HIE-ISOLDE: the Scientific Opportunities

The HIE-ISOLDE project aims at substantial improvements of the energy range, the intensity and the quality of the secondary radioactive beams produced at the ISOLDE facility at CERN. This report presents the questions within nuclear physics and related areas, including nuclear astrophysics, Standard Model tests and condensed matter physics, that scientists will be able to address at HIE-ISOLDE and gives specific examples of how the upgrades will improve the experimental conditions. The physics possibilities at HIE-ISOLDE were reviewed at the NuPAC meeting (Nuclear Physics and Astrophysics at CERN) held at CERN in October 2005; this report gives a more comprehensive overview and incorporates technical and scientific developments that have taken place since then

Alternative Interpretation of Sharply Rising E0 Strengths in Transitional Regions

It is shown that strong 0+2 -> 0+1 E0 transitions provide a clear signature of phase transitional behavior in finite nuclei. Calculations using the IBA show that these transition strengths exhibit a dramatic and robust increase in spherical-deformed shape transition regions, that this rise matches well the existing data, that the predictions of these E0 transitions remain large in deformed nuclei, and that these properties are intrinsic to the way that collectivity and deformation develop through the phase transitional region in the model, arising from the specific d-boson coherence in the wave functions, and that they do not necessarily require the explicit mixing of normal and intruder configurations from different IBA spaces.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure

A 2D Electromagnetic PIC Code for Distributed Memory Parallel Computers

The two dimensional electrostatic plasma particle in cell (PIC) code described an [1] has been upgraded to a 2D electromagnetic PIC code running on the Caltech/JPL Mark IIIfp and the Intel iPSC/860 parallel MIMD computers. The code solves the complete time dependent Maxwell’s equations where the plasma responses, i.e., the charge and current density in the plasma, are evaluated by advancing in time the trajectories of ~ 10^6 particles in their self-consistent electromagnetic field. The field equations are solved in Fourier space. Parallelisation is achieved through domain decomposition in real and Fourier space. Results from a simulation showing a two-dimensional Alfèn wave filamentation instability are shown; these are the first simulations of this 2D Alfèn wave decay process

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

A new technique has been developed at 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 $\beta\beta$ 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 $^{124}$Cs.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figure

Q-Value for the Fermi Beta-Decay of 46V

By comparing the Q-values for the 46Ti(3He,t)46V and 47Ti(3He,t)47}V reactions to the isobaric analog states the Q-value for the superallowed Fermi-decay of 46V has been determined as Q_{EC}(46V)=(7052.11+/-0.27) keV. The result is compatible with the values from two recent direct mass measurements but is at variance with the previously most precise reaction Q-value. As additional input quantity we have determined the neutron separation energy S_n(47Ti)=(8880.51+/-0.25) keV