Modeling the composition of neutron-star crusts depends strongly on binding energies of neutron-rich nuclides near the N=50 and N=82 shell closures. Using a recent development of time-of-flight mass ...spectrometry for on-line purification of radioactive ion beams to access more exotic species, we have determined for the first time the mass of Zn82 with the ISOLTRAP setup at the ISOLDE-CERN facility. With a robust neutron-star model based on nuclear energy-density-functional theory, we solve the general relativistic Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff equations and calculate the neutron-star crust composition based on the new experimental mass. The composition profile is not only altered but now constrained by experimental data deeper into the crust than before.
Masses adjacent to the classical waiting-point nuclide Cd130 have been measured by using the Penning-trap spectrometer ISOLTRAP at ISOLDE/CERN. We find a significant deviation of over 400 keV from ...earlier values evaluated by using nuclear beta-decay data. The new measurements show the reduction of the N=82 shell gap below the doubly magic Sn132. The nucleosynthesis associated with the ejected wind from type-II supernovae as well as from compact object binary mergers is studied, by using state-of-the-art hydrodynamic simulations. We find a consistent and direct impact of the newly measured masses on the calculated abundances in the A=128-132 region and a reduction of the uncertainties from the precision mass input data.
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