RUI: Supporting New Efforts in Studies of Neutron-Rich Nuclides

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Research experience for undergraduate students is vital for their professional development and entrance into a successful career or graduate school. The nuclear physics group at Augustana College (a small, undergraduate-only, liberal arts institution located in Rock Island, Illinois) provides an active research program that involves undergraduate students in unique experiments and equipment development. This Research in Undergraduate Institutions award will support undergraduate students and the primary investigator, including support to travel to the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory (NSCL) at Michigan State University (MSU), to collaborate with others on experiments that explore nuclear structure, analyze data, and publish research results.Experiments on exotic nuclear systems at or near the neutron drip-line are necessary to constrain modern theoretical models. Nuclides near the neutron drip-line may be produced in states that are neutron-unbound, which means that a neutron is emitted from a nuclide shortly after the nuclide is formed. In addition, the charged fragment left over after neutron emission may be in a bound excited state resulting in gamma-ray emission. A device developed by the PI and collaborators called the charged particle detector telescope (CPDT) provides the ability to detect long-lived neutron-unbound states or short-lived bound excited states of the charged fragment. The device was funded by an MRI NSF grant. Experiments studying 13Be and 28O (via 28F) with efficient detection of gamma-rays will be performed using the CPDT. Neutrons will be detected by the MoNA-LISA (Modular Neutron Array and the Large-area multi-Institutional Scintillator Array). The nuclides will be produced using the unique capabilities of NSCL. The research in this project involves analyzing and disseminating results about neutron-unbound nuclear systems from prior and new experiments. Future experiments will be proposed for the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB), under construction at MSU, focusing on higher Z nuclides, which will require improved understanding of the CPDT to determine any upgrades needed for to the experiment setup. This project will further our current understanding of neutron-rich nuclides using the capabilities of the NSCL facility moving toward FRIB. The PI will involve undergraduate students in all aspects of the research program.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.