Studies of neutron-rich nuclei using the CPT mass spectrometer at CARIBU

The nucleosynthetic path of the astrophysical r-process and the resulting elemental abundances depend on neutron-separation energies which can be determined from the masses of the nuclei along the r-process reaction path. Due to the current lack of experimental data, mass models are often used. The mass values provided by the mass models are often too imprecise or disagree with each other. Therefore, direct high-precision mass measurements of neutron-rich nuclei are necessary to provide input parameters to the calculations and help refine the mass models. The Californium Rare Isotope Breeder Upgrade (CARIBU) facility of Argonne National Laboratory will provide experiments with beams of short-lived neutron-rich nuclei. The Canadian Penning Trap (CPT) mass spectrometer has been relocated to the CARIBU low-energy beam line to extend measurements of the neutron-rich nuclei into the mostly unexplored region along the r-process path. This will allow precise mass measurements (∼ 10 keV/c2) of more than a hundred very neutron-rich isotopes that have not previously been measured.