Speaker
Description
The PANDORA (Photo-Absorption of Nuclei and Decay Observation for Reactions in Astrophysics) project focuses on the experimental and theoretical study of photo-nuclear reactions involving light nuclei with masses below A = 60. This research is particularly relevant to the study of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs), where energy and mass loss is primarily driven by the electromagnetic interaction between nuclei and the cosmic microwave background via the isovector giant dipole resonance (IVGDR). These interactions also occur to a lesser extent between the infrared/optical/ultraviolet light and the UHECR but to a lesser extent. Current propagation models and reaction calculations are hindered by the scarcity of reliable experimental data for key nuclei. To address this, PANDORA utilizes both virtual photon experiments at iThemba LABS and RCNP, as well as real photon experiments at ELI-NP, to extract essential information, including the cross-section of the IVGDR, E1 strength, and branching ratios for particle decay in light nuclei. The first experiment within the PANDORA project was conducted at RCNP in late 2023. This talk will focus on the analysis of $^{12}$C and $^{13}$C photo absorbtion and charged particle decay data. This experiment employed the Grand Raiden spectrometer in conjunction with SAKRA, a backward-angle silicon detector array for charged particle detection, and SCYLLA, a LaBr3 detector array. The results from these measurements and their implications for loss length calculations in UHECR propagation will be discussed.
This work is based on the research supported in part by the National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa grant number 118846, the Romanian Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitization, CNCS - UEFISCDI, project number PN-III-P4-PCE-2021-0595, within PNCDI III, and the Japan-South Africa Bilateral Funding from JSPS
with a grant number of JPJSBP 120216502 and from NRF with grant number 132993, the National Research Foundation of South Africa through Grants No. 129411, and 118846 and the SARCHI grant number 180529336567.
| Collaboration(s) | PANDORA Collaboration |
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