• E. Haettner
  • D. Ackermann
  • G. Audi
  • K. Blaum
  • M. Block
  • T. Fleckenstein
  • F. Herfurth
  • F. P. Heßberger
  • S. Hofmann
  • J. Ketelaer
  • J. Ketter
  • H. J. Kluge
  • G. Marx
  • M. Mazzocco
  • W. R. Plaß
  • S. Rahaman
  • T. Rauscher
  • D. Rodríguez
  • H. Schatz
  • C. Scheidenberger
  • L. Schweikhard
  • P. G. Thirolf
  • G. Vorobjev
  • C. Weber

The masses of ten proton-rich nuclides, including the N=Z+1 nuclides Mo85 and Tc87, were measured with the Penning trap mass spectrometer SHIPTRAP. Compared to the Atomic Mass Evaluation 2003 a systematic shift of the mass surface by up to 1.6 MeV is observed causing significant abundance changes of the ashes of astrophysical x-ray bursts. Surprisingly low α separation energies for neutron-deficient Mo and Tc are found, making the formation of a ZrNb cycle in the rp process possible. Such a cycle would impose an upper temperature limit for the synthesis of elements beyond Nb in the rp process.

Original languageEnglish
Article number122501
JournalPhysical Review Letters
Volume106
Issue number12
DOIs
StatePublished - 21 Mar 2011

    Scopus subject areas

  • Physics and Astronomy(all)

ID: 46101847