Professor Jeffrey Blackmon

Louisiana State University

                                                                              Nuclear Physics of X-ray Bursts

Type I X-ray bursts are the most common stellar explosions in the Galaxy, occurring on the surface of neutron stars in binary systems.  The structure of certain proton-rich nuclei influences energy generation in the explosion, the nuclei produced, and the time evolution of the system. We are developing and applying creative new techniques to better determine reactions on proton-rich nuclei that are important in stellar explosions like X-ray bursts. The Array for Nuclear Astrophysics and Structure with Exotic Nuclei (ANASEN) is an active-target/detector that allows light charged-particles to be detected with a thick target while maintaining good energy resolution. We will report on the development of ANASEN and the initial experimental campaigns at the Fox Superconducting Accelerator Laboratory at Florida State University and the new ReA3 Facility at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory. We will also report on some other new approaches that we are applying to better determine capture reactions on proton-rich nuclei. This work is supported by the U. S. Dept. of Energy's Office of Science, Office of Nuclear Physics and by the National Science Foundation.

The P/T colloquium website is: http://p25ext.lanl.gov/schedule.php?type=coll