A bunch of researchers have used equipment originally intended for astronomy commentary to capture transformations within the nuclear structure of atomic nuclei, reports a brand new study in Scientific Reports.
A nucleus is made up of protons and neutrons. About 270 stable nuclei exist in nature, but this number bounces as much as 3000 should you include unstable nuclei. Recent research on unstable nuclei has uncovered phenomena not observed in stable nuclei, including anomalies in energy levels, the disappearance of magic numbers, and the emergence of latest magic numbers.
To check these structural changes, it will be significant to find out the quantum states, internal energy, spin, and parity of the state. Conventional methods have been limited by the problem of balancing sensitivity and detection efficiency when analyzing electromagnetic characteristics of transitions.
Now researchers including including Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (WPI-Kavli IPMU) Professor Tadayuki Takahashi and and graduate student (on the time of research) Yutaka Tsuzuki, together with RIKEN Cluster for Pioneering Research Ueno Nuclear Spectroscopy Laboratory researchers Shintaro Go and Hideki Ueno, RIKEN Nishina Center for Accelerator-Based Science Cosmic Radiation Laboratory Hiroki Yoneda, Kyushu University Associate Professor Yuichi Ichikawa, and Tokyo City University Associate Professor Tatsuki Nishimura, have utilized their multi-layer semiconductor Compton camera to capture the polarization of gamma rays emitted from atomic nuclei. This reveals the interior structure of the atomic nuclei.
This method significantly reduces uncertainties in determining spin and parity for quantum states in rare atomic nuclei, making it possible to capture transformations in nuclear structure.
The Compton camera features a Cadmium Telluride (CdTe) semiconductor imaging sensor, which was originally designed for astronomy commentary. It has a high detection efficiency and precise position determination accuracy. The research group used this camera in nuclear spectroscopy experiments with controlling each the position and intensity of gamma-rays emissions from the goal artificially, allowing for an in depth evaluation of scattering events and realizing a highly sensitive polarization measurement.
The researchers capitalized on of the positional accuracy of pixel-type imaging sensor, and used accelerator experiments on the RIKEN Pelletron accelerator to guage the camera’s performance. Proton beams were directed at a skinny iron film goal, generating the primary excited state of 56Fe nuclei. The emitted gamma rays were measured, revealing a peak structure.
The team succeeded to extract the distribution of scattering azimuth angle. The remarkably high sensitivity to capture the polarization of gamma ray was obtained with reliable detection efficiency. This performance is crucial for investigating the structure of rare radioactive nuclei.
This research could pave the best way for a more profound comprehension of the basic principles underlying the formation of the universe and the characteristics of matter, including the disintegration technique of magic numbers in exotic, unstable nuclei.
