Erlangen 2026 – scientific programme
Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Updates | Downloads | Help
HK: Fachverband Physik der Hadronen und Kerne
HK 16: Nuclear Astrophysics II
HK 16.7: Talk
Tuesday, March 17, 2026, 18:15–18:30, PHIL A 602
Constraining neutron capture rates for the r-process — •Christan Schlaier1, Jessica Berkman2, Konstantinos Bosmpotinis2, Sean Liddick2, Andrea Richard2, Artemis Spyrou2, and Dennis Muecher1 — 1Institute for Nuclear Physics, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany — 2FRIB, Michigan State University, USA
The formation of the second r-process peak (A ≈ 130) depends critically on neutron capture rates of nuclei below 132Sn. Current theoretical predictions for these rates vary by orders of magnitude.
In 2025, an experiment at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) at the Michigan State University was performed, aiming to experimentally constrain the neutron capture rates of these key nuclei for r-process nucleosynthesis, for the first time. The measurement utilized the SuN++ setup, which consists of the Summing NaI and CeBr3 (SuN++) detector coupled with an Double Sided Strip Detector (DSSD) for particle identification and beam correlation. A cocktail beam of neutron-rich isotopes centered around 128Ag was implanted into the setup to measure β-decay properties. The high efficiency and 4π coverage of SuN++ allow for the precise determination of β-decay intensities and the extraction of statistical nuclear properties, such as nuclear level densities and γ-ray strength functions. This contribution will discuss the experimental procedure and present preliminary results.
Keywords: r-process; neutron capture rates