Grant: Subatomic Physics Envelope - Individual

This proposal seeks funding for my research program applying indirect methods to experimental nuclear astrophysics. The focus of this research is the experimental determination of the rates of nuclear reactions that occur in stars and astrophysical explosions. These reaction rates must be known in order to understand how energy is released in stars and stellar explosions, and to discover the origins of the chemical elements. Many of the most important reactions involve radioactive nuclei that don't occur naturally on Earth, and therefore must be created in the laboratory in order to be studied. Nuclear reaction rates can be determined directly if a beam of sufficient intensity can be produced, but such intense beams are available for only a tiny fraction of the relevant nuclei. In cases where direct study is presently impossible, indirect methods can be brought to bear. These methods, which involve the determination of the properties of the states of the compound nuclei formed in reactions of astrophysical interest, are quite powerful and often yield sufficient information to determine the nuclear reaction rates needed. One of the tools we intend to exploit at TRIUMF in the future for these studies of nuclear structure relevant to astrophysics is the recently funded ElectroMagnetic Mass Analyser (EMMA), of which I am the principal investigator. EMMA is a recoil mass spectrometer that will be used to separate the recoils of nuclear reactions from the beam used to produce them and to disperse the recoils according to their charge-to-mass ratio. We are currently building EMMA, and anticipate that it will be fully commissioned and ready for first experiments in 2011, at which point we will apply for an EMMA project grant. Until that time, it is essential that I continue to carry out my experimental program. As I am very busy with EMMA, I require a group of students and postdoctoral researchers to help me with this research. I therefore request continued funding for my research in indirect methods in experimental nuclear astrophysics via an individual discovery grant. This would support my ongoing experiments at TRIUMF, including student and postdoc salaries as well as detectors, electronics, and travel to conferences.