Eur. Phys. J. A (2005) 25: 629-632
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjad/i2005-06-172-3

ENAM 2004

Investigating the rp-process with the Canadian Penning trap mass spectrometer

¹ Physics Division, Argonne National Laboratory, IL 60439, Argonne, USA
² Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manitoba, MB R3T 2N2, Winnipeg, Canada
³ Centre d’Etudes Nucléaires de Bordeaux-Gradignan, F-33175, Gradignan Cedex, France
⁴ Department of Physics, McGill University, QC H3A 2T8, Montreal, Canada
⁵ Cyclotron Institute, Texas A&M University, TX 77843-3366, College Station, USA
⁶ Department of Chemistry, University of Maryland, MD 20742, College Park, USA
⁷ Physics Department, SUNY, Stony Brook University, NY 11794, Stony Brook, USA

^* e-mail: jclark@physics.umanitoba.ca

Received: 15 January 2005
Accepted: 28 April 2005
Published online: 15 August 2005

Abstract

The Canadian Penning trap (CPT) mass spectrometer at the Argonne National Laboratory makes precise mass measurements of nuclides with short half-lives. Since the previous ENAM conference, many significant modifications to the apparatus were implemented to improve both the precision and efficiency of measurement, and now more than 60 radioactive isotopes have been measured with half-lives as short as one second and with a precision ( Δm/m) approaching 10^-8. The CPT mass measurement program has concentrated so far on nuclides of importance to astrophysics. In particular, measurements have been obtained of isotopes along the rp-process path, in which energy is released from a series of rapid proton-capture reactions. An X-ray burst is one possible site for the rp-process mechanism which involves the accretion of hydrogen and helium from one star onto the surface of its neutron star binary companion. Mass measurements are required as key inputs to network calculations used to describe the rp-process in terms of the abundances of the nuclides produced, the light-curve profile of the X-ray bursts, and the energy produced. This paper will present the precise mass measurements made along the rp-process path with particular emphasis on the “waiting-point” nuclides ⁶⁸Se and ⁶⁴Ge.