In the News
External news and journal publications discussing FRIB science.
The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science (DOE-SC) posted a highlight titled “The 'nested doll' nucleus nitrogen-9 stretches the definition of a nucleus to the limit” about how nitrogen-9 has only two neutrons to its seven protons and decays to an alpha particle by emitting five of its protons in stages. The experimental technique employed sequential nuclear reactions at MSU to create nitrogen-9. Each year, scientists publish thousands of research findings in the scientific literature. About 200 of these are selected annually by their respective program areas in DOE-SC as publication highlights of special note.
Researchers from Washington University in St. Louis, Fudan University in China, Western Michigan University, the University of Connecticut, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and FRIB have found evidence of an extremely unstable nucleus for which more than half of the component particles are unbound, meaning that they are not tightly connected to the dense core of the nucleus. The research team had to carefully sift through a large volume of nuclear-collision data to identify the nitrogen-9 decays. This barely bound nucleus poses a unique challenge to theories of nuclear structure.
Researchers from Washington University in St. Louis, Fudan University in China, Western Michigan University, the University of Connecticut, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and FRIB may have just spotted the elusive, ephemeral nucleus of nitrogen-9 for the first time. With seven protons and two neutrons, the lopsided atomic nucleus of nitrogen-9 pushes the limits of what can even be considered a nucleus at all. Yet signs of its existence seem to be lurking in years-old data from experiments seeking out a different unusual nucleus, researchers report in the 27 October Physical Review Letters.
SLAC National Laboratory’s newly upgraded Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS-II) heralds trailblazing research capabilities that could unlock the insights needed to create carbon-neutral steel, more sustainable fertilizer, more efficient hydrogen-powered cars or the next generation of pharmaceuticals, to name a few possibilities. LCLS-II is the result of a decade-long collaboration involving more than 1,400 individuals, including those from Fermilab, Argonne, Jefferson Lab, Berkeley Lab, the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams and Cornell University, according to LCLS-II Director Greg Hays. He also said the collaboration involved partners from outside the United States like Germany, Japan, Switzerland and France.
The nuclear reactions that power stellar explosions involve short-lived nuclei that are hard to study in the laboratory. To solve this challenge, researchers at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams used a novel technique that combines an Active Target Time Projection Chamber with a magnetic spectrometer. The work has been published in Physical Review Letters.
FRIB will use the $115 million it received through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science to fund the High Rigidity Spectrometer project.
Researchers at Michigan State University’s Facility for Rare Isotope Beams joined experts around the country as they rolled out their long-term plans for studying nuclear science. Officials say this plan is part of a bigger focus on keeping the U.S. a leader in nuclear science. The list of recommendations to the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation features MSU expertise in the field.
$115 million was awarded to a project at Michigan State University’s (MSU) Facility for Rare Isotope Beams or FRIB. The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science, (DOE-SC), awarded the money for the High Rigidity Spectrometer project (HRS). Michigan State University said the HRS instrument will enable scientists to characterize the properties of isotopes that are created in rare-isotope reactions, which occur at half the speed of light.
In a recent Physical Review Letters paper (“Strong evidence for 9N and the limits of existence of atomic nuclei”), scientists from Washington University in St. Louis, Fudan University in China, Western Michigan University, the University of Connecticut, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and FRIB present strong evidence for a new light isotope of nitrogen: nitrogen-9.
A team of researchers, including a scientist from the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, published a paper in which they reviewed the progress in atomic structure theory with a focus on superheavy elements and their predicted ground state configurations important for an element’s placement in the periodic table.
As part of the Science Summit at the 78th United Nations General Assembly, European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) co-organized a session with the U.S. National Science Foundation AccelNET Program to discuss global scientific networking collaboration. FRIB’s Hendrik Schatz, director of the International Research Network for Nuclear Astrophysics, attended the event.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory is leading two nuclear physics research projects within the Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing, or SciDAC, program from the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science. One of the projects is called Nuclear Computational Low-Energy Initiative, or NUCLEI. The other is Exascale Nuclear Astrophysics for FRIB, or ENAF. FRIB refers to the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, a DOE-supported research, teaching and training center located at Michigan State University.
