Physics 290E: Nuclear Astrophysics
Microphysics of the Cosmos
The Nuclear Astrophysics seminar for Spring 2010 meets on Wednesday afternoons at 3:30 pm in 325 LeConte Hall. LeConte Hall.
Nuclear physics is a critical component of the microphysics that drives the
evolution of the Universe. You are familiar with the story of "the
first
three
minutes"
of everything, in which the seeds of cosmic-scale structure began to germinate.
Big Bang nucleosynthesis provided perhaps the first precise constraint on early
cosmology, determining the baryon-to-photon ratio. But what happened after
that? How were the first stars made, and when? What role did their radiation,
magnetic fields, shock waves, and ejecta play in subsequent development of
large-scale structure? When and where were the elements heavier than helium
synthesized? How do massive stars die, and what determines their end state –
neutron star or black hole? What kinds of “nuclear forensics” can be done to
determine the conditions under which new nuclei are synthesized in novae,
supernovae, and neutron-star mergers?
This seminar will describe how astronomical observations, astrophysical and
stellar modeling, and laboratory measurements come together to help us
understand the evolution and composition of galaxies like the Milky Way. We
stress the “inner space – outer space” connections: the chain that leads from
nuclear properties measured in the laboratory (cross sections, lifetimes,
masses), through theoretical models of stellar formation, evolution, and death,
to some of nature’s most extreme astrophysical environments.
January 27, 2010 -- Wick Haxton (UCB and
LBNL): A Vast Overview of Nuclear Astrophysics: Experiments, Theories,
Computations, Implications
Lecture Notes
February 3, 2010 -- Carl Brune (University of
Ohio): "Stellar Helium Burning"
Lecture Notes
February 10, 2010 -- R.N. Boyd (Lawrence
Livermore National Lab): Supernovae and the Chirality of the Amino Acids
Lecture Notes
February 17, 2010 -- Wick Haxton (UCB and LBNL): The Nuclear Astrophysics of Core-Collapse Supernovae
February 24, 2010 -- TBA
March 3, 2010 -- TBA
March 10, 2010 -- TBA
March 17, 2010 -- TBA
March 24, 2010 -- TBA
March 31, 2010 -- TBA
April 7, 2010 -- TBA
April 14, 2010 -- TBA
April 21, 2010 -- TBA
April 28, 2010 -- TBA
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