Analysis methods and code for very high-precision mass measurements of unstable isotopes

Abstract

We present a robust analysis code developed in the Python language and incorporating libraries of the ROOT data analysis framework for the state-of-the-art mass spectrometry method called phase-imaging ion-cyclotron-resonance (PI-ICR). A step-by-step description of the dataset construction and analysis algorithm is given. The code features a new phase-determination approach that offers up to 10 times smaller statistical uncertainties. This improvement in statistical uncertainty is confirmed using extensive Monte-Carlo simulations and allows for very high-precision studies of exotic nuclear masses to test, among others, the standard model of particle physics.