The HYpernuclei-Decay at R3B Apparatus (HYDRA) tracker is a novel time projection chamber combined with a plastic scintillator wall for timing and trigger purposes at the Reactions with Relativistic Radioactive Beams (R3B) facility of GSI-FAIR. This detector is a low radiation length tracker dedicated to measuring pions from the weak decay of light hypernuclei produced from ion-ion collisions at few GeV/nucleon in the magnetic field of the large-acceptance dipole magnet GLAD at R3B. In this paper, we describe the design of the detector and provide the results of its first characterizations.

A fundamental framework to describe nuclear matter as a function of pressure and nuclear isospin asymmetry is the nuclear Equation of State (EoS). Constraining the parameters of the EoS is one of the central issues in nuclear physics, especially since the slope parameter L has not yet been constrained well experimentally. It has been identified that a precise determination of the neutron-removal cross section in neutron-rich nuclei, which correlates with the neutron-skin thickness, would provide a more precise constraint on L. To this end, an experiment was performed at the (RB)-B-3 part of the FAIR Phase-0 program. The reactions are studied in inverse kinematics with neutron-rich tin isotopes in the mass range of A = 124-134 on carbon targets of different thicknesses. The reaction products have been measured at beam energies of 400-900 MeV/u in a kinematically complete manner. In this communication, the analysis of Sn-124 + C-12 at 900 MeV/u is presented. The charge-exchange reactions, resulting processes, and their role in the calculation of other reaction cross sections are discussed.

The Super -FRS at the FAIR accelerator complex will adopt Chemical Vapor Deposition diamond detectors as radiation -hard particle rate counters. Their role will be to monitor the beam transmission for beams with ions rates up to 10(7) ions/spill and to calibrate the other beam diagnostics devices that are in duty at higher beam intensities. The target vacuum chamber of the Super -FRS hosts a 7 x 7mm(2) single crystal diamond and a 25 x 25 mm(2 )polycrystalline diamond: they are required to detect crossing particles with high efficiency ( > 98%) in the case of heavy ion species (Ar to U), and to stand for several years in an environment in which they can potentially accumulate a dose of a few MGy per year. Laboratory measurements and beam test campaigns were arranged in the past years for the validation of the proposed sensors, in particular for the case of the polycrystalline technology. Here we report the outcome of the irradiation of a sensor based on a 20 x 20 mm(2) polycrystalline diamond produced by Element Six, with high intensity 1 GeV/nucleon Pb and U beams at GSI (Darmstadt). The detector signal shape characteristics and the ion counting efficiency have been monitored by interleaving periods of low ions rates, to evaluate possible damages or performance degradation during and after a total bombardment of about 6 x 10(11) heavy ions.

We report on the observation of previously-unknown isotope ^21Al, the first unbound aluminum isotope located beyond the proton dripline. The ^21Al nucleus decays by one-proton (1p) emission, and its in-flight decays were detected by tracking trajectories of all decay products with micro-strip silicon detectors. The 1p-emission processes were studied by analyses of the measured angular correlations of decay products ^20Mg+p. The 1p-decay energies of ground and low-lying excited states of ^21Al, its mass excess and proton separation energy value S_p=-1.1(1) MeV were determined.

The neutron-rich unbound fluorine isotope ^{30}F_{21} has been observed for the first time by measuring its neutron decay at the SAMURAI spectrometer (RIBF, RIKEN) in the quasifree proton knockout reaction of ^{31}Ne nuclei at 235  MeV/nucleon. The mass and thus one-neutron-separation energy of ^{30}F has been determined to be S_{n}=-472±58(stat)±33(sys)  keV from the measurement of its invariant-mass spectrum. The absence of a sharp drop in S_{n}(^{30}F) shows that the "magic" N=20 shell gap is not restored close to ^{28}O, which is in agreement with our shell-model calculations that predict a near degeneracy between the neutron d and fp orbitals, with the 1p_{3/2} and 1p_{1/2} orbitals becoming more bound than the 0f_{7/2} one. This degeneracy and reordering of orbitals has two potential consequences: ^{28}O behaves like a strongly superfluid nucleus with neutron pairs scattering across shells, and both ^{29,31}F appear to be good two-neutron halo-nucleus candidates.

At the FAIR facility, currently under construction at GSI (Darmstadt), a 1.5 AGeV uranium beam with intensities up to 2.5 × 1011 238U/spill will impinge on a graphite target at the entrance of the Super-FRS for the production of a wide range of rare isotopes by projectile fission and fragmentation. The next generation in-flight magnetic separator Super-FRS, operated up to a magnetic rigidity of 20 Tm with a large angular acceptance (Δθ = ± 40 mrad, Δϕ = ± 20 mrad) and momentum acceptance (Δ p/p = ± 2.5%), requires a new generation of tracking detectors with a position resolution of 0.2 mm (σx ) over large detector areas reaching up to 570 cm2. Besides gas detectors, planar detectors made of scintillating fibers are an option worth investigating not only because of the comparable material budget but especially for the fast response and high-rate capability. A one-dimensional prototype consisting of 128 fibers with active area of 25.6 × 100 mm2 coupled to Multi-Pixel-Photon Counters (MPPCs) and readout by FPGA TDC is described together with some recent 197Au beam test results.

The electric dipole strength above the one-neutron separation energy has been measured in the neutron-rich nucleus 52Ca using the Coulomb excitation at 223 MeV/nucleon in inverse kinematics. The gamma-ray detector array CATANA, the neutron detector NeuLAND demonstrator, and the SAMURAI spectrometer at RIKEN Nishina Center were combined to reconstruct the excitation energy of 52Ca. A observed sharp peak at the very low neutron energy in the 52Ca -> 51Ca +n channel indicates that 52Ca has a sizable amount of dipole strength just above the one neutron threshold.

The accuracy of reaction theories used to extract properties of exotic nuclei from scattering experiments is often unknown or not quantified, but of utmost importance when, e.g., constraining the equation of state of asymmetric nuclear matter from observables as the neutron-skin thickness. In order to test the Glauber multiple-scattering model, the total interaction cross section of Image 1 on carbon targets was measured at initial beam energies of 400, 550, 650, 800, and 1000 MeV/nucleon. The measurements were performed during the first experiment of the newly constructed R3B (Reaction with Relativistic Radioactive Beams) experiment after the start of FAIR Phase-0 at the GSI/FAIR facility with beam energies of 400, 550, 650, 800, and 1000 MeV/nucleon. The combination of the large-acceptance dipole magnet GLAD and a newly designed and highly efficient Time-of-Flight detector enabled a precise transmission measurement with several target thicknesses for each initial beam energy with an experimental uncertainty of ±0.4%. A comparison with the Glauber model revealed a discrepancy of around 3.1% at higher beam energies, which will serve as a crucial baseline for the model-dependent uncertainty in future fragmentation experiments.

The neutron-rich unbound fluorine isotope ^{30}F_{21} has been observed for the first time by measuring its neutron decay at the SAMURAI spectrometer (RIBF, RIKEN) in the quasifree proton knockout reaction of ^{31}Ne nuclei at 235 MeV/nucleon. The mass and thus one-neutron-separation energy of ^{30}F has been determined to be S_{n}=-472±58(stat)±33(sys) keV from the measurement of its invariant-mass spectrum. The absence of a sharp drop in S_{n}(^{30}F) shows that the "magic" N=20 shell gap is not restored close to ^{28}O, which is in agreement with our shell-model calculations that predict a near degeneracy between the neutron d and fp orbitals, with the 1p_{3/2} and 1p_{1/2} orbitals becoming more bound than the 0f_{7/2} one. This degeneracy and reordering of orbitals has two potential consequences: ^{28}O behaves like a strongly superfluid nucleus with neutron pairs scattering across shells, and both ^{29,31}F appear to be good two-neutron halo-nucleus candidates.

The calcium isotopes are an ideal system to investigate the evolution of shell structure and magic numbers. Although the properties of surface nucleons in calcium have been well studied, probing the structure of deeply bound nucleons remains a challenge. Here, we report on the first measurement of unbound states in 53Ca and 55Ca, populated from 54,56Ca(p,pn) reactions at a beam energy of around 216 MeV/nucleon at the RIKEN Radioactive Isotopes Beam Factory. The resonance properties, partial cross sections, and momentum distributions of these unbound states were analyzed. Orbital angular momentum l assignments were extracted from momentum distributions based on calculations using the distorted wave impulse approximation (DWIA) reaction model. The resonances at excitation energies of 5516(41)keV in 53Ca and 6000(250)keV in 55Ca indicate a significant l =3 component, providing the first experimental evidence for the ν0f7/2 single-particle strength of unbound hole states in the neutron-rich Ca isotopes. The observed excitation energies and cross-sections point towards extremely localized and well separated strength distributions, with some fragmentation for the ν0f7/2 orbital in 55Ca. These results are in good agreement with predictions from shell-model calculations using the effective GXPF1Bs interaction and ab initio calculations and diverge markedly from the experimental distributions in the nickel isotones at Z=28.

The neutron-rich unbound fluorine isotope30F21has been observed for the first time by measuring itsneutron decay at the SAMURAI spectrometer (RIBF, RIKEN) in the quasifree proton knockout reactionof31Ne nuclei at235MeV=nucleon. The mass and thus one-neutron-separation energy of30F has been determined to beSn 1/4 -47258 & eth;stat & THORN;33 & eth;sys & THORN;keV from the measurement of its invariant-massspectrum. The absence of a sharp drop inSn & eth;30F & THORN;shows that the"magic"N 1/4 20shell gap is not restoredclose to28O, which is in agreement with our shell-model calculations that predict a near degeneracybetween the neutrondandfporbitals, with the1p3=2and1p1=2orbitals becoming more bound than the0f7=2one. This degeneracy and reordering of orbitals has two potential consequences:28O behaves like astrongly superfluid nucleus with neutron pairs scattering across shells, and both29;31F appear to be goodtwo-neutron halo-nucleus candidates

The Coulomb excitation of Sn-124,Sn-128,Sn-130,Sn-132,Sn-134 isotopes in the electric field of a Pb target have been studied using the (RB)-B-3 setup as a part of the FAIR Phase-0 program. The experiment was motivated by the possibility of using the nuclear dipole response to infer valuable information on the slope of the symmetry energy of the nuclear equation of state. Measurements were performed in inverse kinematics at relativistic energies of 750 MeV/u and 904 MeV/u. The analysis method and preliminary results for the decay channel with a single outgoing neutron for Sn-124 are reported.

Properties of the nuclear equation of state (EoS) can be probed by measuring the dynamical properties of nucleus-nucleus collisions. In this study, we present the directed flow (v1), elliptic flow (v2) and stopping (VarXZ) measured in fixed target Sn + Sn collisions at Image 1 with the SπRIT Time Projection Chamber. We perform Bayesian analyses in which EoS parameters are varied simultaneously within the Improved Quantum Molecular Dynamics-Skyrme (ImQMD-Sky) transport code to obtain a multivariate correlated constraint. The varied parameters include symmetry energy, S0, and slope of the symmetry energy, L, at saturation density, isoscalar effective mass, ms⁎/mN, isovector effective mass, mv⁎/mN and the in-medium cross-section enhancement factor η. We find that the flow and VarXZ observables are sensitive to the splitting of proton and neutron effective masses and the in-medium cross-section. Comparisons of ImQMD-Sky predictions to the SπRIT data suggest a narrow range of preferred values for ms⁎/mN, mv⁎/mN and η.

The unexplained disagreement in the dependence of spectroscopic factors (C2Sexp) on the binding energy obtained by nucleon knockout using different targets is still a puzzle that needs to be addressed. To find an explanation of this riddle through exclusive measurements using different targets. The exclusive measurements were performed by using a Ne17 beam with an energy of 500 MeV/u incident on C and CH2 targets. Through the standard theoretical approach, C2Sexp were derived from the analysis of the experimental data on proton ejection from the proton halo in Ne17 as well as from its core O15. For the C target, proton ejection from the proton halo gave C2Sexp about 37% smaller than for the H target. But when protons are ejected from the core of Ne17, C2Sexp are identical within statistical uncertainties. An explanation for the difference in C2Sexp could be the removal of both halo protons, a more important reaction pathway for the C target. The C2Sexp values obtained by analyzing the proton ejection from the core indicate that it is not affected by the interaction with the halo protons. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Low energy fission of 234,235,236,238 U and 237,238 Np radioactive beams, provided by the GSI/FRS facility, has been studied using the R 3 B/SOFIA setup. The latter allows, on an event-by-event basis, to simultaneously identify, in terms of their mass and atomic numbers, the fissioning nucleus in coincidence with both fission fragments after prompt-neutron emission. This presentation reports on new results on elemental, isobaric and isotopic yields.

In the last decades, measurements of spallation, fragmentation and Coulex induced fission reactions in inverse kinematics have provided valuable data to accurately investigate the fission dynamics and nuclear structure at large deformations of a large variety of stable and non-stable heavy nuclei. To go a step further, we propose now to induce fission by the use of quasi-free (p,2p) scattering reactions in inverse kinematics, which allows us to reconstruct the excitation energy of the compound fissioning system by using the four-momenta of the two outgoing protons. Therefore, this new approach might permit to correlate the excitation energy with the charge and mass distributions of the fission fragments and with the fission probabilities, given for the first time direct access to the simultaneous measurement of the fission yield dependence on temperature and fission barrier heights of exotic heavy nuclei, respectively. The first experiment based on this methodology was realized recently at the GSI/FAIR facility and a detailed description of the experimental setup is given here.

In the last decades, measurements of spallation, fragmentation and Coulex induced fission reactions in inverse kinematics have provided valuable data to accurately investigate the fission dynamics and nuclear structure at large deformations of a large variety of stable and non-stable heavy nuclei. The collected data were used to constrain dynamic and nuclear structure parameters of different de-excitation models, such as ABLA and GEF, but the data can also be used to constrain the parameterizations describing the pre-fragment properties after the nuclear collision, such as the angular momentum gained by the pre-fragment. In this work, the fissioning system yields are compared to calculations assuming different parameterizations for modeling the angular momentum gained by the compound nuclei. Our findings indicate that the parameterizations utilized by abrasion models clearly underestimate the angular momentum, resulting in the underestimation of the production of lighter fissioning systems.

As an essential part of the Super-FRS particle identification, the GEM-TPC detector in a twin field-cage configuration will provide position information at up to 1 MHz counting rate with a spatial resolution < 1 mm and with tracking efficiency >95 %. This detector is designed to provide particle-beam tracking information of projectiles ranging from protons to uranium. The performance of the GEM-TPC detector in a single field-cage configuration and newly integrated AWAGS readout electronics with a differential output was studied at the FRS for the response to the uranium beam at 850 MeV/u with intensity up to 1000 ions/spill. The result shows that a clusterization algorithm developed for this analysis works properly. The spatial resolution of 0.74–0.81 mm, a detection efficiency >99 %, and a tracking efficiency >96 % were found. This work describes the methodology used to achieve such results in detail.

Nucleon knockout experiments using beryllium or carbon targets reveal a strong dependence of the quenching factors, i.e., the ratio ( R_s ) of theoretical to the experimental spectroscopic factors ( C^2S ), on the proton-neutron asymmetry in the nucleus under study. However, this dependence is greatly reduced when a hydrogen target is used. To understand this phenomenon, exclusive ^1H(^17Ne, 2p ^16F) and inclusive ^12C(^17Ne,2p ^16F)X , ^12C(^17Ne, ^16F)X as well as ^1H(^17Ne,^16F)X (X-denotes undetected reaction products) reactions with ^16F in the ground and excited states were analysed. The longitudinal momentum distribution of ^16F and the correlations between the detached protons were studied. In the case of the carbon target, there is a significant deviation from the predictions of the eikonal model. The eikonal approximation was used to extract spectroscopic factor values C^2S . The experimental C^2S value obtained with C target is markedly lower than that for H target. This is interpreted as rescattering due to simultaneous nucleon knockout from both reaction partners, ^17Ne and ^12C .