A measurement of hafnium foil using a modified ultra-low-background high purity detector with optimized sample-to-detector geometry was performed at Laboratori Nazionale del Gran Sasso. Radiopurity of the stock Hf foil was studied in detail, in addition to an analysis of data collected over 310 days to search for rare processes that can occur in natural Hf isotopes. Firstly, limits on alpha decays of all natural Hf isotopes to the first excited state of the daughter nuclides were established in the range of $10^{16}$-$10^{18}$a (90% C.L.). Secondly, a search for modes of double electron capture and electron capture with positron emission in $^{174}$Hf was performed, yielding half-life limits $10^{16}$-$10^{18}$a (90% C.L.). Lastly, novel dark matter-induced nuclear excitations in hafnium isotopes were investigated. For dark matter with 1 TeV/$c^2$ mass, leading limits on the inelastic dark matter--nucleon cross section are set for mass splittings in the range 428 keV $< δ<$ 473 keV.
Activation cross sections of $α$-particle induced nuclear reactions on hafnium and deuteron induced nuclear reaction on tantalum: production of $^{178}$W/$^{178m}$Ta generator
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory（劳伦斯伯克利国家实验室）；Florida State University（佛罗里达州立大学）；Argonne National Laboratory（阿贡国家实验室）；North Carolina State University（北卡罗来纳州立大学）；Michigan State University（密歇根州立大学）；Facility for Rare Isotope Beams（稀有同位素束流装置）
Texas Active Target (TexAT) detector for experiments with rare isotope beams
TexAT（Texas Active Target）探测器是一种新型的有源靶时间投影室（TPC），由德克萨斯A $\&$ M大学回旋加速器研究所建造。该探测器是为原子核结构和稀有同位素束的核天体物理实验而设计的。TexAT将高度分段的时间投影室（TPC）与两层固态探测器相结合。它提供了高效率和灵活性的实验与低强度的外来光束，允许三维轨道重建的进出粒子参与核反应和衰变。
Quantifying uncertainty in physics-based predictions of rare-isotope production cross sections via Bayesian-inspired model averaging across nuclear mass tables
Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, Michigan State University（稀有同位素束流设施，密歇根州立大学）
In this review article we discuss the present status of direct nuclear reactions and the nuclear structure aspects one can study with them. We discuss the spectroscopic information we can assess in experiments involving transfer reactions, heavy-ion-induced knockout reactions and quasifree scattering with (p,2p), (p,pn), and (e,e'p) reactions. In particular, we focus on the proton-to-neutron asymmetry of the quenching of the spectroscopic strength.
Probing the electroweak structure of nuclei with rare atoms and molecules
Johns Hopkins University（约翰斯·霍普金斯大学）；Princeton University（普林斯顿大学）；Massachusetts Institute of Technology（麻省理工学院）；TRIUMF（特利昂夫）；McGill University（麦吉尔大学）；Weizmann Institute of Science（魏茨曼科学研究所）
Neutrinoless double beta-decay(DBD) is of current interest in high-sensitivity frontiers of particle physics. The decay is very sensitive to Majorana neutrinos masses, neutrino CP phases, right-handed weak interactions and others, which are beyond the standard electro-weal model. DBDs are actually ultra-rare events, and thus DBD experiments with ultra-high sensitivity are required. Critical discussions are presented on nuclear and detector sensitivities for high-sensitivity DBD experiments to study the neutrino masses in the normal and inverted hierarchies.
The Confined beta-Soft rotor model in rare-earth nuclei
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens（雅典国立卡波季斯特里安大学）；Institute of Nuclear and Particle Physics, National Centre for Scientific Research ``Demokritos''（德莫克里斯国家科学研究中心核与粒子物理研究所）
Producing and Studying Rare Isotopes in $e+A$ Collisions at the Electron-Ion Collider
Texas Southern University（德克萨斯南方大学）；Michigan State University（密歇根州立大学）；Stony Brook University（石溪大学）；Brookhaven National Laboratory（布鲁克海文国家实验室）；Mississippi State University（密西西比州立大学）；University of South Carolina（南卡罗来纳大学）；Morgan State University（摩根州立大学）
Precision mass measurements on neutron-rich rare-earth isotopes at JYFLTRAP - reduced neutron pairing and implications for the $r$-process calculations
Germanium is the detector material of choice in many rare-event searches looking for low-energy nuclear recoils induced by dark matter particles or neutrinos. We perform a systematic exploration of its quenching factor for sub-keV nuclear recoils, using multiple techniques: photo-neutron sources, recoils from gamma-emission following thermal neutron capture, and a monochromatic filtered neutron beam. Our results point to a marked deviation from the predictions of the Lindhard model in this mostly unexplored energy range. We comment on the compatibility of our data with low-energy processes suc…
The QCD axion remains experimentally viable in the mass range of O(10 MeV) if (i) it couples predominantly to the first generation of SM fermions; (ii) it decays to $e^+ e^-$ with a short lifetime $τ_a\lesssim 10^{-13}\,$s; and (iii) it has suppressed isovector couplings, i.e., if it is piophobic. Remarkably, these are precisely the properties required to explain recently observed anomalies in nuclear de-excitations, to wit: the $e^+e^-$ emission spectra of isoscalar magnetic transitions of $^{8\!}$Be and $^{4\!}$He nuclei showed a "bump-like" feature peaked at $m_{e^+e^-}\sim 17$ MeV. In this…
