Project description
Cooling radioactive atoms to test the limits of fundamental physics
To discover physics beyond the standard model, researchers study how unstable, short-lived radioactive isotopes decay. One property, the decay energy, requires measuring their masses with unprecedented accuracy. Currently, top-tier Penning trap spectrometers analyse room-temperature ions but are hitting a precision ceiling. Cooling these volatile ions to below 1 Kelvin would break this barrier, slowing them down enough to improve mass measurement precision by more than tenfold. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the DopCool project will pioneer the use of Doppler and sympathetic laser cooling to create these ultracold ion beams. Researchers will test the mass of a certain aluminium isotope at this new precision frontier. If successful, DopCool will establish a new precision regime in mass spectrometry of short-lived radioactive ions.
Objective
This project aims to push the precision frontier in nuclear physics by enabling ultra-high-precision mass measurements of short-lived isotopes produced at radioactive ion beam (RIB) facilities to probe the limits of the Standard Model (SM). Such high-precision mass measurements, targeting relative uncertainties in the order of 10^(-11), are central to beyond the Standard Model (BSM) investigations including tests of Cabibbo–Kobayashi–Maskawa (CKM) matrix unitarity, King-plot nonlinearity studies for fifth force searches, and ultra-low Q-value measurements relevant to neutrino mass determination.
Current state-of-the-art Penning trap mass spectrometers installed at RIB facilities, such as JYFLTRAP at the IGISOL facility at the University of Jyväskylä, can achieve a relative mass precision slightly below 1⋅10^(-9) for room-temperature ions. Recent simulations show that the precision of Penning trap mass spectrometry can be improved by more than an order of magnitude when reducing ion temperatures to below 1 K. While Doppler and sympathetic cooling has been a standard method of reducing temperatures of ions to sub-Kelvin temperatures for decades, its potential for cooling of short-lived radioactive ions has so far not been harnessed, except for a few specific cases. This project will pioneer the use of Doppler and sympathetic cooling for radioactive ions, preparing ultracold beams for injection into the JYFLTRAP Penning trap at the University of Jyväskylä. The first science case will be a high-precision Q-value measurement of 26mAl, a key nucleus for testing the CKM matrix unitarity. A new Q-value measurement at an order of magnitude higher precision will significantly improve the global V_ud CKM matrix element. Generally, the pioneering use of ultracold radioactive ions will establish a new precision regime in mass spectrometry of short-lived radioactive ions, opening a powerful new avenue for low-energy nuclear physics tests of the Standard Model.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2025-PF
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
40100 Jyvaskyla
Finland
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.