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The goal of the NUMEN collaboration is the measurement of the cross sections of Double Charge Exchange reactions for several couple of ion projectile-target, in order to provide helpful data to study the nuclear matrix elements of the neutrino-less double β-decay. The need of big statistics and high precision in the measurements require the use of high intensity beams and very thin targets. This creates some problems to the design of the target frame and to the dissipation of the heat generated by the beam. The present paper reports a possible solution for the cooling system and the production technique of a tin target, together with the results of the preliminary tests of heat dissipation.

In the future hadron facility FAIR, the HESR ring will supply antiprotons in the momentum range 1.5-15 GeV c as projectiles to study charm, strangeness and a wide range of other Physics topics. For all these reactions it will be necessary to use internal targets and in particular, for the production of systems with double strangeness, a solid 12C target will be used. Inserting a solid target inside an antiproton ring creates two main problems: a large background on the detectors due to the overwhelming amount of annihilations and a strong depletion of the beam due to all the hadronic and Coulomb interactions of the antiprotons with the 12C nuclei. The width of the target plays a crucial role in minimizing these unwanted effects. Two wire-shaped prototypes have been already realized, starting from a thin diamond disk. The wire shape has been obtained by using a femto-edge laser. One prototype has been submitted to irradiation by protons of 1.5 MeV and to simultaneous Back-Scattering control to test the impurity level, the 12C density, the radiation hardness and possible phase modifications during irradiation. Both the prototypes have been submitted to Micro-Raman spectroscopy in order to scan the carbon phases along the width. The results show performances which satisfy the experimental requirements.

The NUMEN project proposes to study heavy-ion induced Double Charge Exchange (DCE) reactions with the final goal to get information on the nuclear matrix elements for neutrinoless double beta (0νββ) decay. The knowledge of the nuclear matrix elements is crucial to infer the neutrino average masses from the possible measurement of the half-life of 0νββ decay. DCE reactions and 0νββ decay present some similarities, the initial and final-state wave functions are the same and the transition operators are similar. The experimental measurements of DCE reactions induced by heavy ions present a number of challenging aspects, since they are characterized by very low cross sections.

The goal of NUMEN project is to access experimentally driven information on Nuclear Matrix Elements (NME) involved in the neutrinoless double beta decay (0νββ), by high-accuracy measurements of the cross sections of Heavy Ion (HI) induced Double Charge Exchange (DCE) reactions. The knowledge of the nuclear matrix elements is crucial to infer the neutrino average masses from the possible measurement of the half-life of 00νββ decay and to compare experiments on different isotopes. In particular, the ( 18 O, 18 Ne) and ( 20 Ne, 20 O) reactions are performed as tools for β + β + and β - β - decays, respectively. The experiments are performed at INFN - Laboratory Nazionali del Sud (LNS) in Catania using the Superconducting Cyclotron (CS) to accelerate the beams and the MAGNEX magnetic spectrometer to detect the reaction products. The measured cross sections are very low, limiting the present exploration to few selected isotopes of interest in the context of typically low-yield experimental runs. In order to make feasible a systematic study of all the candidate nuclei, a major upgrade of the LNS facility is foreseen to increase the experimental yield of about two orders of magnitude. To this purpose, frontier technologies are going to be developed for both the accelerator and the detection systems. In parallel, advanced theoretical models will be developed to extract the nuclear structure information from the measured cross sections.

Within the NUMEN project, we present experimental issues and data reduction for the 116Cd(20Ne,20F)116In single charge exchange, 116Cd(20Ne,18O)118In two-proton transfer and 116Cd(20Ne,19F)117In one-proton transfer reactions at 15 AMeV incident energy.

A study of different post-stripper materials for the (20Ne, 20O) double charge exchange and (20Ne, 20F) single charge exchange reactions at zero degrees using the MAGNEX spectrometer at 22 and 15 AMeV is presented. All these experiments belongs to the experimental campaign planned in the NUMEN project (NUclear Matrix Elements for Neutrinoless double beta decay).

Neutrinoless double beta decay (0vββ) is considered the best potential resource to access the absolute neutrino mass scale. Moreover, if observed, it will signal that neutrinos are their own anti-particles (Majorana particles). Presently, this physics case is one of the most important research \"beyond Standard Model\" and might guide the way towards a Grand Unified Theory of fundamental interactions. Since the 0vββ decay process involves nuclei, its analysis necessarily implies nuclear structure issues. In the NURE project, supported by a Starting Grant of the European Research Council (ERC), nuclear reactions of double charge-exchange (DCE) are used as a tool to extract information on the 0vββ Nuclear Matrix Elements. In DCE reactions and ββ decay indeed the initial and final nuclear states are the same and the transition operators have similar structure. Thus the measurement of the DCE absolute cross-sections can give crucial information on ββ matrix elements. In a wider view, the NUMEN international collaboration plans a major upgrade of the INFN-LNS facilities in the next years in order to increase the experimental production of nuclei of at least two orders of magnitude, thus making feasible a systematic study of all the cases of interest as candidates for 0vββ.

An innovative technique to access the nuclear matrix elements entering the expression of the life time of the double beta decay by relevant cross section measurements of double charge exchange reactions is proposed. A key aspect of the project is the use of the MAGNEX large acceptance magnetic spectrometer, for the detection of the ejectiles, and of the LNS K800 Superconducting Cyclotron (CS), for the acceleration of the required high resolution and low emittance heavy-ion beams, already in operation at INFN Laboratory Nazionali del Sud in Catania (Italy). However, a major upgrade is foreseen for the INFN-LNS research infrastructure to cope with beam currents as high as several ppA required by the project.

An innovative technique to access the nuclear matrix elements entering the expression of the life time of the double beta decay by relevant cross sections measurements of double charge exchange reactions is proposed. A key aspect of the project is the use of the MAGNEX large acceptance magnetic spectrometer, for the detection of the ejectiles, and of the LNS K800 Superconducting Cyclotron (CS), for the acceleration of the required high resolution and low emittance heavyion beams, already in operation at INFN Laboratory Nazionali del Sud in Catania (Italy).

Nuclear fragmentation processes are relevant in different fields of basic research and applied physics and are of particular interest for tumor therapy and for space radiation protection applications. The FIRST (Fragmentation of Ions Relevant for Space and Therapy) experiment at SIS accelerator of GSI laboratory in Darmstadt, has been designed for the measurement of different ions fragmentation cross sections at different energies between 100 and 1000 MeV/nucleon. The experiment is performed by an international collaboration made of institutions from Germany, France, Italy and Spain. The experimental apparatus is partly based on an already existing setup made of the ALADIN magnet, the MUSIC IV TPC, the LAND2 neutron detector and the TOFWALL scintillator TOF system, integrated with newly designed detectors in the interaction Region (IR) around the carbon removable target: a scintillator Start Counter, a Beam Monitor drift chamber, a silicon Vertex Detector and a Proton Tagger for detection of light fragments emitted at large angles (KENTROS). The scientific program of the FIRST experiment started on summer 2011 with the study of the 400 MeV/nucleon 12C beam fragmentation on thin (8mm) carbon target.