High precision measurements of the differential cross sections for π0 photoproduction at forward angles for two nuclei, 12C and 208Pb, have been performed for incident photon energies of 4.9-5.5 GeV to extract the π0→γγ decay width. The experiment was done at Jefferson Lab using the Hall B photon tagger and a high-resolution multichannel calorimeter. The π0→γγ decay width was extracted by fitting the measured cross sections using recently updated theoretical models for the process. The resulting value for the decay width is Γ(π0→γγ)=7.82±0.14(stat)±0.17(syst)  eV. With the 2.8% total uncertainty, this result is a factor of 2.5 more precise than the current Particle Data Group average of this fundamental quantity, and it is consistent with current theoretical predictions.

Proton radii of 12−19 C densities derived from first accurate charge changing cross section measurements at 900A MeV with a carbon target are reported. A thick neutron surface evolves from ∼ 0.5 fm in 15 C to ∼ 1 fm in 19 C. The halo radius in 19 C is found to be 6.4±0.7 fm as large as 11 Li. Ab initio calculations based on chiral nucleon-nucleon and three-nucleon forces reproduce well the radii.

The β-delayed neutron emission probabilities of neutron rich Hg and Tl nuclei have been measured together with β-decay half-lives for 20 isotopes of Au, Hg, Tl, Pb, and Bi in the mass region N≳126. These are the heaviest species where neutron emission has been observed so far. These measurements provide key information to evaluate the performance of nuclear microscopic and phenomenological models in reproducing the high-energy part of the β-decay strength distribution. This provides important constraints on global theoretical models currently used in r-process nucleosynthesis.

Abstract:Using the high-resolution performance of the fragment separator FRS at GSI we have discovered 60 new neutron-rich isotopes in the atomic number range of 60⩽Z⩽78. The new isotopes were unambiguously identified in reactions with a ²³⁸U beam impinging on a Be target at 1 GeV/nucleon. The production cross-section for the new isotopes have been measured down to the pico-barn level and compared with predictions of different model calculations. For elements above hafnium fragmentation is the dominant reaction mechanism which creates the new isotopes, whereas fission plays a dominant role for the production of the new isotopes up to thulium