The GADGET Program at FRIB

ORAL  · Invited

Abstract

The GADGET detection system provides a versatile and powerful setup for decay studies at FRIB. It features two complementary configurations: GADGET I, which utilizes a gaseous proton detector that measures the energy of charged decay products while suppressing β-background, and GADGET II, which incorporates a time projection chamber that reconstructs three-dimensional particle tracks, providing particle identification, and enabling multi-particle detection. Both operate with a germanium array, including the DEGAi HPGe, for gamma singles and particle–gamma coincidence measurements.

This talk will present an overview of the GADGET program as it relates to the FRIB Decay Station initiator (FDSi), including novel analysis methods, recent results, and future plans. We will discuss the ongoing analysis of a GADGET II measurement employing machine learning and AI for rare-event searches and event classification. We will also preview two GADGET II experiments scheduled to run in November 2025 that address key Type I X-ray burst reaction rate uncertainties, as well as three additional PAC3-approved experiments: a GADGET II measurement of beta-delayed fission and two GADGET I studies of reactions relevant to supernovae and classical novae.

*This work was supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation under Grants No. PHY-1102511, PHY-1565546, PHY-1913554, PHY-1811855, PHY-2209429, PHY-2310059, PHY-1848177 (CAREER) (Mississippi State), and CCF-2212065, the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) of the Republic of Korea under Grant No. IBS-R031-D1, the International Technology Centre Pacific (ITC-PAC) under Contract No. FA520919PA138, the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, under awards No. DE-SC0016052, DE-SC0023529, DE-SC0024587, DESC0023633 , and DE-FG02-96ER40983, and Office of Nuclear Physics under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725 (ORNL), the National Nuclear Security Administration under contract No. DE-NA0003899, and the Independent Research Fund Denmark under projects No. 9040- 00076B and 2032-00066B. This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Nuclear Physics and used resources of the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) Operations, which is a DOE Office of Science User Facility under Award No. DE-SC0023633. We also thank Russ Werner and the DECS team for their computing support.

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Publication: Tyler Wheeler, S. Ravishankar, C. Wrede, A. Andalib, A. Anthony, Y. Ayyad, B. Jain, A. Jaros, R. Mahajan, L. Schaedig, A. Adams, S. Ahn, J.M. Allmond, D. Bardayan, D. Bazin, K. Bosmpotinis, T. Budner, S.R. Carmichael, S.M. Cha, A. Chen, K.A. Chipps, J.M. Christie, I. Cox, J. Dopfer, M. Friedman, J. Garcia-Duarte, E. Good, T.J. Gray, A. Green, R. Grzywacz, K. Hahn, R. Jain, E. Jensen, T. King, S. Liddick, B. Longfellow, R. Lubna, C. Marshall, Y. Mishnayot, A.J. Mitchell, F. Montes, T.H. Ogunbeku, J. Owens-Fryar, S.D. Pain, J. Pereira, E. Pollacco, A.M. Rogers, M.Z. Serikow, K. Setoodehnia, L.J. Sun, J. Surbrook, A. Tsantiri, L.E. Weghorn, Object Detection with Deep Learning for Rare Event Search in the GADGET II TPC, Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A 1080, 170659 (2025)

Ruchi Mahajan, T. Wheeler, E. Pollacco, C. Wrede, A. Adams, H. Alvarez-Pol, A. Andalib, A. Anthony, Y. Ayyad, D. Bazin, T. Budner, M. Cortesi, J. Dopfer, M. Friedman, B. Jain, A. Jaros, D. Pérez-Loureiro, B. Mehl, R. De Oliveira, S. Ravishankar, L. J. Sun, and J. Surbrook, Time projection chamber for GADGET II, Phys. Rev. C 110, 035807 (2024)

Presenters

  • Tyler Wheeler

    • Michigan State University

Authors

  • Tyler Wheeler

    • Michigan State University