Nuclear Structure and Nuclear Astrophysics

建议书编号：0758100招商：圣母大学NSF项目：PHY？低能核科学和核物理研究人员：迈克尔.维舍尔：核结构和核天体物理该奖项为继续支持圣母大学核科学实验室的研究提供资金。该实验室目前运营着三个加速器，并保持着在核天体物理和核结构物理方面的积极研究计划。虽然跨学科的研究机会为实验室引入了具有不同目标的新用户群体，但核集团本身仍将重点放在其低能核物理的核心计划上。利用这三个加速器的优势，核天体物理学已经成为主要的研究方向。新的设备已经开发出来，这将为研究与恒星燃烧有关的极低能量的反应截面提供新的机会。研究范围从直接测量恒星热核燃烧过程中的核反应，到远离稳定性的核过程的实验和理论研究，这些过程与研究爆炸恒星场景中的核合成有关，如核心坍塌超新星到激变双星。核结构计划集中在与核天体物理问题密切相关的方面，如确定远稳定同位素的核质量和衰变时间，弱束缚系统的核性质，核不可压缩性的测量，以及利用加速器质谱学(AMS)研究罕见的核合成过程。一项日益重要的倡议是研究高密度核物质的命运，范围从化核燃烧到确定核物质的不可压缩性。在这些努力的同时，还开发了新的应用程序，如PIXE和AMS，目前正被用于艺术、考古学和人类学、海洋学以及寻找新的物质形式(弱相互作用的大质量粒子)的应用中。该实验室为本科生和研究生提供了理想的招聘和培养环境。此外，该实验室还邀请RET教师和REU学生在暑期进行各种研究项目。

PROPOSAL NUMBER: 0758100INSTITUTION: University of Notre DameNSF PROGRAM: PHY ? LOW ENERGY NUCLEAR SCIENCE and NUCLEAR ASTROPHYSICSPRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Wiescher, MichaelTITLE: Nuclear Structure and Nuclear AstrophysicsABSTRACTThis award provides funds for continuing support of research at the University of Notre Dame Nuclear Science Laboratory. The laboratory presently operates three accelerators and maintains an active research program in nuclear astrophysics and nuclear structure physics. While interdisciplinary research opportunities have introduced new user groups with different objectives to the laboratory, the nuclear group itself has maintained strong focus on its core program in low energy nuclear physics. Nuclear astrophysics has emerged as the main research direction, taking advantage of all three accelerators. New equipment has been developed which will provide new opportunities to investigate very low energy cross sections of reactions relevant for stellar burning. Studies range from the direct measurement of nuclear reactions during stellar thermonuclear burning to the experimental and theoretical investigation of nuclear processes far from stability which are relevant for the study of nucleosynthesis in explosive stellar scenarios such as core collapse supernovae to cataclysmic binary stars.The nuclear structure program has focused on aspects closely correlated to nuclear astrophysics questions such as the determination of nuclear masses and decay times for far off stability isotopes, the nuclear properties of weakly bound systems, the measurement of nuclear incompressibility, and the study of rare nucleosynthesis processes using accelerator mass spectroscopy (AMS). An increasingly important initiative is the study of the fate of nuclear matter at high densities, ranging from pycnonuclear burning to the determination of the incompressibility of nuclear matter. Parallel to these efforts new applied programs such as PIXE and AMS have been developed which are presently being utilized for applications in Art, Archaeology, and Anthropology, in Oceanography, and in the search of new forms of matter (Weakly Interacting Massive Particles). The laboratory provides an ideal recruitment and training environment for undergraduate and graduate students. In addition, the lab involves RET teachers and REU students in various research projects over the summer.