This two-year award will support U.S.-France cooperative research in theoretical nuclear physics. The American and French investigators are Stuart Pittel of the Bartol Research Institute at the University of Delaware and Jonathan Engel of the University of North Carolina and Piet van Isacker of GANIL (Grand Accelerateur National d' Ions Lourds) in Caen, France. The objective of their research is the application of nuclear structure techniques to astrophysical nucleosynthesis. They will study beta decay from neutron rich `waiting point` nuclei which play an important role in the r-process. Subsequently, they will develop techniques for studying p-process beta decay. The U.S. investigators bring to this collaboration their expertise in calculations as applied to nuclear astrophysics. This is complemented by the French experimental studies in nuclei far from stability. The project takes advantage of combined expertise in nuclear structure calculations and of access to excellent facilities and equipment at GANIL.
