Decays At The Edge – Probing Light Proton-Rich Nuclei at State-Of-The-Art Rare Ion Beam Facilities

Our current understanding of the nuclearlandscape is best challenged by studying the evolution of nuclear structure as we progress from the valley of stability towards the edges of stability, which are defined by the proton and neutron drip lines. This thesis studies the mechanisms of beta-delayed charged particle emission of a sample of light proton-rich nuclei at state-of-the-art rare ion beam facilities at the ISOLDE facility at CERN and at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams in the United States. The Q-values of beta decay of these light protonrich nuclei are of such magnitude that one or several charged particles can be emitted, following the initial beta decay. By observing these charged particles, nuclear structure information of the intermediate states of high excitation energies populated in the decay can be extracted. For the detection of the charged particles, highly segmented silicon detectors are employed in so-called telescope configurations in order to reliably identify the nature of the complex multi-particle breakups. The decay of $^{21}$ is studied in great detail based on data from an experiment carried out at the ISOLDE facility at CERN. Refined methods for the extraction of charged particle spectra from detector telescopes result in the revelation of new details regarding the decay of 21Mg. The decays of 22Al and 26P are also studied, based on data recorded in the 10th experiment to be carried out at the newly commissioned Facility for Rare Isotope Beams. The beam time of this experiment was in July 2023, and the experiment was very successful. There is, in the data from the experiment, a staggering amount of new insights to be gained on the decays of 22Al and 26P. The results of the data analyses thus far carried out on the data are presented, and plans for the further development of the data analyses are outlined.