Speaker
Shawn Bishop
(TUM)
Description
Explosive hydrogen burning powers such phenomena as novae and X-ray bursts, and is responsible for the underlying nucleosynthesis in such events. Abundance distributions within the freshly synthesized material, in the form of ejecta (nova) or surface “ashes” (X-ray burst) are dependent on uncertain, or unknown, (p,gamma) reaction rates; so, too, are critical astronomical observables, such as the gamma-ray flux from the decay of radioactive nuclear species produced by these events. This presentation will briefly describe these phenomena as a means to motivate the important nuclear physics quantities necessary for our understanding of these events. Following this introduction, I will then put forth the present status and future plans of experimental nuclear facilities at TUM designed to measure the critical nuclear physics quantities necessary for uniquely determining the explosive (p, gamma) reaction rates in these events. Finally, the talk will conclude with a description of how to search for terrestrial super nova “contamination” in our planet’s fossil record.