Mass measurements on stable nuclides in the rare-earth region with the Penning-trap mass spectrometer TRIGA-TRAP

The masses of 15 stable nuclides in the rare-earth region have been measured with the Penning-trap mass spectrometer TRIGA-TRAP. This is the first series of absolute mass measurements linking these nuclides to the atomic-mass standard ¹²C. Previously, nuclear reaction studies almost exclusively determined the literature values of these masses in the Atomic-Mass Evaluation. The TRIGA-TRAP results show deviations on the order of 3–4 standard deviations from the latest published values of the Atomic-Mass Evaluation 2003 for some cases. However, the binding-energy differences that are important for nuclear structure studies have been confirmed and improved. The new masses are discussed in the context of valence proton-neutron interactions using double differences of binding energies, δV_pn(Z,N)