JINA Center for the Evolution of the Elements

除了大爆炸中产生的元素外，组成宇宙的元素的起源和演化仍有许多未知之处。要在这些领域取得重大进展，就需要在核物理学和天体物理学的交叉点上进行研究。通过这一物理学前沿中心(PFC)奖，核天体物理联合研究所-元素演化中心(JINA-CEE)将重点回答与中子星探测的元素起源和致密物质性质有关的密切相关的开放问题。JINA-CEE将在过去两个PFC奖的专业知识和技术发展的基础上，使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核物理和天体物理挑战。由此产生的见解将被整合到元素创造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。JINA-CEE将继续通过其跨学科研讨会、学校和访客计划在核天体物理学社区内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生课程组成部分，同时接触到K-12学生、教师和普通公众。从一个有少量同位素的三元素(氢、氦和锂)宇宙向包含82个长寿命元素和数百个同位素的化学多样性宇宙的转变意义重大，但还没有被很好地理解。中子星物质对这些元素的起源起着重要作用，因为它塑造了自然界中许多重元素的合成，这些重元素是在核坍塌超新星和中子星合并中产生的。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：“除了氢和氦以外的元素是如何在大爆炸后的头10亿年里产生的？”“富含中子的核物质的性质是什么？如何通过对中子星的观测来探测它？”

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?"