Conveners
(DNP) M1-4 Nuclear Astrophysics | Nucléaire astrophysique (DPN)
- John Behr (TRIUMF)
Aside from the lightest elements, hydrogen, helium and some lithium, which were formed in the big bang, the vast majority of the elements around us were (and are) formed in stars, through chains of nuclear reactions and decays. While the general picture of how the various elements are formed is mostly complete, constructing a detailed understanding of element formation remains an active area...
Bound-state $\beta$-decay ($\beta_b^-$-decay) is a radically transformative decay mode that can change the stability of a nucleus and generate temperature- and density-dependent decay rates. In this decay mode the $\beta$-electron is created directly in a bound atomic orbital of the daughter nucleus instead of being emitted into the continuum, so the decay channel is only significant in almost...
Nuclear pairing, i.e., the tendency of nucleons to form pairs, has important consequences to the physics of neutron star crusts and heavy nuclei. While the pairing found in nuclei typically happens between identical nucleons and in singlet states, recent investigations have shown that certain heavy nuclei can exhibit triplet and mixed-spin pairing correlations in their ground states. In this...
The slow (s) and rapid (r) neutron capture processes have long been considered to produce nearly the entirety of elements above Fe. Under further scrutiny, when comparing expected s-process and r-process yields with spectroscopic data, inconsistencies in abundance arise in the Z=40 region. These differences are expected to be attributable to the intermediate (i) neutron capture process....
