NEXT

NEXT stands for Neutron-rich, heavy, EXotic nuclei produced in multi-nucleon Transfer reaction

In 2018, Julia Even has been awarded with an ERC Starting grant of 1.67 Mio€ for the NEXT project. 

Multi-nucleon transfer reactions using actinide targets hold the potential for the discovery of new isotopes in the transfermium region.  These will provide access to information on the evolution of nuclear shell structure and fission half-lives in the heavy element region. Xe-136 induced transfer reactions with lead or platinum can provide access to the closed neutron-shell N=126, the 3rd waiting point of the astrophysical r-process. 

Why is it so challenging to nuclei which are produced in transfer reactions?

Due to the large angular distribution of the transfer products, their sample preparation for mass measurements and studies of their decay remain challenging. So far, no separator dedicated to the production of heavy elements with multi-nucleon transfer reaction has been build.

•Wide angular distribution  

•Half-lives

•Isotope separation and identification

Need:

Spectrometer with a large angular acceptance, and good back-ground separation independent from the chemical and atomic properties

In the NEXT project, a solenoid spectrometer will be combined with a Multi Reflection-Time of Flight Mass Spectrometer (MR-ToF MS) in order to overcome experimental limitations. The solenoid spectrometer provides a large angular acceptance for transfer products. With help of the MR-ToF MS masses in the region around mendelevium towards the subneutron shell closure N=162 and exotic nuclei around the 3rd waiting point of the r-process will become accessible.

The NEXT project is funded by the European Research Council through an ERC starting grant [803740 — NEXT — ERC-2018-STG] Project title: Neutron-rich EXotic nuclei produced in multinucleon Transfer reactions

NEXT is hosted by the University of Groningen. 

We are happy to collaborate with:

Lutz Schweikhard and Paul Fischer (University of Greifswald, Germany), 

Frank Wienholtz and Moritz Schlaich (Technical University Darmstadt, Germany)

Jan Sáren and  Juha Uusitalo (University of Jyväskylä, Finland), 

Thomas Schlathölter (RuG), 

We are grateful for technical support from PARTREC, UMCG.

The ion beams required for NEXT will be delivered by the AGOR cyclotron at the Particle Therapy Research Center – PARTREC. We gratefully acknowledge support through the technical staff and workshops at PARTREC, UMCG.