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Seminar | Physics

Probing Stellar s-Process and r-Process in the Laboratory

PHY Seminar

Abstract: The stellar slow (s-) process and the rapid (r-) process produce the quasi-totality of heavy natural nuclides via neutron captures. The s-process which evolves in and near the valley of stability is extensively studied in the laboratory by measuring relevant neutron-capture cross sections. A contribution to this effort using an intense neutron source based on the 7Li(p,n)7Be reaction and the Liquid-Lithium Target (LiLiT) will be reviewed. On the other hand, laboratory studies of the r-process, running far from stability, are scarce and mostly indirect.  

Recent observations, in terrestrial deep-ocean archives, of traces of live r-process nucleosynthesis products add clues on the nature of astrophysical r-process sites. An ongoing experiment studying neutron-induced reactions in the high-density plasma created in an inertial-confinement fusion environment, close to explosive nucleosynthesis conditions, will be described.