Nuclear Astrophysics
How do the properties of atomic nuclei affect the stars?
My research focuses on measuring in the laboratory the nuclear processes and
properties required to answer this question. We now know that nuclear processes
are responsible for the starlight that we see, and for producing almost all of
the chemical elements around us, including the ones that make up our own bodies.
In particular, many of the elements heavier than iron must have been made in
stellar environments that are extremely hot, up to a billion degrees, and these
temperatures can only be found in certain stellar explosions, such as supernovae,
novae, and X-ray bursts, for example.
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At these temperatures, the atomic nuclei that determine the
energy generation and the synthesis of the elements are not the familiar stable ones.
Instead, unstable isotopes that decay away quickly once they are formed, play a
crucial role. Experimental information on how these unstable nuclei behave is
crucial for our understanding of how these explosions happen, but they are
extremely difficult to produce in the laboratory. This nuclear physics information,
together with improvements in the modeling and observations of these exploding stars,
will help us understand how they happen, thereby elucidating a piece of our own
cosmic history.
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At these temperatures, the atomic nuclei that determine the
energy generation and the synthesis of the elements are not the familiar stable
ones. Instead, unstable isotopes that decay away quickly once they are formed,
play a crucial role. Experimental information on how these unstable nuclei behave
is crucial for our understanding of how these explosions happen, but they are
extremely difficult to produce in the laboratory. This nuclear physics information,
together with improvements in the modeling and observations of these exploding
stars, will help us understand how they happen, thereby elucidating a piece of
our own cosmic history.
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Laboratory experiments involving accelerators and beams of
stable nuclei help provide some important clues. Furthermore, in recent years, for
the first time, we have been able to perform experiments with unstable beams and
sophisticated detection systems, reproducing the actual nuclear processes that
happen in the stars.
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Canada, in particular, has built one of the best facilities
in the world for nuclear astrophysics studies with radioactive beams, called
TRIUMF-ISAC, in Vancouver. Our research will centre on using the TRIUMF-ISAC
facility and other laboratories in North American where, over the next few years,
we will be performing several interesting experiments that will place our
understanding of stellar explosions and the origin of the elements on firmer
empirical ground.
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Nuclear Structure
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