Public Abstract

DE-SC0017799: Measurements at the Facility for Experiments of Nuclear Reactions in Stars (FENRIS)

Award Status: Inactive

Institution: North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC
UEI: U3NVH931QJJ3
DUNS: 042092122

Most Recent Award Date: 12/29/2022
Number of Support Periods: 5
PM: Stephenson, Sharon

Current Budget Period: 09/01/2021 - 08/31/2023
Current Project Period: 09/01/2017 - 08/31/2023
PI: Longland, Richard

Supplement Budget Period: N/A

Public Abstract

Measurements at the Facility for Experiments of Nuclear Reactions in Stars (FENRIS) Richard Longland, North Carolina State University (Principal Investigator) Nuclear reactions in stars have transformed the universe since the Big Bang, turning hydrogen and helium into the heavier elements we see around us today. These reactions fuel a star throughout its lifetime. These reactions fuel a star throughout its lifetime. When the star burns out, its ashes are ejected into space to enrich the next generation of stars. Thus, to understand the origin of the elements in the cosmos, we must learn how stars burn their fuel. In this stellar burning, the rates of nuclear reactions are key. The rates can, in principle, be determined by recreating the reactions in the laboratory. At the low energies characteristic of stellar burning, however, many of the reactions occur too rarely to be measured. Novel, indirect measurements must be used. A research program will be developed to perform such measurements, primarily using the Facility for Experiments of Nuclear Reactions in Stars (FENRIS), a charged-particle spectrometer at the Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory (TUNL). At FENRIS, high-energy nuclear reactions coupled with theoretical models will be used to ascertain the rate of the low-energy nuclear reactions occurring in stars. Detailed analysis of the data will reveal the structure of nuclei and how they affect stellar burning. High-energy photons will be used as a different lens with which to examine these nuclei at another facility - the High Intensity gamma-ray Source – to supplement the measurements at FENRIS. In parallel to these experimental efforts, theoretical tools will be developed to identify which nuclear reactions are most critical for understanding stars, helping set the priorities for future measurements. This complementary suite of experiments and theoretical calculations will be used to answer one of the key questions facing the physics community: How did visible matter come into being and how did it evolve?

Measurements at the Facility for Experiments of Nuclear Reactions in Stars (FENRIS)

Richard Longland, North Carolina State University (Principal Investigator)

Nuclear reactions in stars have transformed the universe since the Big Bang, turning hydrogen and helium into the heavier elements we see around us today. These reactions fuel a star throughout its lifetime. These reactions fuel a star throughout its lifetime. When the star burns out, its ashes are ejected into space to enrich the next generation of stars. Thus, to understand the origin of the elements in the cosmos, we must learn how stars burn their fuel. In this stellar burning, the rates of nuclear reactions are key. The rates can, in principle, be determined by recreating the reactions in the laboratory. At the low energies characteristic of stellar burning, however, many of the reactions occur too rarely to be measured. Novel, indirect measurements must be used. A research program will be developed to perform such measurements, primarily using the Facility for Experiments of Nuclear Reactions in Stars (FENRIS), a charged-particle spectrometer at the Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory (TUNL). At FENRIS, high-energy nuclear reactions coupled with theoretical models will be used to ascertain the rate of the low-energy nuclear reactions occurring in stars. Detailed analysis of the data will reveal the structure of nuclei and how they affect stellar burning. High-energy photons will be used as a different lens with which to examine these nuclei at another facility - the High Intensity gamma-ray Source – to supplement the measurements at FENRIS. In parallel to these experimental efforts, theoretical tools will be developed to identify which nuclear reactions are most critical for understanding stars, helping set the priorities for future measurements. This complementary suite of experiments and theoretical calculations will be used to answer one of the key questions facing the physics community: How did visible matter come into being and how did it evolve?