Probing the origins and structure of nuclei

虽然原子核非常小，但原子核可以揭示关于巨大恒星的东西。原子核正是原子的中心，比人小一千倍，因为人比地球小。尽管原子核的大小非常小，但原子核的结构可以对超新星爆炸产生影响，因为原子核是恒星燃烧的燃料。恒星燃烧的方式(是爆炸还是保持静止，就像我们的太阳一样)在一定程度上取决于原子核之间的相互作用。原子核太小，无法用肉眼观察，但通过研究伽马射线是有可能了解它们的。伽马射线是非常高能的辐射。当原子核有多余的能量时，它们会发出伽马射线。由于每种特定类型的原子核都会发出具有独特能量的伽马射线，就像一个签名。这个签名可以揭示原子核在恒星或实验室中的行为。我通过原子核发出的伽马射线来研究原子核。我使用的是一台非常强大的伽马射线能谱仪，名为TIGRESS(TRIUMF-ISAC伽马射线逸出抑制光谱仪)，我和我的合作者正在加拿大国家亚原子物理实验室TRIUMF建造。TRIUMF是进行奇异核研究的理想场所，因为它有一个名为ISAC(同位素分离器和加速器)的设施，能够产生世界上任何地方都能获得的一些最强、最纯的放射性核物种束流。

Although they are very small, atomic nuclei can reveal things about enormous stars.  Nuclei are the very centres of atoms, one thousand times smaller than a person as a person is smaller than the Earth.  Despite their very small size, the structure of nuclei can have an effect on supernova explosions because nuclei are the fuel that stars burn. The way that stars burn (whether they explode or stay quiescent, like our sun) depends in part on the interactions between nuclei.Nuclei are too small to look at with the naked eye, but it is possible to learn about them through the study of gamma rays.  Gamma rays are very high-energy radiation.  Nuclei emit gamma rays when they have extra energy.  Each particular type of nucleus emits gamma rays with unique energies, like a signature.  That signature can reveal how the nucleus will behave in a star or in the laboratory.  I study nuclei through the gamma-rays that they emit.  I use a very powerful gamma-ray spectroscope called TIGRESS (TRIUMF-ISAC Gamma Ray Escape-Suppressed Spectrometer) which my collaborators and I are building at Canada's national subatomic physics laboratory, TRIUMF.  TRIUMF is an ideal place to perform research into exotic nuclei because it has a facility called ISAC (Isotope Separator and ACcelerator) which is capable of producing some of the most intense and pure beams of radioactive nuclear species available anywhere in the world.