External news and journal publications discussing FRIB science.
The experiment took place at FRIB using the newly delivered and characterised Gamma-Ray Energy Tracking Array (GRETA). Led by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) and delivered by a collaboration with Argonne National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and FRIB, GRETA is a $58 million detector designed to reveal the structure of atomic nuclei in unprecedented detail.
A next-generation nuclear detection system that could aid US national security efforts has logged its first operational measurements in Michigan. The Gamma-Ray Energy Tracking Array, known as GRETA, recently completed its initial characterization run at Michigan State University. Located at FRIB, the instrument met all primary performance targets during early beam testing.
Researchers at FRIB have made significant strides in understanding the source of an unexpected abundance of low-energy gamma rays released by the zinc-70 nucleus. Their groundbreaking study reveals that magnetic transitions occurring within the nucleus are responsible for this puzzling gamma-ray signal, a finding that has been published in Nature under the study titled "Magnetic Character of the Low-Energy Enhancement in 70Zn."
The Gamma-Ray Energy Tracking Array (GRETA), which is installed at FRIB, has successfully completed a commissioning and characterization run, establishing that it is ready for scientific operations. According to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, which made the announcement, the measurements that scientists make with GRETA will improve the theoretical models of the atomic nucleus that underpin research in nuclear physics, astrophysics, energy, medicine, and national security.
The Gamma-Ray Energy Tracking Array (GRETA), the world’s most advanced gamma-ray spectrometer for nuclear science, has taken first beam and successfully completed a commissioning and characterization run at FRIB. The milestone confirms the detector is performing as anticipated, giving researchers a way to observe atomic nuclei in greater detail than ever before.
For decades, some atomic nuclei have emitted more low-energy gamma rays than theory could explain. A collaboration led by researchers at FRIB has now traced this mysterious excess in zinc-70 to magnetic transitions occurring inside the nucleus. The findings are reported in a study recently published in Nature.
A scientific team led by FRIB has identified the origin of a mysterious excess of low-energy gamma rays emitted by the nucleus zinc-70. They found that the excess is caused by magnetic transitions within the nucleus. The study, "Magnetic Character of the Low-Energy Enhancement in 70Zn," published in Nature, sheds light on a long-standing puzzle in nuclear physics and has far-reaching implications for astrophysics.
FRIB at MSU, in collaboration with Argonne National Laboratory, was chosen to receive a Genesis Mission Phase I award from the U.S. Department of Energy. The project will develop artificial intelligence, or AI, tools — specifically, physics-informed “digital twins” — that could transform how heavy-ion accelerators and isotope separators are operated. The project, titled “Towards Self-Evolving, Physics-Informed Digital Twins of Ion Accelerators and Isotope Separators,” is led by Peter Ostroumov, associate director of the Accelerator Systems Division and professor at FRIB, and Brahim Mustapha, accelerator physicist at Argonne National Laboratory.
Atomic nuclei in excited states emit radiation to achieve a more stable configuration. Studying the radiation emitted by long-lived excited states, or isomers, yields important insight into the microscopic structure of the nucleus. Such experiments are designed to observe these kinds of events using detectors where these decays would leave a very clear signature. Researchers at FRIB directly observed isomeric decays in real time following the implantation of radioactive ions in an inorganic scintillation detector. The subsequent radioactive decay products were measured using the FRIB Decay Station Initiator (FDSi), a suite of ancillary detection systems for neutron and gamma-ray spectroscopy.
A review led by an FRIB researcher highlights how advances in nuclear theory are strengthening precision tests of the Standard Model of particle physics. The paper summarizes recent progress in ab initio calculations, which use fundamental interactions between protons and neutrons to predict the small corrections needed to interpret high-precision beta-decay experiments. These increasingly accurate calculations are helping researchers compare theory with experiment, search for signs of new physics beyond the Standard Model, and guide future studies of radioactive nuclei.
MSU alumnus Aaron Philip has been named a U.S. Department of Energy Computational Science Graduate Fellow. He is the second Spartan in university history and one of only 29 students this year to earn the designation. Philip worked for four years at FRIB with professors Witold Nazarewicz, Kyle Godbey and Pablo Giuliani. He initially joined their group via the Professorial Assistantship program. The work he conducted, along with Philip’s undergraduate thesis on a new Bayesian inference method to analyze nuclear fusion experiments, led to a first-author submission to a peer-reviewed journal.
Priyarshini Ghosh, a University of Maryland, Baltimore County nuclear physicist with the Center for Space Sciences and Technology, is at the forefront of research that could significantly improve our understanding of cosmic rays.
Ghosh and her collaborators have just completed a pioneering experiment at FRIB, where they generated and then fragmented a beam of chromium-52 nuclei. Chromium-52 is of particular interest because it can shed light on different processes happening in our galaxy, and yet it has never been measured.
