A scientific team led by Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, or FRIB, researchers identified the origin of a mysterious excess of low-energy gamma rays emitted by the nucleus zinc-70. They found that the excess is caused by magnetic transitions within the nucleus. The study, “Magnetic Character of the Low-Energy Enhancement in 70Zn,” published in Nature, sheds light on a long-standing puzzle in nuclear physics and has far-reaching implications for astrophysics.
The collaboration included scientists from 25 institutions in the United States, Canada, Italy, Germany, Norway and South Korea.
The study highlights the benefit of multiple research institutions and groups, including students and postdoctoral scholars, working together. Ronning and Richard, who co-authored the proposal for the experiment as part of FRIB’s second call for proposals by its Program Advisory Committee, were early-career researchers at the time. Ronning was a graduate student at FRIB, and Richard was a postdoctoral scholar at LLNL.