Table Of ContentAtomic Masses and Fundamental
Constants 4
The four previously published conferences on Atomic
Masses are:
Nuclear Masses and Their Determinations, H. lIuiten-
berger (ed.), Pergamon Press, London (1957).
Proceedings of the International Conference on Nuclidic
Masses, H. E. Duckworth (ed.), University of Toronto
Press, Toronto (1960).
Nuclidic Masses, Proceedings of the Second International
Conference on Nuclidic Masses, W. H, Johnson, Jr.
(ed.), Springer-Verlag, Wien-New York (1964).
Proceedings of the Third International Conference on
Atomic Masses, R. C. Barber (ed.), University of
Manitoba Press, Winnipeg (1968).
Atomic Masses and
Fundamental Constants
4
Proceedings of the Fourth International
Conference on Atomic Masses and Fundamental
Constants held at Teddington England
September 19]1
Edited by
J. H. Sanders
University of Oxford
Department of Physics
Clarendon Laboratory
Oxford
and
A. H. Wapstra
Instituut voor Kernphysisch Onderzoek
Ooster Ringdijk 18
Amsterdam 1006
9? PLENUM PRESS, London -New York ·1972
Plenum Publishing Company Ltd
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U.S. Edition published by
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Copyright © 1972 by Plenum Publishing Company Ltd
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1s t edition 1972
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DOI 10.1007/978-1-4684-7876-1
LCC 72-80246
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Preface
The Conference on Nuclear Masses and their Determination which was held at
the Max Planck In stitute in Mainz from 10 to 12 July 1956 resulted in the
formation by the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics of a Commission
on Atomic Masses and Related Constants. Under the auspices of this Commission
conferences covering these subjects were held in Hamilton, Ontario (12-16
September, 1960), in Vienna (15-19 July 1963) and in Winnipeg (28 August-1
September 1967).
After the last of these conferences the Commission felt that the position
regarding nuclear masses was reasonably good and that as a consequence the
fundamental constants should get more emphasis in future conferences. For this
reason they were very pleased to accept an offer from the National Physical
Laboratory to accept the main burden of organizing the Fourth International
Conference on Atomic Masses and Fundamental Constants. An Organizing
Committee was appointed with the members:
J. H. Sanders, Chairman
B. W. Petley, Secretary
A. Horsfield, Treasurer
P. Dean
A. H. Wapstra.
They were assisted by a Program Committee consisting of:
A. H. Wapstra, Chairman
E. R. Cohen
A. Horsfield
W. H. Johnson, Jr.
J. H. Sanders
J. Terrien.
The Committees were greatly assisted at the National Physical Laboratory by Dr
B. P. Kibble, the secretaries Miss P. Fowler and Mrs R. C. Gordon-Smith, and by
Messrs. G. J. Hunt, D. J. McCauley and K. Morris who assisted in many ways, not
the least being the arrangement of the ladies' program. Thanks to their efforts the
Committees look back on a successful and smoothly organized Conference.
The extent to which the Commission has carried out its intention regarding the
emphasis of the Conference can be judged from the fact that the number of papers
on fundamental constants rose to about thirty, compared with about ten in each of
the two preceding conferences and very few in the first. The number of
contributions on atomic masses stayed at about thirty and the program was full,
but not uncomfortably so.
v
vi Preface
The Organizing Committee was fully aware of present difficulties in providing
travel funds for the Conference participants, and they are all the more grateful to
the following generous sponsors:
Bureau International des Poids et Mesures
British Petroleum
CODATA
The European Physical Society
EURATOM
The International Atomic Energy Agency
Imperial Chemical Industries Limited
The International Union of Pure & Applied Chemistry
The International Union of Pure & Applied Physics
The National Bureau of Standards
The National Physical Laboratory
N. V. Philips' Gloeilampenfabrieken
Physikalish· Technische Bundesanstalt
The Royal Society
Shell International Petroleum Co. Ltd.
A summary of the conference is given in the last paper; two points can, however,
be emphasised here. The first is that in the field of atomic mass determinations the
precision of mass spectroscopic and nuclear reaction measurements has now
reached the point where, corrections for atomic electron binding energies are
necessary both for very light and for very heavy nuclides. As far as fundamental
constants are concerned recent determinations involving quantum electrodynamics
have proved to be very consistent and show that the theory on which they are
based is valid to a high precision.
The Editors of these Proceedings have kept in mind the value of rapid
publication, and in securing this they would like to thank the authors for their
cooperation, and the Plenum Publishing Company for their invaluable collaboration
and for maintaining a high standard of production.
A. H. WAPSTRA
J. H. SANDERS
Welcome to the 4th International
Conference on Atomic Masses and
Fundamental Constants
John V. Dunworth, C.B., C.B.E.
Director, National Physical Laboratory,
Teddington, England
I have never forgotten the moment when the late Dr. Bhabba who, in 1957 in his
opening address to the first International Conference on Nuclear Power held at
Geneva commented that most people who stood up had nothing to say. In
consequence, he observed, there was no obvious criterion by which they could
decide when to stop speaking. However, this morning I have a clear task to perform,
which I do with much pleasure. Firstly I welcome those of you who have come
from overseas to the United Kingdom. Secondly I welcome all of you to the
National Physical Laboratory.
The NPL is the designated authority in Great Britain for measurement science,
and we serve government, industry, the universities, and in fact all concerned with
science, ,engineering and education. Although our duty here is primarily to serve
those who live and work in the United Kingdom, we are almost unique in that
many of our activities in measurement science are subject to international
discussion, and ultimately to agreement on an international basis insofar as their
technical content is concerned. The International Standards Organisation, the
Bureau of Weights and Measures at 5evres, the International Scientific Unions and
Codata are amongst those organisations who are concerned in such discussions.
Despite overlap in that individual decision may affect two or more of these bodies,
there is rarely any real difficulty in reaching good agreement. The system works
well, and it is by no means certain that an administratively tidier arrangement
would be more effective.
The National Physical Laboratory was established on its present site in 1900,
though certain component parts had existed elsewhere in the United Kingdom prior
to this date. The maturity of the site is a source of pleasure to the staff and to our
many visitors. There are, unfortunately, very few laboratories which have been
established for a sufficiently long time and with sufficient imagination in their site
planning for one to be able to make an equivalent comment. The site has the
attractiveness of an older town, where there is a somewhat random mixture of old
and new buildings, and where the road system has developed from a mixture of
pragmatism and planning. One particular feature of the Teddington site is the very
vii
viii Welcome
beautiful garden adjoining Bushy House. I invite you all to take a stroll round it
during the breaks in your sessions. I am sure you will find it relaxing and a pleasant
place in which to hold some of those informal discussions which are such an
important part of any conference.
Finally I have been asked by Professor N. Kurti, the Chairman of the British
National Committee of the Royal Society for Physics of which I am a member, to
extend a welcome to you all on behalf of the Committee, and this I do with much
pleasure. It only remains for me to wish you all a very successful conference.
(In reply to this opening address, Professor Dr. A. H. Wapstra, president of the
Commission on Atomic Masses and Related Constants of the International Union of
Pure and Applied Physics, thanked Dr. Dunworth for his kind words and expressed
the pleasure of all participants to find themselves at the National Physical
Laboratory in Teddington).
List of Participants
ALLlSY, A. GIACOMO, P. PARKINSON, W. C.
AMBLER, E. GOVE, N. B. RICH,A.
BAIRD, J. C. GRENNBERG, B. ROESLER, F. L.
BARBER, R. C. HARA, K. RYDER, J. S.
BARGER, R. L. HART, M. RYTZ, A.
BAY,Z. HELMER, R. G. SAKUMA,A.
BERGKVIST, K. E. HILF, E. R. H. SANDERS, J. H.
BONSE, U. JAFFE, A. A. SAUDER, W. C.
BOS, K. JANECKE, J. SCHUL T, O. W. B.
BOWER, V. E. JENNINGS, J. C. E. SCOTT, D. K.
BOYNE, H. S. JOHNSON JR, W. H. SEEGER, P. A.
BREITEN BERGER, E. KAYSER, D. C. SEN,S. K.
BROWNE, C. P. KESSLER JR, E. G. SERIES, G. W.
BUECHNER, W. W. KLAPISCH, R. SMITH, L. G.
CERNY, J. KNOWLES, J. W. SMITH, S. J.
COHEN, E. R. KOSE, V. E. SQUIER, G. T. A.
CONNOR, R. D. KPONOU, A. STAUB, H. H.
CSILLAG, L. LANGENBERG,D.N. STILLE, U.
CZOK, U. LEA, K. R. TAYLOR, B. N.
DESLATTES, R. D. LOWRY, R. A. TELEGDI, V. L.
DRATH, P. MACFARLANE, J. C. TERRIEN, J.
DUCKWORTH, H. E. MASUI, T. THOMAS, B. W.
ELiEZER, I. McDONALD, D. G. TINKER, M. H.
EVENSON, K. M. MILNE, A. D. VAN ASSCHE, P.
EWALD, H. MONTAGUE, J. H. VAN DER LEUN, C.
FARLEY,F. J. M. MULLER, J. W. VON GROOTE, H.
FINNEGAN, T. F. MYERS, WM. WAPSTRA, A. H.
FRANK, L. E. NIELSEN, O. B. WAY,K.
FREEMAN, J. M. OGATA, K. WILLIAMS, P.
GERSTENKORN, S. OLSEN, P. T. ZELDES, N.
ix
Contents
Preface . v
Welcome by J. V. Dunworth vii
List of Participar.ts . ix
Part 1 Particle Energies
New Alphd Energy Standards
A. Rytz, B. Grennberg and D. J. Gorman
Influence of Atomic Effects on Nuclear Reaction Energies
Hans H. Staub . 10
Gamma Ray Energy vs. Particle Energy Measurements
C. P. Browne . . . . . 15
Masses of Light Nuclei Far from Stability
Joseph Cerny .
26
Energy Determinations in Medium and Heavy Nuclei
W C. Parkinson . 38
Mass Measurements of Neutron Excessive Nuclei by the (ll B, 8B) Reaction
D. K. Scott, C. U. Cardinal, P. S. Fisher, P. Hudson and N. Anyas-Weiss. 54
Influence of Straggling Effects on the Accurate Measurement of Nuclear
Reaction Energies
Jorg W. Muller. 64
Part 2 Beta and Gamma Energies
Improvements in the Determination of /3·Spectra End-Point Energies
Karl-Erik Bergkvist . . . . . 77
Decay Energies of Far Unstable Nuclei
The ISOLDE Collaboration, L. Westgaard, J. Zylicz and O. B. Nielson 94
Accurate Fermi Beta Decay Measurements and the Magnitude of the Weak
Interaction Vector Coupling Constant
J. M. Freeman, G. J. Clark, J. S. Ryder, W. E. Burcham, G. T. A.
Squier and J. E. Draper. . . . 105
