JINA Center for the Evolution of the Elements

除了大爆炸产生的元素之外，构成宇宙的元素的起源和演化还有很多未知之处。要在这些领域取得重大进展，需要在核物理学和天体物理学的交叉领域进行研究。通过这个物理前沿中心（PFC）奖，核天体物理联合研究所-元素演化中心（JINA-CEE）将专注于回答与元素起源和中子星探测的致密物质性质相关的密切相关的开放性问题。JINA-CEE将利用其过去两次PFC奖的专业知识和技术发展，并利用创新的实验室实验，结合理论和计算方法，解决这些科学目标背后的广泛的核物理和天体物理挑战。由此产生的见解将被整合到元素生成和中子星的综合物理模型中，然后与现有的和新的观测数据进行比较。jna - cee将继续通过其跨学科研讨会、学校和访问项目在核天体物理学界产生教育和研究影响。此外，它还将创建新的多机构研究生课程模块和本科课程组件，同时面向K-12学生、教师和公众。从一个只有少量同位素的三元素（氢、氦和锂）宇宙，到一个包含82种长寿元素和数百种同位素的化学多样化的宇宙，这种转变意义重大，但尚未得到很好的理解。中子星物质对元素的起源起着重要的作用，因为它塑造了在核心坍缩超新星和中子星合并中产生的自然界中许多重元素的合成。JINA-CEE将通过实验、理论和计算方法探索两个密切相关的问题：“在大爆炸后的第一个十亿年中，氢和氦以外的元素是如何产生的？”和“富含中子的核物质的性质是什么？如何通过中子星的观测来探测？”

Much remains unknown about the origin and evolution of the elements that comprise the universe beyond those created in the Big Bang. Making significant advances in these areas requires investigations at the intersection of nuclear physics and astrophysics. Through this Physics Frontiers Centers (PFC) award the Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics - Center for the Evolution of the Elements (JINA-CEE) will focus on answering closely connected open questions related to the origin of the elements and the properties of dense matter probed by neutron stars. JINA-CEE will build on the expertise and technical developments from its past two PFC awards and use innovative laboratory experiments, combined with theoretical and computational approaches, to address the broad range of nuclear physics and astrophysics challenges underlying these science goals. The resulting insights will be integrated into comprehensive physics models of element creation and neutron stars that are then compared to existing and new observational data. JINA-CEE will continue to have educational and research impacts within the nuclear astrophysics community through its interdisciplinary workshop, school, and visitor programs. In addition it will create new multi-institutional graduate course modules and undergraduate course components while reaching out to K-12 students, teachers, and the general public.The transition from a three element (hydrogen, helium, and lithium) universe, with a small number of isotopes, to a chemically diverse cosmos containing eighty-two long-lived elements with hundreds of isotopes, is significant and not well understood. Neutron star matter plays an important role for the origin of the elements, as it shapes the synthesis of many of the heavy elements in nature produced in core-collapse supernovae and in neutron star mergers. JINA-CEE will explore two closely interrelated questions through experimental, theoretical, and computational approaches: "How were the elements beyond hydrogen and helium created during the first billion years after the Big Bang?" and "What are the properties of neutron-rich nuclear matter and how can it be probed by observations of neutron stars?"