Grant: Subatomic Physics Envelope - Individual

I study the details of the internal structure of nuclei. Nuclei are the very small cores which are all that is left over when all of the electrons are removed from an atom. Excited nuclei can emit very high energy radiation, called gamma rays. I observe gamma rays using a spectrometer called TIGRESS which lives at TRIUMF in Vancouver, BC. The gamma rays I observe can tell me about what it is that keeps the nucleus bound together. I can learn more by observing gamma rays from nuclei that are not well bound together, or bound in an unusual way. To find those nuclei, I use the unstable beams provided by the ISAC accelerator at TRIUMF. Gamma rays can also teach me about exploding stars. The fuel in stars is nuclei and the way the nuclei burn is determined by their structure. The more we can learn about the structure of nuclei that are involved in stellar explosions, the more we can learn about how stellar explosions create elements.