The science case of the FRS Ion Catcher for FAIR Phase-0

The FRS Ion Catcher at GSI enables precision experiments with thermalized projectile and fission fragments. At the same time it serves as a test facility for the Low-Energy Branch of the Super-FRS at FAIR. The FRS Ion Catcher has been commissioned and its performance has been characterized in five experiments with 238U and 124Xe projectile and fission fragments produced at energies in the range from 300 to 1000 MeV/u. High and almost element-independent efficiencies for the thermalization of short-lived nuclides produced at relativistic energies have been obtained. High-accuracy mass measurements of more than 30 projectile and fission fragments have been performed with a multiple-reflection time-of-flight mass spectrometer (MR-TOF-MS) at mass resolving powers of up to 410,000, with production cross sections down to the microbarn-level, and at rates down to a few ions per hour. The versatility of the MR-TOF-MS for isomer research has been demonstrated by the measurement of various isomers, determination of excitation energies and the production of a pure isomeric beam. Recently, several instrumental upgrades have been implemented at the FRS Ion Catcher. New experiments will be carried out during FAIR Phase-0 at GSI, including direct mass measurements of neutron-deficient nuclides below 100Sn and neutron-rich nuclides below 208Pb, measurement of β-delayed neutron emission probabilities and reaction studies with multi-nucleon transfer.Peer reviewe