Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Measurements Of Photon Beam Intensity At The High Intensity Gamma-Ray Source (Higs) Facility For Astrophysically Relevant Photodisintegration Reaction Cross Section, Evan G. Meekins

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

How nuclear reactions in stars and stellar explosions such as supernovae have forged the elements out of hydrogen and helium leftover from the Big Bang is a longstanding, still timely research topic in nuclear astrophysics. Although there is a fairly complete understanding of the production of the chemical elements and their isotopes up to iron by nuclear fusion in stars, important details concerning the production of the elements from iron to uranium remain puzzling. Current knowledge is that the nucleosynthesis beyond iron proceeds mainly via neutron capture reactions and subsequent electron decays to stability. However, some 35 proton-rich stable isotopes, …