Facility for Rare Isotope Beams

The astrophysical origin of the heavy elements (masses greater than Rb) remains an open question. A new opportunity to directly probe regions where heavy elements may have formed, specifically as a result of active r-process nucleosynthesis, is provided by recent measurements of spectroscopy of neutron star merger ejecta. Optical and infrared spectra of the recent neutron star merger heralded by the first observation of a gravitational wave were obtained by an array of ground- and space-based telescopes. However, laboratory spectroscopic data on the vast range of heavy elements are so severely limited that emission models are only in qualitative agreement with the observed spectra. Recent experimental results by our group for the electronic structure of singly to triply-charged gold atoms, obtained at the Compact Toroidal Hybrid plasma experiment at Auburn University provide insight into the astrophysically observed spectra. Time permitting I will briefly discuss our current work cataloguing the x-ray spectroscopy resulting from charge exchange between Highly Charged Ions and astrophysically relevant neutral targets. Bio: Joan Marler received her PhD in Physics in 2005 from the University of California –San Diego, where she investigated elastic and inelastic cross-sections of positrons with atoms and molecules. Following that, she has done postdocs studying electron plasmas in toroidial traps, CQED with laser cooled ions in rf traps and low temperature chemistry with trapped ions. Currently, she is an associate professor at Clemson University where she and her team investigate single and multi-charged ion physics especially in the context of astrophysically relevant systems.

The MSUFCU Arts Power Up Arts Residency will host this fall its second artist, Violeta Lopez. Violeta is an interdisciplinary artist who takes a multimedia approach to her practice, merging analog and digital through visuals, sound and words. The resulting work explores language, literature and science from a poetic perspective. For the first colloquium of the year we invite everyone to join us in welcoming Violeta and learning about her experiences and her plans for interacting with physicists at MSU and creating her own unique art work. The MSUFCU Arts Power Up Arts Residency Program is a collaboration between the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB), the MSU Museum CoLab Studio, and the STEAMpower Project. It is generously funded by an endowment from the Michigan State University Federal Credit Union (MSUFCU), and administered by University Arts and Collections.

Committee: Ryan Ringle (Chairperson), Paul Gueye, Daniel Hayden, Witold Nazarewicz, Stuart Tessmer

PHITS (Particle and Heavy Ion Transport code System) is a general-purpose Monte Carlo particle transport simulation code developed under a collaboration between several institutes all over the world. It can simulate the transport of nearly all particles over wide energy ranges, using nuclear reaction models and nuclear data libraries. PHITS can support research in the fields of particle and heavy ion transport phenomena

To advance our understanding of the universe, from physics beyond the Standard Model to cosmic events, a unified approach to nuclear structure and reactions is essential. This requires combining few-body techniques with ab initio many-body calculations of nuclear structure, supported by Effective Field Theory and uncertainty quantification. In this talk, I will outline the No-Core Shell Model with Continuum (NC-SMC), its extension, and its application in supporting a CERN program studying exotic nuclei through new experimental methods. The main challenge is developing precise methods that scale with A, while accounting for all relevant reaction channels, including those involving exotic particles.