Driving stellar explosions creating chemical elements

When?

Tuesday 8 November 2011, 14:00

Where?

30 BB 03 Physics Seminar Room

Open to:

Students, Staff

Speaker:

Christian Diget, University of York

How were the chemical elements that we consist of created, and what drives the impact exploding stars have on our universe? These two questions are central in our understanding of the universe and for how we look at ourselves in relation to the history and evolution of the universe. The only way to see the driving processes for the stellar explosions, however, is through utilising large, international accelerator facilities.  Here, the exotic radioactive nuclei involved in the reactions are produced and accelerated, and through the use of state-of-the-art particle-detector arrays the emitted particles in the reactions are detected. By doing so, the conditions in stellar explosions can be reproduced on a microscopic scale, determining the reactions that govern the evolution and, at times, violent death of stars. During the talk, examples of such key nuclear reactions will be introduced, and measurements of these reactions in the laboratory will be described.