Fusion of radioactive Sn-132 with Ni-64 at sub-barrier energies
Sub-barrier fusion of 132 Sn and 64 Ni was measured at E beam = 465 MeV with an improved apparatus. The result of this new measurement is well reproduced by a coupled-channel calculation and a density-constrained time-dependent Hartree-Fock calculation. The previously measured cross section at E beam = 453 MeV was reanalyzed. Only an upper limit of the cross section was obtained.

title: Spectroscopy of element 115 decay chains.
abstract: A high-resolution α, x-ray, and γ-ray coincidence spectroscopy experiment was conducted at the GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung. Thirty correlated α-decay chains were detected following the fusion-evaporation reaction 48Ca + 243Am. The observations are consistent with previous assignments of similar decay chains to originate from element Z=115. For the first time, precise spectroscopy allows the derivation of excitation schemes of isotopes along the decay chains starting with elements Z>112. Comprehensive Monte Carlo simulations accompany the data analysis. Nuclear structure models provide a first level interpretation.

title: First Observation of the Drip Line Nucleus 140Dy: Identification of a 7 Mu s K-isomer Populating the Ground State Band
abstract: A new $7 \ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{s}$ isomer in the drip line nucleus ${}^{140}\mathrm{Dy}$ was selected from the products of the ${}^{54}\mathrm{Fe}$ $(315 \mathrm{MeV}{)+}^{92}\mathrm{Mo}$ reaction by a recoil mass spectrometer and studied with recoil-delayed $\ensuremath{\gamma}\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\gamma}$ coincidences. Five cascading $\ensuremath{\gamma}$ transitions were interpreted as the decay of an ${I}^{\ensuremath{\pi}}{=8}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ ${\ensuremath{\nu}{9/2}^{\ensuremath{-}}[514]\ensuremath{\bigotimes}\ensuremath{\nu}{7/2}^{+}[404]}$ K isomer $({T}_{1/2}=7.0(5) \ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{s})$ via the ground-state band. The probability of proton emission from ${}^{141}\mathrm{Ho}$ to the ${0}^{+}$ ground state and to the ${2}^{+}$ excited state in ${}^{140}\mathrm{Dy}$ is discussed.

title: β -decay study of neutron-rich bromine and krypton isotopes
abstract: Short lived neutron rich nuclei including 93 Br, 93 Kr and 94 Kr were produced in proton induced fission of 238 U at the HRIBF in Oak Ridge. Their beta decay was studied by means of a high resolution on line mass separator and beta gamma spectroscopy methods. The half life of 93Br T1/2 = 152(8) ms and delayed branching ratio of Pn = 53-8+11 may be compared to the previously reported values of T1/2 = 102(10) ms and Pn = 68(7)%. At the same time the half life of 94Kr T1/2 = 227(14) ms and B delayed branching ratio of Pn = 1.9+0.6 0.2 % of 93Kr are in very good agreement with literature values. The decay properties of 93Br include four new gamma transitions following beta delayed neutron emission.

title: Search for inverse fission of uranium
abstract: There is a long-term interest in running the fission reaction backward, i.e., studying the 'inverse fission' of uranium. The recent availability of beams of n-rich fission fragments has stimulated interest in this endeavor. The purpose is to search for inverse fission in the reactions {sup 124,132}Sn + {sup 100}Mo. In the {sup 124}Sn + {sup 100}Mo reaction, evaporation residues were searched for using in-beam detection of evaporation residues, in-beam {alpha} spectroscopy, and post-irradiation {alpha} spectroscopy, while in the {sup 132}Sn + {sup 100}Mo reaction, the evaporation residue {sup 230}U was searched for using post-irradiation {alpha} spectroscopy. No evidence for the occurrence of the inverse fission reactions was found. The upper-limit cross section for the latter reaction is  nb. The intensity of suitable radioactive beams is not high enough at present to detect inverse fission. For the {sup 124}Sn + {sup 100}Mo reaction, the observed upper limits are below the estimates of current models for these reactions, probably due to fusion hindrance.

title: Neutron Single Particle Strengths from the (d,p) Reaction on 18F
abstract: The 19F nucleus has been studied extensively. However, there have been no comprehensive experimental studies of 18F+n single-particle components in 19F, and no measure of neutron vacancies in the 18F ground state, as such experiments require a (radioactive) 18F target or beam. We have used the 2H(18F,p)19F reaction to selectively populate states in 19F that are of 18F+n character. The 108.5-MeV radioactive 18F+9 beam was provided by the Holifield Radioactive Ion Beam Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Proton-recoil coincidence data were taken for both -decaying and particle-stable final states. Angular distributions and spectroscopic factors were measured for nine proton groups, corresponding to 13 states in 19F. The results are compared to shell model calculations.

title: Hybrid anomaly-gravity mediation with flavor
abstract: We study models with contributions of similar size to the soft masses from anomaly-and gravity mediation, thereby curing the tachyonic slepton problem of anomaly mediation. A possible origin of this hybrid setup in a 5-dimensional brane world is briefly discussed. The absence of excessive flavor violation is explained by alignment. The gravitino can be heavy enough so that the gravitino problem of supersymmetric theories with leptogenesis is avoided. The model has a characteristic signature: It predicts the distinctive gaugino mass pattern of anomaly mediation and, at the same time, (1) slepton mass splittings.

title: Constraints on modular inflation in supergravity and string theory
abstract: We perform a general algebraic analysis on the possibility of realising slow-roll inflation in the moduli sector of string models. This problem turns out to be very closely related to the characterisation of models admitting metastable vacua with non-negative cosmological constant. In fact, we show that the condition for the existence of viable inflationary trajectories is a deformation of the condition for the existence of metastable de Sitter vacua. This condition depends on the ratio between the scale of inflation and the gravitino mass and becomes stronger as this parameter grows. After performing a general study within arbitrary supergravity models, we analyse the implications of our results in several examples. More concretely, in the case of heterotic and orientifold string compactifications on a Calabi-Yau in the large volume limit we show that there may exist fully viable models, allowing both for inflation and stabilisation. Additionally, we show that subleading corrections breaking the no-scale property shared by these models always allow for slow-roll inflation but with an inflationary scale suppressed with respect to the gravitino scale. A scale of inflation larger than the gravitino scale can also be achieved under more restrictive circumstances and only for certain types of compactifications.

title: De Sitter vacua and inflation in no-scale string models
abstract: This thesis studies the question of how de Sitter vacua and slow-roll inflation may be realized in string-motivated models. More specifically, we consider 4d N = 1 supergravity theories (without vector multiplets) with Kahler potentials which are ‘no-scale’ at leading order. Such theories frequently arise in the moduli sector of string compactifications. We discuss a condition on the scalar geometry (defined by the Kahler potential) and on the direction of supersymmetry breaking in the scalar manifold, which has to be met in order for the average of the masses of the sGoldstinos to be positive, and hence for metastable vacua to be possible. This condition also turns out to be necessary for the existence of trajectories admitting slow-roll inflation. Its implications for certain scalar manifolds which arise from Calabi-Yau string compactifications are discussed. In particular, for two-moduli models arising from compactifications of heteroticand type IIB string theory, a simple criterion on the intersection numbers needs to be satisfied for possible de Sitter phases to exist. In addition, we show that subleading corrections breaking the no-scale property may allow the condition on the scalar geometry to be fulfilled, even when it is violated at leading order. Finally, we develop a procedure to construct superpotentials for a given viable Kahler potential, such that the scalar potential has a realistic local minimum. We propose two-moduli models, with superpotentials which could arise from flux backgrounds and non-perturbative effects, which have a viable vacuum without employing subleading corrections or an uplifting sector.

title: Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen correlations of ultracold atomic gases.
abstract: We demonstrate that collective continuous variables of two species of trapped ultracold bosonic gases can be Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen-correlated (entangled) via inherent interactions between the species. We propose two different schemes for creating these correlations--a dynamical scheme and a static scheme analogous to two-mode squeezing in quantum optics. We quantify the correlations by using known measures of entanglement and study the effect of finite temperature on these quantum correlations.

title: De Sitter vacua in no-scale supergravities and Calabi-Yau string models
abstract: We perform a general analysis on the possibility of obtaining metastable vacua with spontaneously broken N = 1 supersymmetry and non-negative cosmological constant in the moduli sector of string models. More specifically, we study the condition under which the scalar partners of the Goldstino are non-tachyonic, which depends only on the Kahler potential. This condition is not only necessary but also sufficient, in the sense that all of the other scalar fields can be given arbitrarily large positive square masses if the superpotential is suitably tuned. We consider both heterotic and orientifold string compactifications in the large-volume limit and show that the no-scale property shared by these models severely restricts the allowed values for the 'sGoldstino' masses in the superpotential parameter space. We find that a positive mass term may be achieved only for certain types of compactifications and specific Goldstino directions. Additionally, we show how subleading corrections to the Kahler potential which break the no-scale property may allow to lift these masses.