β-decay half-lives and neutron emission probabilities (P n ) play an important role in r-process nucleosynthesis.An experiment was performed at GSI to measure β-decay half-lives and P n values in the A=130 region including the waiting point nuclei 136 Sn and 137 Sb.The experiment was performed with a stack of four 500 µm thick double sided silicon strip detectors along with the Mainz 4π neutron long counter detector.The system allows to time correlate ion implant and decay events and the detection of the neutrons emitted during the decay.We discuss the analysis approach and some preliminary results.

The recently claimed observations of non-negligible amounts of 6Li in old halo stars have renewed interest in the Big-Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) of 6Li. One important ingredient in the predicted BBN abundance of 6Li is the low-energy 2H(alpha,gamma)6Li cross section. Up to now, the only available experimental result for this cross section showed an almost constant astrophysical S-factor below 400 keV, contrary to theoretical expectations. We report on a new measurement of the 2H(alpha,gamma)6Li reaction using the break-up of 6Li at 150 A MeV. Even though we cannot separate experimentally the Coulomb contribution from the nuclear one, we find clear evidence for Coulomb-nuclear interference by analyzing the scattering-angular distributions. This is in-line with our theoretical description which indicates a drop of the S_24-factor at low energies as predicted also by most other models. Consequently, we find even lower upper limits for the calculated primordial 6Li abundance than before.

The international conference "Exotic atoms and related topics 2005" (EXA05) was the second such meeting organized by the Stefan Meyer Institute for Subatomic Physics of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna. The first meeting in 2002 was an international workshop that lasted three days; 33 talks were presented and about 80 scientists attended. The next conference lasted four days, with 53 speakers and more than 120 participants. The large increase in both speakers and participants shows how dynamic the fields being discussed are. Both meetings presented those fields of physics that can be investigated using exotic atoms, namely, fundamental symmetries and interactions. Examples include the testing of CPT symmetry with atoms containing antiparticles, and the investigation of low-energy QCD with hadronic atoms in low-lying states. For antiprotonic atoms, the spectroscopy of antiprotonic helium is defining the limits of the equality of proton-antiproton charge and mass with increasing accuracy. The formation and spectroscopy of antihydrogen, potentially the best candidate for precision tests of CPT symmetry in atomic systems, is being undertaken by several experiments at the Antiproton Decelerator at CERN, although formation studies are still in their early stages. The future of research into low-energy antiproton physics seems promising, due to the partial approval of the FLAIR facility at the future FAIR facility in GSI. Currently, the fastest developing field is the kaon-nucleon interaction, where the existence of a series of deeply bound states has been predicted. The first experimental evidence for this was shown at the conference and further experiments in progress were described. If confirmed, these so-called "K-clusters" will open new possibilities for studying dense cold matter in the laboratory, since calculations predict nuclear densities in these systems to be as high as those in neutron stars.

There is provided a simple to carry out and precise method for the calibration or diagnosis of a motor vehicle brake system (1) including a clocked driven pump (14), wherein in the operation of a reference pump under defined parameters at least one parameter representing the electromotive force of the reference pump, is repeatedly determined, wherein from the values ​​determined for the reference pump of the parameter a statistical parameter is derived, wherein, in operation of an operating pump the same parameter is determined taking relevant specifications, wherein from the determined for the operating pump of the parameter values a corresponding statistical characteristic variable is derived, and wherein a measure of the deviation of the operating behavior of the operating pump from the operating behavior of the reference pump from the computed for the reference pump characteristic and calculated for the operating pump characteristic at least a ratio is calculated.

The possibility that big-bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) may produce nontrivial amounts of Li-6 is under study since the recent observations of this element in old halo stars. However, the interpretation of these observations needs a precise knowledge of the reaction rate of D(alpha,gamma)(6) Li which, at present, is extremely uncertain (a factor of 20) at the energies of astrophysical interest (E-cm < 300 keV). This uncertainty originates from difficulties in both theoretical estimates and experimental determinations of the D(alpha,gamma)Li-6 capture reaction cross section. New measurements of the cross section of D(alpha,gamma)Li-6 reaction using Coulomb dissociation of Li-6 at 150 A MeV have been performed recently at GSI. The results will be compared to previous measurements and theoretical calculations.

The production cross-sections of proton-rich protactinium and thorium isotopes have been investigated for the fragmentation of 1 A GeV U-238 in a beryllium target at the SIS/FRS facility at GSI Darmstadt. The experimental results are compared with the predictions of an abrasion-ablation model of nuclear fragmentation yielding good overall agreement. Weak evidence for first observation of the new isotopes Th-208 and Pa-211 is presented. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

M. WINKLER114, H. WOLLNIK4 AND T. YAMAGUCHI12 ' GSI, Darmstadt, Germany; PNPI, Gatchina, Russia; St. Petersburg State University, Russia; Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany; Los Alamos National Laboratory, USA; Lund University, Sweden; 'Institute of Nuclear Chemistry, University Mainz, Germany 63 VISTARS; Institute of Physics, University Mainz, Germany; ' Niigata University, Japan; lo INS, Warsaw, Poland; '' J I N A 63 MSU, East Lansing, USA; 12Saitama University, Japan J. STADLMANN~, M. STECK', G. V O R O B J E V ~ ~ ~ , H. WEICK~,

The FRS-ESR facility at GSI provides unique conditions for precision measurements of large areas on the nuclear mass surface in a single experiment. Values for masses of 604 neutron-deficient nuclides (30 < or = Z < or = 92) were obtained with a typical uncertainty of 30 microu. The masses of 114 nuclides were determined for the first time. The odd-even staggering (OES) of nuclear masses was systematically investigated for isotopic chains between the proton shell closures at Z = 50 and Z = 82. The results were compared with predictions of modern nuclear models. The comparison revealed that the measured trend of OES is not reproduced by the theories fitted to masses only. The spectral pairing gaps extracted from models adjusted to both masses, and density related observables of nuclei agree better with the experimental data.