2025/10/13 by Ireland, Christian M., Bollen, Georg, Campbell, Scott E. +23
#FOS: Physical sciences #Nuclear Experiment (nucl-ex) #Nuclear Theory (nucl-th)
paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2510.11815
The favorable energy configurations of nuclei at magic numbers of N neutrons and Z protons are fundamental for understanding the evolution of nuclear structure. The Z=50 (tin) isotopic chain is a frontier for such studies, with particular interest in nuclear binding at and around the doubly-magic \textsuperscript100Sn isotope. Precise mass measurements of neutron-deficient isotopes provide necessary anchor points for mass models to test extrapolations near the proton drip line, where experimental studies currently remain out of reach. In this work, we report the first Penning trap mass measurement of \textsuperscript101Sn. The determined mass excess of -59 889.89(96)~keV for \textsuperscript101Sn represents a factor of 300 improvement over the current precision and indicates that \textsuperscript101Sn is less bound than previously thought. Mass predictions from a recently developed Bayesian model combination (BMC) framework employing statistical machine learning and nuclear masses computed within seven global models based on nuclear Density Functional Theory (DFT) agree within 1σ with experimental masses from the 48 ≤ Z ≤ 52 isotopic chains. This provides confidence in the extrapolation of tin masses down to N=46.