This grant supports a program of research with the intense neutron flux and specialized instrumentation of the accelerator laboratory of the University of Kentucky. These facilities are being upgraded using funds from the EPSCOR Program of the National Science Foundation and from the state of Kentucky. Properties of collective excitations in heavy nuclei will be measured, with emphasis on shape-transitional regions of the nucleons. The measurements will probe the role of dynamical symmetries in determining nuclear spectra. Other measurements will study the coupling between reaction mechanism and nuclear structure, as well as the radiative capture of neutrons, protons, and alpha-particles by light mass nuclei. In addition to their nuclear physics implications, several of these studies also are important for understanding how the elements are synthesized during stellar evolution.
