External news and journal publications discussing FRIB science.
Students passionate about the evolving space market had an unparalleled opportunity to collaborate with leading engineers from Texas Instruments (TI) and engineers and physicists from Michigan State University (MSU) at the inaugural Single Event Effects (SEE) Radiation Testing Boot Camp. TI sponsored the event in partnership with the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) at MSU and the MSU Space Electronics Initiative.
A team of scientists, including researchers from FRIB, published a paper in Communications Physics regarding obtaining an accurate description of low-density nuclear matter, which is crucial for explaining the physics of neutron star crusts. The team introduced a variational Monte Carlo method based on a neural Pfaffian-Jastrow quantum state, which allowed them to model the transition from the liquid phase to neutron-rich nuclei microscopically.
In an article about Germanium detectors, Oak Ridge National Laboratory highlights James “Mitch” Allmond, a research scientist at Oak Ride National Laboratory, who studies low-energy nuclear physics and nuclear astrophysics. At the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams at Michigan State University, Allmond manages the ongoing FRIB Decay Station initiator (FDSi) project.
A team of researchers, including scientists from FRIB, has achieved a breakthrough in understanding the elusive nature of neutrinos—one of the universe’s most mysterious particles. Their findings, published in the journal Nature's 13 February 2025 issue, provide the first direct experimental constraints on the spatial extent, or "quantum size," of a neutrino using a novel precision measurement technique.
In a recent Nature article, scientists—including researchers from the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams—measured the energy width of a lithium-7 nucleus in beryllium-7 decay, setting a lower limit on the spatial extent of neutrino wavepackets. The findings provide insights into neutrino properties and weak nuclear decays.
Recent experimental discoveries are reshaping how scientists view atomic nuclei. Traditionally, nuclei have been classified as either stable or unstable, but this binary distinction overlooks the wide range of nuclear lifetimes, from fleeting moments to times far exceeding the age of the universe. Witek Nazarewicz, John A. Hannah Distinguished Professor of Physics and chief scientist at FRIB, and Lee Sobotka, professor of chemistry and physics at Washington University in St. Louis, wrote an article about the discoveries for Physics Today.
Physical Review Letters has selected the reporting the first new-isotope discovery at FRIB for its Collection of the Year 2024
The discovery of an isotope, rutherfordium-252, whose ground state forestalls fission for just 60 nanoseconds, could help theorists understand the cosmic synthesis of superheavy elements.
An Editor's Suggestion in Physical Review C featured a submission authored by a team of scientists that included FRIB researchers. The scientists measured the mass of tin-103, which is just three neutrons away from tin-100, laying the foundation for future high-precision mass measurements of tin-100. The measurement took place using the Low Energy Beam and Ion Trap (LEBIT) located at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB).
Supported by a new Strategic Partnership Grant from the Michigan State University Research Foundation, an interdisciplinary team will establish a framework on MSU’s campus that streamlines the development of a promethium-149-based radiopharmaceutical as an effective prostate cancer therapeutic. This integrated system will use cutting-edge facilities including the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, or FRIB; the Institute for Quantitative Health Science and Engineering, better known as IQ; as well as newly expanded radiochemistry laboratories in MSU’s Department of Chemistry.
Calculating the energy levels and their properties in a nucleus is a formidable task. The nuclear shell model has been very successful in describing many properties of atomic nuclei, such as their excitation energy spectrum. The shortcomings of this model became apparent when facilities dedicated to the production and study of radioactive isotopes, such as FRIB, began operations. Now, writing in Nature Physics, Alexandra Gade, professor of physics at FRIB and in MSU's Department of Physics and Astronomy and FRIB scientific director, and collaborators have measured the features of the neutron-rich nucleus chromium-62, which belongs to one of those islands of inversion, as predicted by shell model calculations.
Supported by a new Strategic Partnership Grant from the Michigan State University Research Foundation, an interdisciplinary team will establish a framework on MSU’s campus that streamlines the development of a promethium-149-based radiopharmaceutical as an effective prostate cancer therapeutic. This integrated system will use cutting-edge facilities including the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, or FRIB; the Institute for Quantitative Health Science and Engineering, better known as IQ; as well as newly expanded radiochemistry laboratories in MSU’s Department of Chemistry.
