The AME2016 atomic mass evaluation (I). Evaluation of input data; and adjustment procedures

This paper is the first of two articles (Part I and Part II) that presents the results of the new atomic mass evaluation, AME2016. It includes complete information on the experimental input data (also including unused and rejected ones), as well as details on the evaluation procedures used to derive the tables of recommended values given in the second part. This article describes the evaluation philosophy and procedures that were implemented in the selection of specific nuclear reaction, decay and mass-spectrometric results. These input values were entered in the least-squares adjustment for determining the best values for the atomic masses and their uncertainties. Details of the calculation and particularities of the AME are then described. All accepted and rejected data, including outweighted ones, are presented in a tabular format and compared with the adjusted values obtained using the least-squares fit analysis. Differences with the previous AME2012 evaluation are discussed and specific information is presented for several cases that may be of interest to AME users. The second AME2016 article gives a table with the recommended values of atomic masses, as well as tables and graphs of derived quantities, along with the list of references used in both the AME2016 and the NUBASE2016 evaluations (the first paper in this issue).     

The NUBASE2016 evaluation of nuclear properties

This paper presents the NUBASE2016 evaluation that contains the recommended values for nuclear and decay properties of 3437 nuclides in their ground and excited isomeric(T_(1/2)≥100 ns) states.All nuclides for which any experimental information is known were considered.NUBASE2016 covers all data published by October 2016 in primary(journal articles) and secondary(mainly laboratory reports and conference proceedings) references,together with the corresponding bibliographical information.During the development of NUBASE2016,the data available in the "Evaluated Nuclear Structure Data File"(ENSDF) database were consulted and critically assessed for their validity and completeness.Furthermore,a large amount of new data and some older experimental results that were missing from ENSDF were compiled,evaluated and included in NUBASE2016.The atomic mass values were taken from the "Atomic Mass Evaluation"(AME2016,second and third parts of the present issue).In cases where no experimental data were available for a particular nuclide,trends in the behavior of specific properties in neighboring nuclides(TNN) were examined.This approach allowed to estimate values for a range of properties that are labeled in NUBASE2016 as "non-experimental"(flagged "#").Evaluation procedures and policies used during the development of this database are presented,together with a detailed table of recommended values and their uncertainties.