This award will enable acquisition of a state-of-the-art 5MV Pelletron accelerator to continue and significantly expand the broad portfolio of experimental capabilities for the nuclear astrophysics program at the Nuclear Structure Laboratory (NSL) at Notre Dame University. Over the last decades, the nuclear astrophysics program at NSL has gained international prominence with its scientific focus on the study of nuclear reactions at stellar burning conditions. The main goal is to probe low energy fusion reactions critical for stellar hydrogen, helium and carbon burning, using complementary experimental techniques. The new accelerator will significantly enhance the present experimental capabilities of the laboratory, complementing present and future efforts in underground measurements.
The new accelerator also will enable the development of inverse kinematics techniques at the newly designed St. George recoil separator using intense low energy, heavy-ion beams. These techniques promise significant advances in efficiency and background reduction for low energy reaction measurements, emerging as a unique alternative or complement to the underground accelerator approach. The 5 MV heavy-ion accelerator opens new research avenues and opportunities that will significantly enhance the laboratory's capability to measure key nuclear reactions at energy conditions close to stellar hydrogen, helium, and carbon burning. A new accelerator, coupled to the recoil mass separator, will make the NSL a unique and world-leading facility for the study of the nuclear processes in all phases of stellar evolution.
The NSL operates one of the leading international experimental programs in nuclear astrophysics. The program attracts many collaborators worldwide; in 2007 alone the NSL had 68 outside users from 17 US institutions and 15 foreign countries. The laboratory provides training and education opportunities for a large number of ND graduate students (presently 21) and undergraduate students (15 annually) in nuclear physics with up to 30% minority and female students. Direct access to the accelerator and the opportunity to perform or develop small-scale experiments provides invaluable training. As a consequence, ND students are extremely successful in the job market in industry, academia, and national laboratories. During the summer months, the NSL hosts up to 10 additional undergraduate students and 2 high school teachers with approximately 10-15 high school students through the ND JINA outreach and REU/RET program. The new accelerator also will strengthen the accelerator-based nuclear applications program that was developed at ND over the last five years. This program introduces non-physics faculty to the benefit of new analytical methods in their fields and attracts their students into the NSL to take advantage of new research opportunities.
