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Precision mass measurement of lightweight self-conjugate nucleus 80Zr

Nature Physics volume 17, pages 1408–1412 (2021)Cite this article

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Abstract

Protons and neutrons in the atomic nucleus move in shells analogous to the electronic shell structures of atoms. The nuclear shell structure varies as a result of changes in the nuclear mean field with the number of neutrons N and protons Z, and these variations can be probed by measuring the mass differences between nuclei. The N = Z = 40 self-conjugate nucleus 80Zr is of particular interest, as its proton and neutron shell structures are expected to be very similar, and its ground state is highly deformed. Here we provide evidence for the existence of a deformed double-shell closure in 80Zr through high-precision Penning trap mass measurements of 80–83Zr. Our mass values show that 80Zr is substantially lighter, and thus more strongly bound than predicted. This can be attributed to the deformed shell closure at N = Z = 40 and the large Wigner energy. A statistical Bayesian-model mixing analysis employing several global nuclear mass models demonstrates difficulties with reproducing the observed mass anomaly using current theory.

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Fig. 1: The experimental procedure.
Fig. 2: Comparison of experimental results with theoretical predictions.
Fig. 3: Two-proton shell gap.
Fig. 4: Wigner energy.
Fig. 5: Single-particle energy splitting.

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Data availability

The data that support the plots within this paper and other findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Code availability

Our unpublished computer codes used to generate the results reported in this paper and central to its main claims will be made available upon request.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the NSCL staff for their technical support as well as R. F. Casten for useful discussions on interpreting the results of the experiment. This work was conducted with the support of Michigan State University, the US National Science Foundation under contracts nos. PHY-1565546 (A.H., E.L., R.J., G.B., K.L., C.R.N., D.P., R.R., C.S.S. and I.T.Y.), PHY-1913554 (R.J.) and PHY-1430152 (R.J.), the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Nuclear Physics under awards nos. DE-SC0013365 (W.N. and L.N.) and DE-SC0018083 (NUCLEI SciDAC-4 collaboration) (S.A.G. and W.N.) and by the National Science Foundation CSSI programme under award no. 2004601 (BAND collaboration; W.N.).

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Author notes

  1. E. Leistenschneider

    Present address: CERN, Geneva, Switzerland

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA

    A. Hamaker, E. Leistenschneider, R. Jain, G. Bollen, S. A. Giuliani, K. Lund, W. Nazarewicz, L. Neufcourt, C. R. Nicoloff, D. Puentes, R. Ringle, C. S. Sumithrarachchi & I. T. Yandow

  2. National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA

    A. Hamaker, E. Leistenschneider, R. Jain, G. Bollen, K. Lund, C. R. Nicoloff, D. Puentes, R. Ringle, C. S. Sumithrarachchi & I. T. Yandow

  3. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA

    A. Hamaker, R. Jain, G. Bollen, W. Nazarewicz, C. R. Nicoloff, D. Puentes & I. T. Yandow

  4. European Centre for Theoretical Studies in Nuclear Physics and Related Areas (ECT-FBK), Trento, Italy

    S. A. Giuliani

  5. Department of Physics, Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK

    S. A. Giuliani

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Contributions

A.H., E.L., G.B., K.L., C.R.N., D.P., R.R., C.S.S. and I.T.Y. performed the experiment. A.H., E.L., D.P. and I.T.Y. performed the data analysis. A.H., E.L., W.N., S.A.G. and L.N. prepared the manuscript. R.J., S.A.G., W.N. and L.N. performed the Bayesian analysis. All authors discussed the results and provided comments on the manuscript.

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Correspondence to A. Hamaker.

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Peer review information Nature Physics thanks Alessandro Pastore, Anu Kankainen and Bo Cederwall for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Hamaker, A., Leistenschneider, E., Jain, R. et al. Precision mass measurement of lightweight self-conjugate nucleus 80Zr. Nat. Phys. 17, 1408–1412 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-021-01395-w

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