RUI: Nuclear Science with Undergraduate Researchers: Studies of Nuclei at the Extremes and New Applications of Nuclear Techniques

Hope College, Holland MI

Investigators

Abstract

Fundamental nuclear physics deals with questions related to the structure and behavior of nuclei. In particular, questions about the specific form of the nuclear force and questions about how heavy elements are formed in the universe are of interest. One component of this work will involve measuring the structure of very neutron-rich, unstable nuclei at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams as part of the MoNA (Modular Neutron Array) collaboration. These measurements allow theorists to refine models of the nuclear force. A second component will be to measure how radioactive neutron-rich nuclei decay with CARIBU as part of the SuN (Summing NaI) collaboration at Argonne National Laboratories. This information is needed for a complete understanding of how heavy elements are formed in neutron star mergers and supernovas. A range of applied questions will be investigated with the Hope College 1.7 MV particle accelerator, which is capable of particle-induced x-ray spectroscopy, particle induced gamma-ray spectroscopy, and Rutherford backscatter spectroscopy. These analytic tools can be applied to measure the elements present in and overall structure of a wide variety of liquid and solid samples. Lastly, this award will support a nuclear science educational outreach program to area under served K-12 students The Hope College Nuclear Group is very involved with two large collaborations: One is the Modular Neutron Array (MoNA) collaboration (led by Paul Gueye and other FRIB researchers along with researchers from a number of PUI institutions) and the other is the Summing NaI (SuN) group (led by Artemis Spyrou, FRIB researchers, and other national and international collaborators). The Nuclear group will also collaborate with the LPC-Caen Nuclear Structure Group (part of the SAMURAI collaboration at RIKEN) as part of the scope of this work. Hope undergraduates will participate in planning, running experiments, data analysis, detector development, detector construction, multi-neutron identification algorithm development, and manuscript preparation. In particular, the Nuclear Group has major responsibility for MoNA trigger logic and SuN tape target control. Currently there are two PAC-approved MoNA experiments upcoming at FRIB: one focused on unbound 30F and the other on unbound states in 53Ca. In addition to a number of SuN experiments to be conducted with CARIBU at Argonne National Laboratories, of special note is a Modular Total Absorption Spectrometer (MTAS) based experiment with beams around 128Ag at FRIB (PAC1 ) and a ReA experiment, based on 73As, of which part of the setup, the anti-cosmic ray shield, was previously constructed at Hope College. Student researchers at Hope College will continue to participate, analyze (specializing on extraction of beta intensity functions), and publish results from these opportunities. The Nuclear Group will also work with other research groups, inside and outside of Hope, to characterize samples with Particle Induced X-ray Emission spectroscopy (PIXE), Particle Induced Gamma-ray Emission spectroscopy (PIGE), and Rutherford Backscatter spectroscopy (RBS) along with the Hope 1.7 MV accelerator, which includes microfocusing ability. This will include attempts to improve detection limits of PFAS contamination in water with PIGE. Lastly the PIs will partner with the ExploreHope Academic Outreach to work with K-12 students. This project advances the objectives of "Windows on the Universe: the Era of Multi-Messenger Astrophysics", one of the 10 Big Ideas for Future NSF Investments. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.