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Research Highlight

110Ru Consistent with Triaxial (Ellipsoidal) Deformation

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The CHICO2 detector inside the GRETINA gamma ray detector system at the ANL ATLAS facility

While most subatomic nuclei have shapes that are spherical or slightly deformed, it is known that some excited states of certain nuclei can have unusual ellipsoidal (or triaxial) shapes. Researchers have been searching for such odd shaped nuclei that exist in their ground state (lowest energy state), to no avail. Finding such nuclei can yield important information about how subatomic nuclei are held together. Theorists postulated that 110Ru, an unstable nucleus with a 12 second half-life, could be a candidate for a triaxial ground state. In an experiment at Argonne National Lab, a beam of these unstable nuclei was used in a multi-step Coulomb excitation measurement with the GRETINA and CHICO2 detector arrays, and evidence for triaxiality was found. This experiment was the first successful measurement utilizing the post-acceleration of an unstable isotope of a refractory element.