Description | 2021 Fall Physics Colloquium Series: Dr. Ashley Hood
Postdoctoral Research Associate Cyclotron Institute Texas A&M University and Test Operations Engineer SpaceX, McGregor, TX
Radioactive Fusion Experiments for
Understanding Astrophysics and Nuclear Structure
Many of the elements in the periodic table are
synthesized in explosive stellar environments like x-ray bursts, supernovae, and neutron star mergers. X-ray superbursts are rare nucleosynthetic explosions that occur in the outer layers of a neutron star in an interacting binary star system. It is thought that the fusion of very neutron-rich Carbon isotopes is a potential
ignition source for these events. We have conducted an experiment that studied the most neutron-rich carbon-carbon fusion systems to date. The experiment was conducted in 2019 at the Argonne Tandem Linear Accelerator System (ATLAS) facility at Argonne National Laboratory using a radioactive ion beam of 16C. The MUlti-Sampling Ionization Chamber (MUSIC) detector was used as an active-target detector to measure the total fusion cross section of 16C+12C and 16C+13C. The results will be presented along with a discussion of the role that nuclear shell structure plays in the fusion of different carbon isotopes.
Meet-the-Speaker Reception
3:40 p.m., ground-floor outside Patio D
Presentation
4:00 p.m., Room D.110
For more information contact: Dr. Lorin Matthews, 254-710-2279
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