GRIFFIN [1], the Gamma-Ray Infrastructure For Fundamental Investigations of Nuclei is the new decay spectroscopy array located at TRIUMF, Canada’s National Laboratory for Nuclear and Particle Physics, in Vancouver, Canada. GRIFFIN consists of 16 large-volume hyper-pure germanium (HPGe) clover detectors assisted by a custom-built digital data acquisition system. A suite of ancillary detector systems are coupled to GRIFFIN for comprehensive decay spectroscopy experiments with radioactive beams delivered by the TRIUMF-ISAC facility.
The early-implementation experiments with radioactive beams were performed with the GRIFFIN array, coupled to SCEPTAR [2], an array of plastic scintillators for beta-particle tagging, and PACES [2], an array of five lithium-drifted silicon detectors for high-resolution internal conversion-electron spectroscopy. Eight lanthanum bromide scintillators for fast gamma-ray timing measurements [2], and a neutron detector array for the detection of beta-delayed neutron-emitting nuclei called DESCANT, [3] are also available for future experiments.
Results obtained with the GRIFFIN spectrometer near and far from stability using beta decay of beams of 115g,mAg [4], 128−130Cd [5], 46,47K [6,7], 32Na [8], and 132In [9] will be presented along with a discussion of future opportunities, including the addition of the Compton and background suppression shields.
The GRIFFIN spectrometer is funded by the Canada Foundation for Innovation, TRIUMF, and the University of Guelph with matching contributions from the British Columbia Knowledge and Development Fund and the Ontario Ministry of Research and Industry. TRIUMF receives federal funding via a contribution agreement through the National Research Council of Canada. This research is supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

References
[1] C.E. Svensson and A.B. Garnsworthy, Hyperfine Interactions 225, 127 (2014).
[2] A.B. Garnsworthy and P.E. Garrett, Hyperfine Interactions 225, 121 (2014).
[3] P.E. Garrett, Hyperfine Interactions 225, 137 (2014).
[4] R. Dunlop et al., to be published.
[5] R. Dunlop et al., Phys. Rev. C (2016).
[6] J.L. Pore et al., to be published.
[7] J. Smith et al., to be published.
[8] F. Sarazin et al., to be published.
[9] K. Whitmore et al., to be published.

Despite the tremendous success of the Standard Model of particle physics, there remain several fundamental aspects of the Universe that are still not understood. One such is the violation of the symmetry of simultaneous charge exchange and parity inversion (CP), which allowed the early Universe to become more abundant in matter than in antimatter. For some 65 years the electric dipole moment of the neutron (nEDM) has been the observable of choice to gain insight into this problem.

At the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland our collaboration is currently running the world's most sensitive nEDM measurement. Our goal is to explore the area below the present limit of the nEDM, which stands at 3e-26 ecm 90% C.L. [J.M. Pendlebury et al. PRD 92, 092003 (2015)]. In my talk I will explain how we measure the nEDM using Ramsey interferometry of neutrons. Operating at neV energies, we employ an exciting combination of the gravitational, strong and electromagnetic interactions to guide, store and manipulate the spins of polarised ultra-cold neutrons. The measurement requires magnetic field stabilities on a picotesla level, reaching of which is only possible thanks to an active magnetic field compensation system. Ongoing R&D effort for a next generation compensation system is going to be presented. I will also discuss how our experiment is used to explore alternative extensions to the Standard Model, such as for example an ultra-low-mass axion dark-matter search.

The science of stellar nucleosynthesis aims at understanding how the elements in the universe are formed in stars. On a microscopic scale, the formation of elements is dictated by the properties of atomic nuclei and their interactions. Of special importance for r-process nucleosynthesis is a fundamental understanding of shell evolution towards neutron-rich nuclei. I will briefly discuss the underlying physics of nuclear shell evolution and will report on our experiments at the University of Kentucky, CERN and RIKEN (Japan). I will also discuss our current efforts to develop a state-of-the-art silicon tracker device for the future ARIEL facility at TRIUMF (Canada) and will mention medical applications for improved dose monitoring in cancer therapy with heavy ions.

Precision electric dipole moment (EDM) measurements of fundamental particles are extremely sensitive to Beyond Standard Model sources of charge/parity violation required for generation of the observed matter/anti-matter asymmetry in the universe. I will give a brief overview of the relevant theory and the general experimental principles of such searches. I will then focus on an experiment to measure the neutron's electric dipole moment at Oak Ridge National Lab, and especially the optimization of the collection efficiency of the scintillation light used to measure the neutron's precession frequency.

The decay mode B-> K* ll is one of the most promising modes to probe physics beyond the standard model (SM),  since the angular distribution of the decay products enable measurement of several constraining observables. LHCb has recently measured these observables using $3\fb^{-1}$ of data as a binned function of $q^2$, the dilepton invariant mass squared. I will discuss that LHCb data implies a signal for new physics and provides unambiguous evidence for right-handed currents, which are absent in the SM. These conclusions are derived in the maximum $q^2$ limit and are free from hadronic corrections. Our approach differs from other approaches that probe new physics at low $q^2$ as it does not require estimates of hadronic parameters but relies instead on heavy quark symmetries that are reliable at the maximum $q^2$ kinematic endpoint.

A complete, fundamental understanding of the proton must include knowledge of the underlying

spin structure. The transversity distribution (h_1 (x)), which describes the transverse spin structure

of quarks inside of a transversely polarized proton, is only accessible through channels that couple

h_1 (x) to another chiral odd distribution, such as the Collins fragmentation function (∆D (z, j_T )).

Significant Collins asymmetries of charged pions have been observed in semi-inclusive deep inelastic

scattering (SIDIS) data. These SIDIS asymmetries combined with e^+ e^- process asymmetries from

Belle have allowed for the extraction of h_1 (x) and ∆D (z, j_T ). The current uncertainties on h_1 (x)

are large compared to the corresponding quark momentum and helicity distributions and reflect

the limited statistics and kinematic reach of the available data. In transversely polarized hadronic

collisions, Collins asymmetries may be isolated and extracted by measuring the spin dependent

azimuthal distributions of charged pions in jets. An exploratory STAR analysis with the 2006

s = 200 GeV dataset hinted at a charge dependent Collins asymmetry and motivated a dedicated

transversely polarized proton run in 2012 where an order of magnitude more data was collected (20 pb^{−1})

at an average polarization of 63%. This measurement, coupled with the same measurement

at √s=510 GeV and interference fragmentation function (IFF) measurements at √s = 200 and

500 GeV at midrapidity (|η| < 1) access higher momentum scales than the existing SIDIS data,

and will allow for a comprehensive study of evolution and factorization of the Collins channel.

Preliminary results from the √s = 200 and 500 GeV Collins and IFF analyses will be presented.