Physical Society Colloquium

Rare Isotopes in Cosmic Explosions and Accelerators on Earth

Hendrik Schatz

National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory
Michigan State University

Stellar explosions such as Supernovae, Novae, and X-ray bursts are unique laboratories for physics under extreme conditions and are closely linked to the fundamental question of the origin of the elements. The nuclear processes that create new elements in these explosions involve highly unstable nuclei that decay within milliseconds. Nevertheless, in their short life they manage to imprint their properties onto the nature of the explosion and and on the abundance distribution of the freshly synthesized elements.

With the advent of a new generation of radioactive beam facilities and the next generation of facilities on the horizon many of the unstable nuclei created and destroyed in stellar explosions can be studied experimentally. Together with advances in astronomy and theory we are now at a threshold for a new understanding of the nuclear processes in stellar explosions.

I will discuss the close relation between the properties of nuclei far from stability and some of the currenttly open questions in nuclear astrophysics. I will review our current knowledge of the underlying nuclear physics, and the prospects of advances using present and future radioactive beam facilities. Recent experimental data from experiments at the NSCL Coupled Cyclotron Facility will be presented.