WoU-MMA: Studies of Nuclear Structure and Nuclear Astrophysics

佛罗里达州立大学(FSU)的核物理小组将利用他们的实验设备来解决长期存在的关于恒星和恒星爆炸中发生的核反应的问题。这些反应产生了宇宙中大多数自然存在的元素。第二个目标是测量和了解中子太多或太少而不稳定的奇异核同位素的行为。FSU的研究人员在约翰·D·福克斯超导加速器实验室的校园内以及密歇根州立大学的稀有离子束设施(FRIB)、阿贡国家实验室的ATLAS和加拿大的TRIUMF等国际设施中进行实验。这项研究将与外国语大学和世界各地的理论物理学家密切合作进行。由这笔资金支持的联邦苏黎世大学核物理项目是美国核科学家本科生和博士水平的领先教育机构之一。在本科生方面，福克斯实验室将与佛罗里达州的三所四年制院校密切合作，为这些较小机构的教职员工提供研究机会，共同努力将使这些机构的本科生在核科学职业生涯中领先一步。福克斯实验室的博士毕业生在学术界、国家实验室和工业领域工作。佛罗里达州立大学培养了许多学生，他们现在在核科学、国土安全、国防、医疗保健、高科技产业和教育方面发挥着关键作用。由这笔拨款资助的联邦苏黎世大学研究人员追求两个主要的科学目标。第一个目标是在实验室中重现恒星爆炸时发生的核反应。通过使用这些实验室实验来确定恒星爆炸中发生反应的速率，FSU的研究人员希望了解宇宙中元素的丰度，并有助于更深入地了解恒星爆炸。第二个目标是测量奇异核的行为--即中子与质子的比例异常大或异常小，因此不稳定，不会在地球上自然存在的同位素。这些奇异的核比稳定的同位素结合得更弱，因此它们的测量性质对将核结合在一起的机制提供了严格的约束，并指导了理论核物理的进展。这些实验需要多种技术的结合，包括使用FSU提供的以下设施：用于放射束实验的有源目标探测器；新的SE-SPS能谱仪设施；以及新的Clarion-2伽马射线探测器阵列。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The nuclear physics group at Florida State University (FSU) will use their experimental facilities to address long-standing questions about the nuclear reactions that take place in stars and in stellar explosions. These reactions are responsible for producing most of the naturally occurring elements in the universe. A second goal is to measure and understand the behavior of exotic nuclei – isotopes that have too many neutrons or too few neutrons to be stable. FSU researchers perform their experiments on-campus at the John D. Fox Superconducting Accelerator Laboratory and at national facilities such as the Facility for Rare Ion Beams (FRIB) at Michigan State University, ATLAS at Argonne National Laboratory, and at international facilities such as TRIUMF in Canada. The research will be performed in close collaboration with theoretical physicists at both FSU and around the world. The FSU nuclear physics program supported by this grant is one of the nation’s leading educators of nuclear scientists at both the undergraduate and Ph. D. levels. At the undergraduate level, the Fox Laboratory will be working closely with three four-year institutions in Florida to provide research opportunities for the faculty at these smaller institutions and the combined effort will give a head start on nuclear science careers for undergraduates from these institutions. The Fox laboratory’s Ph.D. graduates work in academics, at national laboratories and in industry. Florida State University has trained many students who now play key roles in nuclear science, homeland security, national defense, health care, high-tech industry, and education. The FSU researchers supported by this grant pursue two primary scientific goals. The first goal is to reproduce in the laboratory the nuclear reactions that take place in stellar explosions. By using these laboratory experiments to determine the rates at which reactions occur in exploding stars, FSU researchers hope to understand the abundances of elements in the universe and contribute to a deeper understanding of the star explosions as well. The second goal is to measure the behavior of exotic nuclei – that is, isotopes in which the ratio of neutrons to protons is unusually large or unusually small and therefore are not stable and do not occur naturally on earth. These exotic nuclei are more weakly bound than stable isotopes, and so their measured properties provide tight constraints on the mechanisms that bind nuclei together and guide advances in theoretical nuclear physics. These experiments require a combination of techniques including the use of the following facilities which are available at FSU: an active-target detector for radioactive-beam experiments; a new SE-SPS spectrograph facility; and a new Clarion-2 gamma-ray detector array.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.