%0 Generic
%A Atanasov, Dinko
%C Heidelberg, Germany
%D 2016
%F heidok:21444
%R 10.11588/heidok.00021444
%T Precision mass measurements for studies of nucleosynthesis via the rapid neutron-capture process : penning-trap mass measurements of neutron-rich cadmium and caesium isotopes
%U https://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/21444/
%X Although the theory for the rapid neutron-capture process (r-process) was developed more than 55 years ago, the astrophysical site is still under a debate. Theoretical studies predict that the r-process path proceeds through very neutron-rich nuclei with very asymmetric proton-to-neutron ratios. Knowledge about the properties of neutron-rich isotopes found in similar regions of the nuclear chart and furthermore suitable for r-process studies is still little or even not existing. The basic nuclear properties such as binding energies, half-lives, neutron-induced or neutron-capture reaction cross-sections, play an important role in theoretical simulations and can vary or even drastically alternate results of these studies. Therefore, a considerable effort was put forward to access neutron-rich isotopes at radioactive ion-beam facilities like ISOLDE at CERN. The goal of this PhD thesis is to describe the experimental work done for the precision  mass measurements of neutron-rich cadmium (129−131 Cd) and caesium (132,146−148 Cs) isotopes.  Measurements were done at the on-line radioactive ion-beam facility ISOLDE by using the four-trap mass spectrometer ISOLTRAP. The cadmium isotopes are key nuclides for the synthesis of stable isotopes around the mass peak A = 130 in the Solar System abundance.