First Penning-trap mass measurement in the millisecond half-life range: the exotic halo nucleus 11Li

Abstract

In this letter, we report a new mass for ${}^{11}$Li using the trapping experiment TITAN at TRIUMF's ISAC facility. This is by far the shortest-lived nuclide, $t_{1/2}=8.8\mathrm{ms}$, for which a mass measurement has ever been performed with a Penning trap. Combined with our mass measurements of ${}^{8,9}$Li we derive a new two-neutron separation energy of 369.15(65) keV: a factor of seven more precise than the best previous value. This new value is a critical ingredient for the determination of the halo charge radius from isotope-shift measurements. We also report results from state-of-the-art atomic-physics calculations using the new mass and extract a new charge radius for ${}^{11}$Li. This result is a remarkable confluence of nuclear and atomic physics.

Formatted for submission to PRL

References in corpus (5)

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Cited by in corpus (45)

• Current Status of r-Process Nucleosynthesis
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• New precision mass measurements of neutron-rich calcium and potassium isotopes and three-nucleon forces
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• TITAN's Digital RFQ Ion Beam Cooler and Buncher, Operation and Performance
• Opportunities for Fundamental Physics Research with Radioactive Molecules
• Direct observation of the glue pairing the halo of the nucleus 11Li
• Single-reference high-precision mass measurement with a multi-reflection time-of-flight mass spectrograph
• First Use of High Charge States for Mass Measurements of Short-lived Nuclides in a Penning Trap
• Isotope Shift Measurements of Stable and Short-Lived Lithium Isotopes for Nuclear Charge Radii Determination
• Verifying the accuracy of the TITAN Penning-trap mass spectrometer
• A large Bradbury Nielsen ion gate with flexible wire spacing based on photo-etched stainless steel grids and its characterization applying symmetric and asymmetric potentials
• Penning-trap mass spectrometry of highly charged, neutron-rich Rb and Sr isotopes in the vicinity of $A\approx 100$
• The trap design of PENTATRAP
• First observation of ${}^{13}$Li ground state
• Halo-induced large enhancement of soft dipole excitation of 11Li observed via proton inelastic scattering
• Fine and hyperfine splitting of the 2P state in Li and Be${}^{+}$
• Elucidation of the anomalous A = 9 isospin quartet behaviour
• Nuclear Radii of Unstable Nuclei
• Highly charged ions in Penning traps, a new tool for resolving low lying isomeric states
• Toward precision mass measurements of neutron-rich nuclei relevant to $r$-process nucleosynthesis
• Penning-Trap Mass Measurements of the Neutron-Rich K and Ca Isotopes: Resurgence of the N = 28 Shell Strength
• Description of the ${}^{11}$Li$(p,d){}^{10}$Li transfer reaction using structure overlaps from a full three-body model
• Theoretical study of the two-proton halo candidate ${}^{17}$Ne including contributions from resonant continuum and pairing correlations
• Linking structure and dynamics in $(p,pn)$ reactions with Borromean nuclei: the ${}^{11}$Li$(p,pn){}^{10}$Li case
• High-accuracy Penning trap mass measurements with stored and cooled exotic ions
• Systematic calculations of reactions with exotic and stable nuclei to establish a unified theoretical approach
• Core momentum distribution in two-neutron halo nuclei
• Evidence of a new state in ${}^{11}$Be observed in the ${}^{11}$Li $\beta$-decay
• Scaling of the ${}^{19}$B two-neutron halo properties close to unitarity
• Few-body structures in the mirror nuclei, ${}^{11}$O and ${}^{11}$Li
• Generating function for nucleus-nucleus scattering amplitudes in Glauber theory
• Analysis of the unbound spectrum of ${}^{12}$Li
• Improvements to TITAN's Mass Measurement and Decay Spectroscopy Capabilities
• Determining astrophysical three-body radiative capture reaction rates from inclusive Coulomb break-up measurements
• Nuclear Mass Measurements With Radioactive Ion Beams
• Universal geometry of two-neutron halos and Borromean Efimov states close to dissociation
• Mapping the frontiers of the nuclear mass surface
• Properties of Lithium-11 and Carbon-22 at leading order in halo effective field theory
• Single Cooper pair transfer in stable and in exotic nuclei
• Study of radial motion phase advance during motion excitations in a Penning trap and accuracy of JYFLTRAP mass spectrometer
• Impact of uncertainties of unbound ${}^{10}$Li on the ground state of two-neutron halo ${}^{11}$Li
• A Novel Transparent Charged Particle Detector for the CPET Upgrade at TITAN
• Scaling limit analysis of Borromean halos
• Two particles interacting via a contact interaction on $S^2$