Date: Sat, 4 Mar 2006 14:56:46 +0100 (CET)
From: Georges Audi <audi@csnsm.in2p3.fr>
To: Recipients of AMDC bulletin: ;
Subject: AMDC - News from the Atomic Mass Data Center

    This bulletin of the AMDC reports on two papers of interest more
    specially for PhD students and PostDocs.

    A REVIEW ARTICLE   by Klaus Blaum,

    High-accuracy mass spectrometry with stored ions
    Phys. Rep. 425, 1-78 (2006)
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.physrep.2005.10.011

    High-accuracy mass measurements have a wide range of applications,
    including tests of quantum electrodynamics, the determination of
    fundamental constants, and tests of the Standard Model.

    The introduction of Penning traps and storage rings into the field
    of mass spectrometry has made this method a prime choice for
    studies of both short-lived and stable nuclides.
    This is reflected in the large number of traps in operation, under
    construction, or planned world-wide. With the development and
    application of proper cooling and detection methods the trapping
    technique has the potential to provide the highest sensitivity and
    accuracy, even for very short-lived nuclides far from stability.

    This review describes the basics and recent progress made in ion
    trapping, cooling, and detection for mass measurements with emphasis
    on Penning traps. Special attention is devoted to the applications
    of accurate mass values in different fields of physics.

    AN ARTICLE ON HISTORY     by Georges Audi

    The History of Nuclidic Masses and of their Evaluation
    http://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0602050

    The history of nuclear masses is almost as old as that of
    nuclear physics itself. It started with the development of
    mass spectrography in the late 1910's.

    In this article, the important steps in the history of mass
    spectrometry are given, with special focus on nuclear masses
    and the discoveries in physics that thrived on them.
    A short history of the mass unit is then given. It has not
    always been defined as one twelfth of the carbon-12 mass.
    The history of the evaluation of the nuclear masses is only
    slightly younger than that of the mass measurements themselves.
    In their modern form, mass evaluations can be traced back to 1955.
    Prior to 1955, several tables were established, the oldest one
    in 1935.