiment. The nuclei were produced using the fragmentation of a primary beam of (124)Xe on a (9)Be target. From the half-life and the observed γ decays in the daughter nucleus, (96)Ag, we conclude that the β-decaying state is the long predicted 16(+) "spin-gap" isomer. Shell-model calculations, using the Gross-Frenkel interaction and the πν(p(1/2),g(9/2)) model space, show that the isoscalar component of the neutron-proton interaction is essential to explain the origin of the isomer. Core excitations across the N=Z=50 gaps and the Gamow-Teller strength, B(GT) distributions have been studied via large-scale shell-model calculations using the πν(g,d,s) model space to compare with the experimental B(GT) value obtained from the half-life of the isomer., (© 2011 American Physical Society)

The first measurement of the momentum distribution for one-neutron removal from (24)O at 920A MeV performed at GSI, Darmstadt is reported. The observed distribution has a width (FWHM) of 99 +/- 4 MeV/c in the projectile rest frame and a one-neutron removal cross section of 63 +/- 7 mb. The results are well explained with a nearly pure 2s_{1/2} neutron spectroscopic factor of 1.74 +/- 0.19 within the eikonal model. This large s-wave probability shows a spherical shell closure thereby confirming earlier suggestions that (24)O is a new doubly magic nucleus.

We have observed the two-proton radioactivity of the previously unknown (19)Mg ground state by tracking the decay products in-flight. For the first time, the trajectories of the 2p-decay products, (17)Ne+p+p, have been measured by using tracking microstrip detectors which allowed us to reconstruct the 2p-decay vertices and fragment correlations. The half-life of (19)Mg deduced from the measured vertex distribution is 4.0(15) ps in the system of (19)Mg. The Q value of the 2p decay of the (19)Mg ground state inferred from the measured p-p-(17)Ne correlations is 0.75(5) MeV.

E896 has measured Lambda production in 11.6A GeV/c Au-Au collisions over virtually the whole rapidity phase space. The midrapidity p(t) distributions have been measured for the first time at this energy and appear to indicate that the Lambda hyperons have different freeze-out conditions than protons. A comparison with the relativistic quantum molecular dynamics model shows that while there is good shape agreement at high rapidity the model predicts significantly different slopes of the m(t) spectra at midrapidity. The data, where overlap occurs, are consistent with previously reported measurements.