Grant: Subatomic Physics Envelope - Project

The mass of the atomic nucleus is one of the most fundamental properties of the atomic many body systems. Precise knowledge of masses provides for testing and refining of advanced nuclear theory and models, and stimulates their further improvements. Masses are key ingredient in the tests of weak interaction studies, in nuclear beta-decay, and for sensitive tests of nuclear structure at the extremes. Moreover, in the field of nuclear astro-physics, atomic masses are needed for the understanding of the synthesis of the elements beyond iron in the universe. There has been substantial effort to determine masses accurate and precise for many years, and with the advent of coupling ion traps to radioactive beam (RIB) facilities, the field has been revolutionized. By now most RIB facilities have ion-trap based mass measurement systems. One of the most advanced facilities for mass measurements is TITAN (TRIUMF's Ion Trap for Atomic and Nuclear science). TITAN is a unique multi-ion trap system installed at the ISAC radioactive ion beam facility. TITAN is designed to carry out high precision mass measurements, with delta m about1 keV, (or delta m/m less than 1-10-8) for isotopes with very short half-lives on the order of tens of milliseconds. This is especially needed for isotopes very far from the valley of stability, hence with low on-line production yields as expected at ISAC/ TRIUMF in Vancouver. The impact of this proposal will be in a better and deeper understanding of the strong force, the force repsonible for generating all stable and unstable atoms in the universe, as well as with mass measurements for nuclear astrophysics and neutrinophysics.