R. Silwal

Mass measurements continue to provide invaluable information for elucidating nuclear structure and scenarios of astrophysical interest. The transition region between the $Z = 20$ and $28$ proton shell closures is particularly interesting due to the onset and evolution of nuclear deformation as nuclei become more neutron rich. This provides a critical testing ground for emerging ab-initio nuclear structure models. Here, we present high-precision mass measurements of neutron-rich chromium isotopes using the sensitive electrostatic Multiple-Reflection Time-Of-Flight Mass Spectrometer (MR-TOF-MS) at TRIUMF's Ion Trap for Atomic and Nuclear Science (TITAN) facility. Our high-precision mass measurements of $^{59, 61-63}$Cr confirm previous results, and the improved precision in measurements of $^{64-65}$Cr refine the mass surface beyond N=40. With the ab initio in-medium similarity renormalization group, we examine the trends in collectivity in chromium isotopes and give a complete picture of the N=40 island of inversion from calcium to nickel.

We present spectroscopic measurements and detailed theoretical analysis of inner-shell LMn and LNn (n $\geq$ 4) dielectronic resonances in highly-charged M-shell ions of tungsten. The x-ray emission from W$^{49+}$ through W$^{64+}$ was recorded at the electron beam ion trap (EBIT) facility at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) with a high-purity Ge detector for electron beam energies between 6.8 keV and 10.8 keV. The measured spectra clearly show the presence of strong resonance features as well as direct excitation spectral lines. The analysis of the recorded spectra with large-scale collisional-radiative (CR) modeling of the EBIT plasma allowed us to unambiguously identify numerous dielectronic resonances associated with excitations of the inner-shell 2s$_{1/2}$, 2p$_{1/2}$, and 2p$_{3/2}$ electrons.

The variation in mean-square nuclear charge radius of xenon isotopes was measured utilizing a new method based on extreme ultraviolet spectroscopy of highly charged Na-like ions. The isotope shift of the Na-like D1 (3s $^{2}$S$_{1/2}$ - 3p $^2$P$_{1/2}$) transition between the $^{124}$Xe and $^{136}$Xe isotopes was experimentally determined using the electron beam ion trap facility at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. The mass shift and the field shift coefficients were calculated with enhanced precision by relativistic many-body perturbation theory and multi-configuration Dirac-Hartree-Fock method. The mean-square nuclear charge radius difference was found to be $δ<r^2>^{136, 124}$ = 0.269(0.042) fm$^2$. Our result has smaller uncertainty than previous experimental results and agrees with the recommended value by Angeli and Marinova [I. Angeli and K. P. Marinova, At. Data and Nucl. Data Tables {\bf 99}, 69-95 (2013)].