Paper in 'Science' spotlights how precise measurements open a range of opportunities for physics research

A research team published a paper (“Observation of the distribution of nuclear magnetization in a molecule”) in Science showcasing measurements of the short-lived radium-225 monofluoride molecule. The team includes Shane Wilkins, associate professor of physics at FRIB and in MSU’s Department of Physics and Astronomy, who worked on the project while he was a postdoctoral researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and performed experiments at the Isotope Separator On Line DEvice (ISOLDE) Radioactive Ion Beam Facility at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN).

Lasting for only a few days, the radium-225 monofluoride molecule is predicted to be extremely sensitive to effects which violate the fundamental symmetries of nature. The research marks an important step in precision studies of short-lived radioactive molecules, which are promising systems in which to investigate why there is more matter than antimatter in the universe. 

The team’s findings are relevant to FRIB’s fundamental symmetries activities, both on-site at MSU and for collaborations such as the research on radium-containing molecules (RaX) project with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University and the California Institute of Technology.

The full paper is on the Science website.

Read the CERN and MIT press releases:

• Molecules of pear-shaped atomic nuclei bear fruit (CERN)
• With a new molecule-based method, physicists peer inside an atom’s nucleus (MIT)