A. Grossheim

The on-line charge breeding program at TRIUMF's Ion Trap For Atomic and Nuclear Science for precision mass measurements

TRIUMFs Ion Trap for Atomic and Nuclear science (TITAN) constitutes the only high precision mass measurement setup coupled to a rare isotope facility capable of increasing the charge state of short-lived nuclides prior to the actual mass determination in a Penning trap. Recent developments around TITANs charge breeder, the electron beam ion trap, form the basis for several successful experiments on radioactive isotopes with half-lives as low as 65 ms and in charge states as high as 22+.

Trapped-ion decay spectroscopy towards the determination of ground-state components of double-beta decay matrix elements

Abstract.A new technique has been developed at the TRIUMF’s TITAN facility to perform in-trap decay spectroscopy. The aim of this technique is to eventually measure weak electron capture branching ratios (ECBRs) and by this to consequently determine GT matrix elements of

Breakdown of the Isobaric Multiplet Mass Equation for the A = 20 and 21 Multiplets

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Charge breeding rare isotopes for high precision mass measurements: challenges and opportunities

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Low-Background In-Trap Decay Spectroscopy with TITAN at TRIUMF

decaying nuclei. These branching ratios provide important input to the theoretical description of these decays. The feasibility and power of the technique is demonstrated by measuring the ECBR of 124Cs .

Progress at the TITAN-EBIT

Using the Penning trap mass spectrometer TITAN, we performed the first direct mass measurements of (20,21)Mg, isotopes that are the most proton-rich members of the A = 20 and A = 21 isospin multiplets. These measurements were possible through the use of a unique ion-guide laser ion source, a development that suppressed isobaric contamination by 6 orders of magnitude. Compared to the latest atomic mass evaluation, we find that the mass of (21)Mg is in good agreement but that the mass of (20)Mg deviates by 3 σ. These measurements reduce the uncertainties in the masses of (20,21)Mg by 15 and 22 times, respectively, resulting in a significant departure from the expected behavior of the isobaric multiplet mass equation in both the A = 20 and A = 21 multiplets. This presents a challenge to shell model calculations using either the isospin nonconserving universal sd USDA and USDB Hamiltonians or isospin nonconserving interactions based on chiral two- and three-nucleon forces.

Sensitivity Increases for the TITAN Decay Spectroscopy Program

We report a direct measurement of the Q-value of the neutrinoless double-beta-decay candidate 48Ca at the TITAN Penning-trap mass spectrometer, with the result that Q = 4267.98(32) keV. We measured the masses of both the mother and daughter nuclides, and in the latter case found a 1 keV deviation from the literature value. In addition to the Q-value, we also present results of a new calculation of the neutrinoless double-beta-decay nuclear matrix element of 48Ca. Using diagrammatic many-body perturbation theory to second order to account for physics outside the valence space, we constructed an effective shell-model double-beta-decay operator, which increased the nuclear matrix element by about 75% compared with that produced by the bare operator. The new Q-value and matrix element strengthen the case for a 48Ca double-beta-decay experiment.

Mass measurements of neutron-rich Rb and Sr isotopes

Ion charge breeding for Penning-trap mass spectrometry has been established as providing a precision increase that scales linearly with the charge state of the ion. Fast and efficient charge breeding is a precondition for the application of this approach to rare isotopes. However, in view of low yields and short half-lives the precision boost is partly compromised by unavoidable ion losses inherent to the charge breeding process. The mass spectrometer TRIUMFs ion trap for atomic and nuclear science is pioneering this field by coupling a Penning trap and an electron beam ion trap to the rare-isotope beam facility ISAC at TRIUMF. Here we present simulations that calculate and maximize the effective precision gain of time-of-flight ion-cyclotron-resonance measurements with highly charged ions of short-lived nuclides. In addition we compare the characteristics of measurements with singly and highly charged ions, and we summarize recent results that explored benefits of charge breeding that go beyond the precision increase.

Calibration of the TWIST high-precision drift chambers

An in-trap decay spectroscopy setup has been developed and constructed for use with the TITAN facility at TRIUMF. The goal of this device is to observe weak electron-capture (EC) branching ratios for the odd-odd intermediate nuclei in the