Present and future experiments with stored exotic nuclei at relativistic energies

Abstract:Pioneering experiments with stored and cooled exotic nuclei at relativistic energies have been performed using the combination of the fragment separator FRS with the storage-cooler ring ESR. Exotic nuclei created in peripheral collisions are spatially separated in-flight and injected into the storage ring for high-precision mass and unique lifetime measurements. Lifetimes of stored bare and few-electron nuclei have been measured to study the influence of the electron density on the β decay. This condition, relevant for stellar plasma, can now be systematically investigated in the laboratory for the first time. Characteristic experiments of the present FRS-ESR system are presented and perspectives for a next-generation facility are briefly outlined.