An international team of researchers, led by scientists from FRIB, uncovered evidence that astrophysics models of massive stars and supernovae are inconsistent with observational gamma-ray astronomy. The discovery came after the team used an innovative new experimental method to investigate uncertain nuclear properties of an unstable isotope.
“Of Equal Place: Isotopes in Motion,” a collaboration between Michigan State University’s Wharton Center and FRIB and national dance company Dance Exchange, returned to the stage for the first time since its 2022 premiere on 14 November at Wharton’s Cobb Great Hall.
An international team of researchers, led by scientists from FRIB, uncovered evidence that astrophysics models of massive stars and supernovae are inconsistent with observational gamma-ray astronomy. The discovery came after the team used an innovative new experimental method to investigate uncertain nuclear properties of an unstable isotope.
“Of Equal Place: Isotopes in Motion,” a collaboration between Michigan State University’s Wharton Center and FRIB and national dance company Dance Exchange, returned to the stage for the first time since its 2022 premiere on 14 November at Wharton’s Cobb Great Hall.
A large research collaboration, led by the GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research in Germany, united an international team of scientists to gain deeper insights into the role of nuclear shell effects in the heaviest elements. The team included FRIB’s Witek Nazarewicz and Alyssa Gaiser.
In a recent paper in Nature Physics, an international research collaboration – led by Alexandra Gade, professor of physics at FRIB and in MSU's Department of Physics and Astronomy and FRIB scientific director – used world-class instrumentation at FRIB to study the exotic nuclide, or rare isotope, chromium-62.
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Facility for Rare Isotope Beams have achieved a significant milestone in the study of isotopes. In their latest experiment, they accelerated a high-power uranium beam. They delivered a record 10.4 kilowatts of continuous beam power to a target. This breakthrough is highly relevant in current scenarios when researchers worldwide require a uranium primary beam to study rare isotopes.
A team of scientists, including researchers from FRIB, published an article in Nature Physics on how research on neutron-rich nuclei shows that in the so-called islands of inversion, they are deformed rather than spherical in their ground states.
Kyle Leach, adjunct associate professor of physics at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB), was honored with the 2025 Francis M. Pipkin Award by the American Physical Society (APS).
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Facility for Rare Isotope Beams have achieved a significant milestone in the study of isotopes. In their latest experiment, they accelerated a high-power uranium beam. They delivered a record 10.4 kilowatts of continuous beam power to a target. This breakthrough is highly relevant in current scenarios when researchers worldwide require a uranium primary beam to study rare isotopes.
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Facility for Rare Isotope Beams have achieved a significant milestone in the study of isotopes. In their latest experiment, they accelerated a high-power uranium beam. They delivered a record 10.4 kilowatts of continuous beam power to a target. This breakthrough is highly relevant in current scenarios when researchers worldwide require a uranium primary beam to study rare isotopes.
The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science (DOE-SC) posted a highlight titled “Making difficult quantum many-body calculations possible” about the introduction of a new approach called wavefunction matching that helps solve difficult quantum many-body calculations. Authors of the publication are from the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams at Michigan State University. Each year, scientists publish thousands of research findings in the scientific literature. About 200 of these are selected annually by their respective program areas in DOE-SC as publication highlights of special note.
Scientists and engineers at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) have reached a new milestone in isotope studies. They accelerated a high-power beam of uranium ions and delivered a record 10.4 kilowatts of continuous beam power to a target. The work is published in the journal Physical Review Accelerators and Beams.
Artemis Spyrou, professor of physics at the Facility of Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) and in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Michigan State University (MSU), and Sean Liddick, associate professor of chemistry at FRIB and in MSU’s Department of Chemistry, and FRIB associate director for experimental science, have authored a piece about how scientists today continue to use ideas from the nuclear shell model to explain new phenomena in nuclear science to create more exotic nuclei to understand how their properties change compared with their stable counterparts.
Scientists and engineers at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) have reached a new milestone in isotope studies. They accelerated a high-power beam of uranium ions and delivered a record 10.4 kilowatts of continuous beam power to a target. Uranium is the most difficult element to accelerate. However, it is extremely important to scientific research. Of the more than 17 highest-priority scientific programs with rare isotope beams identified by the National Academy of Sciences and the Nuclear Science Advisory Committee, more than half require a uranium primary beam.
The Department of Energy (DOE) has given the green light for construction to begin on a high-energy upgrade that will further boost the performance of the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), the world's most powerful X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL) at the DOE's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. When complete, the upgrade will allow scientists to explore atomic-scale processes with unprecedented precision and address fundamental questions in energy storage, catalysis, biology, materials science and quantum physics like never before. SLAC has teamed up with national labs, along with the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams at Michigan State University for the LCLS-II-HE upgrade project.
Artemis Spyrou, professor of physics at the Facility of Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) and in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Michigan State University (MSU), and Sean Liddick, associate professor of chemistry at FRIB and in MSU’s Department of Chemistry, and FRIB associate director for experimental science, have authored a piece about how scientists today continue to use ideas from the nuclear shell model to explain new phenomena in nuclear science to create more exotic nuclei to understand how their properties change compared with their stable counterparts.
Artemis Spyrou, professor of physics at the Facility of Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) and in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Michigan State University (MSU), and Sean Liddick, associate professor of chemistry at FRIB and in MSU’s Department of Chemistry, and FRIB associate director for experimental science, have authored a piece about how scientists today continue to use ideas from the nuclear shell model to explain new phenomena in nuclear science to create more exotic nuclei to understand how their properties change compared with their stable counterparts.
Artemis Spyrou, professor of physics at the Facility of Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) and in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Michigan State University (MSU), and Sean Liddick, associate professor of chemistry at FRIB and in MSU’s Department of Chemistry, and FRIB associate director for experimental science, have authored a piece about how scientists today continue to use ideas from the nuclear shell model to explain new phenomena in nuclear science to create more exotic nuclei to understand how their properties change compared with their stable counterparts.
Artemis Spyrou, professor of physics at the Facility of Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) and in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Michigan State University (MSU), and Sean Liddick, associate professor of chemistry at FRIB and in MSU’s Department of Chemistry, and FRIB associate director for experimental science, have authored a piece about how scientists today continue to use ideas from the nuclear shell model to explain new phenomena in nuclear science to create more exotic nuclei to understand how their properties change compared with their stable counterparts.
The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science (DOE-SC) posted a highlight titled “Scientists accelerate uranium beam with record power” about the new milestone in isotope studies that scientists and engineers at FRIB have made. Authors of the publication are from the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams at Michigan State University. Each year, scientists publish thousands of research findings in the scientific literature. About 200 of these are selected annually by their respective program areas in DOE-SC as publication highlights of special note.
Researchers from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Accelerator Technology & Applied Physics (ATAP) division have teamed up with colleagues from Michigan State University's Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB), the world's most powerful heavy-ion accelerator, to develop a new superconducting magnet based on niobium-tin technology.
Filomena Nunes, professor of physics at FRIB and in MSU’s Department of Physics and Astronomy, has authored an article covering the three women physicists who have received Nobel Prize honors in the 21st century.
A team of scientists, including researchers from FRIB, published an article in Nature Physics on the electromagnetic properties of indium isotopes illuminating the doubly magic character of tin-100.
Using precision laser measurements at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, scientists have quantified the nuclear radii of silicon isotopes to improve nuclear theories and our understanding of neutron star matter.
The Department of Energy (DOE) has given the green light for construction to begin on a high-energy upgrade that will further boost the performance of the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), the world's most powerful X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL) at the DOE's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. When complete, the upgrade will allow scientists to explore atomic-scale processes with unprecedented precision and address fundamental questions in energy storage, catalysis, biology, materials science and quantum physics like never before. SLAC has teamed up with national labs, along with the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams at Michigan State University for the LCLS-II-HE upgrade project.
The Department of Energy (DOE) has given the green light for construction to begin on a high-energy upgrade that will further boost the performance of the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), the world’s most powerful X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL) at the DOE’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. When complete, the upgrade will allow scientists to explore atomic-scale processes with unprecedented precision and address fundamental questions in energy storage, catalysis, biology, materials science and quantum physics like never before. SLAC has teamed up with national labs, along with the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams at Michigan State University for the LCLS-II-HE upgrade project.
Construction is set to begin on a high-energy upgrade that will further boost the performance of the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), the world's most powerful X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL) at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. SLAC has teamed up with national labs, along with the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) at Michigan State University, for the LCLS-II-HE upgrade project.
The synthesis of heavy elements in stars is one of the main puzzles of nuclear astrophysics. Scientists at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams recently introduced a new stellar process, the intermediate “i" process, to explain new astronomical observations. Researchers need accurate nuclear input to identify the stellar site of the i-process. Scientists have now reported on the measurement of a nuclear reaction that affects the production of lanthanum in the i-process. The researchers have shown that the proposed i-process conditions are viable and can explain astronomical observations.
The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science (DOE-SC) posted a highlight titled “Nuclear physics experiment helps identify conditions for a new astrophysical process” about how scientists have reported on the measurement of a nuclear reaction that affects the production of lanthanum in the i-process. The researchers have shown that the proposed i-process conditions are viable and can explain astronomical observations. Authors of the publication are from the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams at Michigan State University and Argonne National Laboratory. Each year, scientists publish thousands of research findings in the scientific literature. About 200 of these are selected annually by their respective program areas in DOE-SC as publication highlights of special note.
Ohio University’s Christian Drischler is building a strong foundation for a lifetime of leadership in research and education. Drischler is an assistant professor of physics and astronomy in the College of Arts and Sciences and bridge faculty of the FRIB Theory Alliance who conducts research at the intersection of theoretical nuclear physics and nuclear astrophysics. His projects will advance the scientific community's understanding of these complex fields, support Ohio students and educate the community through accessible learning events.
The Michigan State University (MSU) Museum is pleased to announce the opening of an exhibition by Berlin-based Studio Korinsky, inspired by Abel Korinsky’s MSUFCU Arts Power Up Artist-in-Residence. The exhibition will launch the Museum’s new temporary space at 311 Abbot in downtown East Lansing. A public opening reception will take place on Saturday, 5 October 2024, from 1:00 – 3:00 PM. Artist Abel Korinsky spent three transformative months in residence at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB), a world-unique rare isotope research facility.
Michigan State University leaders hosted U.S. Under Secretary of Education James Kvaal to share information about MSU’s programs and impact on the future of higher education. Under Secretary Kvaal, who came to campus on 4 September as part of a nationwide higher education listening tour, visited two of MSU’s key facilities, including the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams and the STEM Teaching and Learning Facility.
Recently, an international team, including researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory and the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, obtained new experimental data that clarifies how some of the heaviest elements in the universe are formed in stars. This discovery begins to answer fundamental questions about our origins. In particular, the team obtained the first experimental constraints for measuring the rate of the process in which neutrons collide and merge with a nucleus of the isotope barium-139 to form barium-140.
Recently, an international team, including researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory and the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, obtained new experimental data that clarifies how some of the heaviest elements in the universe are formed in stars. This discovery begins to answer fundamental questions about our origins. The findings are published in the journal Physical Review Letters.
Recently, an international team, including researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory and the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, obtained new experimental data that clarifies how some of the heaviest elements in the universe are formed in stars. This discovery begins to answer fundamental questions about our origins.
The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science (DOE-SC) posted a highlight titled “'Mirror' nuclei help connect nuclear theory and neutron stars” about researchers using laser spectroscopy measurements of atomic isotope shifts to measure the nuclear radius of different silicon isotopes. Authors of the publication are from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams at Michigan State University. Each year, scientists publish thousands of research findings in the scientific literature. About 200 of these are selected annually by their respective program areas in DOE-SC as publication highlights of special note.
Laurent Bili, the Ambassador of France to the United States, visited the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, or FRIB, at Michigan State University on 22 July. The French research organization National Centre for Scientific Research, or CNRS, and MSU established the International Research Laboratory on Nuclear Physics and Astrophysics, or IRL NPA, at FRIB in July 2023. Leveraging FRIB’s world-unique research capabilities, IRL NPA is located at FRIB and dedicated to answering fundamental nuclear physics and astrophysics research questions.
In a recent study published in the journal Physical Review Letters, a team of researchers, including a scientist from the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, has challenged the accuracy of current theoretical models describing helium's transition from its ground to its first excited state. By studying this process through electron scattering, they uncovered a discrepancy between experimental and theoretical results. To address this, a multidisciplinary team has undertaken a fresh calculation of the observed transition.
The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science (DOE-SC) posted a highlight titled “Exciting the alpha particle” about a recent experiment in Germany that studied the helium-4 nucleus, also known as an alpha particle. Authors of the publication are from University of Bonn (Germany), Forschungszentrum Jülich (Germany), Gaziantep Islam Science and Technology University (Turkey), and the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams at Michigan State University. Each year, scientists publish thousands of research findings in the scientific literature. About 200 of these are selected annually by their respective program areas in DOE-SC as publication highlights of special note.
In a new study, researchers from the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams and Indiana State University have performed the most comprehensive computation to-date of fusion reaction processes. The study used supercomputing facilities to perform thousands of time-dependent simulations. The work is published in the journal Physical Review C.
The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science (DOE-SC) posted a highlight titled “Researchers directly simulate the fusion of oxygen and carbon nuclei” about a study that measured the probability of fusing oxygen isotopes with carbon nuclei as a function of energy. The authors of the publication are from the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams and Indiana State University. Each year, scientists publish thousands of research findings in the scientific literature. About 200 of these are selected annually by their respective program areas in DOE-SC as publication highlights of special note.
Scientists at the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Michigan State University (MSU) have reproduced in a laboratory one of the specific reactions that occurs when a neutron star gobbles up mass from a nearby companion star. This effort has collaborators from nine institutions across three countries, including the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, a DOE Office of Science user facility that MSU operates. In their lab environment, the team of researchers used the world’s highest-density helium jet to recreate the nuclear reaction. The experiment produced the same physics on Earth that occurs in outer space.
Ian Cox is proof that you don't always have to travel far to go a long way. He grew up in Knoxville, graduated from Hardin Valley Academy, and came to the University of Tennessee Knoxville on a physics scholarship. Now he's finishing a PhD in nuclear physics with Professor Robert Grzywacz and is first author on a Physical Review Letters publication detailing a new approach to understanding exotic nuclei. Researchers from 13 universities and five national laboratories collaborated on this investigation at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB), a premiere research hub at Michigan State University.
The Michigan State University Board of Trustees authorized construction of a high-bay addition to the west end of the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB). The addition will triple the testing capacity of the current chip-testing facility by providing two additional user vaults. The K500 Chip Testing Facility at FRIB will help meet the current national shortfall of testing capacity for advanced microelectronics, including those used for commercial spaceflight, wireless technology, and autonomous vehicles.
Michigan State University’s Board of Trustees approved a $17 million expansion to the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams’ Chip Testing Facility. As one of only three chip testing facilities based on heavy-ion accelerators, the facility is currently fully booked. The addition of two more “testing endstations” will triple its current capacity to test circuitry against cosmic rays, according to the proposal.
Physics of Atomic Nuclei (PAN) is a free week-long program that introduces students to the fundamentals of the extremely small domain of atomic nuclei and its connection to astrophysics and cosmology. The program is sponsored by the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) at Michigan State University.
Staff from The Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) Low Energy Beam and Ion Trap (LEBIT) facility take high-energy, rare-isotope beams generated at FRIB and cool them to a lower energy state. Afterward, the researchers measure specific particles' masses at high precision. The LEBIT team recently published a research paper that used the facility to take a step in verifying the mass of aluminum-22. Researchers think this exotic isotope demonstrates a rare but interesting property—specifically, that the nucleus is surrounded by a "halo" of protons that loosely orbit the nucleus. This halo structure reveals distinctive physical properties during its fleeting existence.
Physicists Saori Pastore and Maria Piarulli in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis are part of an influential group of scientists shaping the theoretical framework behind exciting new experiments at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB), a $730 million U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science research facility.
According to the journal Nature, an international team of researchers, including scientists from the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, has suggested a novel approach for exploring strongly interacting systems using wavefunction matching.
FRIB researchers are part of an international research team solving challenging computational problems in quantum physics using a new method called wavefunction matching. The new approach has applications to fields such as nuclear physics, where it is enabling theoretical calculations of atomic nuclei that were previously not possible. The details are published in Nature.
Strongly interacting systems play an important role in quantum physics and quantum chemistry. Stochastic methods such as Monte Carlo simulations are a proven method for investigating such systems. However, these methods reach their limits when so-called sign oscillations occur. An international team of researchers, including scientists from the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, have solved this problem using the new method of wavefunction matching.
Strongly interacting systems play an important role in quantum physics and quantum chemistry. Stochastic methods such as Monte Carlo simulations are a proven method for investigating such systems. However, these methods reach their limits when so-called sign oscillations occur. This problem has now been solved by an international team of researchers, including scientists from the Facility for Rare Isotope beams, are using a new method of wavefunction matching.
Using ultrafast, atom-at-a-time methods, researchers are starting to explore the unmapped region of the periodic table and finding it as fantastical as any medieval cartographer’s imaginings. At the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams in Michigan, a new high-energy beam promises to give further insights into rapid neutron capture by packing more neutrons into isotopes than ever before possible.
The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science (DOE-SC) posted a highlight titled “The Facility for Rare Isotope Beams observes five never-before-seen isotopes” about how the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) discovered five never-before-seen heavy element isotopes: thulium-182 and 183, ytterbium-186 and 187, and lutetium-190. The authors of the publication are from FRIB, the Institute for Basic Science, and RIKEN Nishina Center for Accelerator-Based Science. Each year, scientists publish thousands of research findings in the scientific literature. About 200 of these are selected annually by their respective program areas in DOE-SC as publication highlights of special note.
An international research team at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) at Michigan State University has successfully created five new isotopes, bringing the stars closer to Earth. The isotopes—known as thulium-182, thulium-183, ytterbium-186, ytterbium-187, and lutetium-190—were reported 15 February in the journal Physical Review Letters.
Boosted by the £3.4m FRIB Accelerated-beams for Understanding Science and Technology (FAUST) project, funded by the UK Research and Innovation’s Science and Technology Facilities Council, researchers from the University of Surrey will create detectors for the new GRETA gamma-ray array. This array is part of Michigan State University’s $730 million FRIB particle accelerator.
Boosted by the £3.4m FRIB Accelerated-beams for Understanding Science and Technology (FAUST) project, funded by the UK Research and Innovation’s Science and Technology Facilities Council, researchers from the University of Surrey will create detectors for the new GRETA gamma-ray array. This array is part of Michigan State University’s $730 million FRIB particle accelerator.
A £3.4m project, funded by the UK Research and Innovation’s Science and Technology Facilities Council, will develop detectors to sit inside the Gamma-Ray Tracking Array at FRIB. The FRIB-Accelerated Beams for Understanding Science and Technology (FAUST) project uses detectors that can stop very high-energy particles in their tracks and measure the speed at which reactions take place inside stars.
Indiana Wesleyan University received a Major Research Instrumentation grant from the National Science Foundation, part of a larger $3.7M grant awarded to eight member institutions in the Modular Neutron Array Collaboration (MoNA). The award will be used to design, construct, test, and install a new high-resolution fast neutron detector array at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams.
Indiana Wesleyan University has received a Major Research Instrumentation grant from the National Science Foundation, as part of a larger $3.7M grant awarded to eight member institutions in the Modular Neutron Array Collaboration. The award, titled "Development of a Next Generation Fast Neutron Detector," will be used to design, construct, test, and install a new high-resolution fast neutron detector array at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, operated by the U.S. Department of Energy and located at Michigan State University.
Michigan State University’s Board of Trustees approved several infrastructure updates, including an expansion to the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB). “The proposed addition adds two more testing end-stations and the additional capacity provided by the building expansion addresses this national need by allowing user teams to test 24/7, eliminating current gaps in testing time needed for user team set-up and take-down,” the resolution said.
Michigan State University’s Board of Trustees voted to approve an expansion to the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB). The expansion will increase the facility’s ability to test vehicle chips against cosmic rays, the resolution said. Planning costs are estimated at $1 million.
Using quantum Monte Carlo calculations, researchers from Forschungszentrum Jülich, the University of Bonn, and the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams at Michigan State University computed the overlap between energy states of different Hamiltonians using the floating block method. The floating block method rearranges the time blocks in a stepwise manner by using imaginary (as opposed to real-valued) time evolution for two distinct Hamiltonians to compute the overlap between energy states.
As part of Michigan State University’s 2024 MSUFCU Arts Power Up artists-in-residence, Abel Korinsky of Berlin, Germany, is in residence during the spring semester. This inaugural open call for artists is a collaboration between the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams; the MSU Museum; the STEAMpower Project, Michigan State University’s art, science and culture collaborative; and Arts MSU. This new residency fosters collaboration, exploration, experimentation, and innovation on MSU’s vibrant campus, culminating in the creation of groundbreaking artworks at the intersection of art, science and technology.
The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science (DOE-SC) posted a highlight titled "Computing how quantum states overlap" about the FRIB research paper titled "Floating Block Method for Quantum Monte Carlo Simulations" published in Physical Review Letters. DOE-SC posts about 200 published research findings annually, selected by their respective program areas in DOE-SC as publication highlights of special note.
As part of Michigan State University’s 2024 MSUFCU Arts Power Up artists-in-residence, Abel Korinsky of Berlin, Germany, is in residence during the spring semester. This inaugural open call for artists is a collaboration between the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams; the MSU Museum; the STEAMpower Project, Michigan State University’s art, science and culture collaborative; and Arts MSU. This new residency fosters collaboration, exploration, experimentation, and innovation on MSU’s vibrant campus, culminating in the creation of groundbreaking artworks at the intersection of art, science and technology.
Aaron Philip, a Los Alamos, New Mexico native and Michigan State University student working as a professorial assistant at FRIB, has earned a Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship. The Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation provides scholarships to U.S. college freshmen and sophomores who are pursuing research careers in mathematics, natural sciences, and engineering.
The Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) and Impression 5 partnered to create the SMASH: A Nuclear Adventure exhibit, a journey into the world-leading nuclear research done at MSU. This special evening event (SMASH Bash) will offer free admission to the science center so you can try out all of the hands-on activities.
Understanding how a thermonuclear flame spreads across the surface of a neutron star—and what that spreading can tell us about the relationship between the neutron star's mass and its radius—can also reveal a lot about the star's composition. Astrophysicists recently used the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility's Summit supercomputer to compare models of X-ray bursts in 2D and 3D. Other facilities are used to study these astrophysical systems but are tackling other parts of the problem. The Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, or FRIB, at Michigan State University has launched the world's most powerful heavy ion accelerator. FRIB will explore the proton-rich nuclei that are created by X-ray bursts, and other researchers will be able to use that data to improve their own simulations.
International research teams from Massey University, the University of Mainz, Sorbonne University, and the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) have made notable strides in understanding superheavy elements, reshaping the concept of the periodic table's "island of stability." Their work, featured on the cover of February 2024's Nature Review Physics, alongside a related review in Physics Reports, delves into the atomic electronic structure theory of these elusive elements.
Scientists from Massey University in New Zealand, the University of Mainz in Germany, Sorbonne University in France, and the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) discuss the limit of the periodic table and revising the concept of the "island of stability" with recent advances in superheavy element research. Their work first appeared in Nature Reviews Physics.
The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science (DOE-SC) posted a highlight titled “Statisticians and physicists team up to bring a machine learning approach to mining of nuclear data” about how Bayesian statistical methods help improve the predictability of complex computational models in experimentally unknown research. The authors of the publication are from FRIB and Skidmore College. Each year, scientists publish thousands of research findings in the scientific literature. About 200 of these are selected annually by their respective program areas in DOE-SC as publication highlights of special note.
By colliding heavy ions, physicists at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams in the United States have created five previously unseen nuclear isotopes. Led by Oleg Tarasov at Michigan State University, the team identified the nuclei in the debris produced by the fragmentation of platinum-198.
The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science (DOE-SC) posted a highlight titled “The ‘nested doll’ nucleus nitrogen-9 stretches the definition of a nucleus to the limit.” In a recent study, scientists from Washington University in St. Louis, Fudan University in China, Western Michigan University, the University of Connecticut, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and FRIB present strong evidence for a new light isotope of nitrogen: nitrogen-9, an isotope that is overladen with protons. Each year, scientists publish thousands of research findings in the scientific literature. About 200 of these are selected annually by their respective program areas in DOE-SC as publication highlights of special note.
Scientists at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams have created new extraheavy versions of three silvery metals in an advance that could lead to better understanding of how some elements are forged in stars. None of these five isotopes has ever been created before—at least, not on Earth.
Researchers have synthesized five new isotopes that could help bring the stars down to Earth — and coax scientists a step closer to understanding how collisions between ultra-dense, dead stars could create heavy elements like gold and silver. Their creation took place at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) at Michigan State University, and represents a step towards building atoms on Earth that are typically only created in the ultra-turbulent environment around merging dead stars known as neutron stars.
Researchers at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams have synthesized five new isotopes that could help bring the stars down to Earth — and coax scientists a step closer to understanding how collisions between ultra-dense, dead stars could create heavy elements like gold and silver.
The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science (DOE-SC) posted a highlight titled “New calculations solve an alpha particle physics puzzle” about a new experimental measure of Helium-4’s transition from its ground energy state to an excited state, which closes an apparent gap with theoretical predictions. The study included theorists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Lanzhou, Grand Accelerateur National d’Ions Lourds in France, and the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams. DOE-SC posts about 200 published research findings annually, selected by their respective program areas in DOE-SC as publication highlights of special note.
By breaking apart the nuclei of platinum, physicists led by Oleg Tarasov of the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams at Michigan State University have discovered new isotopes of rare-earth elements thulium, ytterbium, and lutetium. It's an achievement that scientists believe will help them understand the properties of neutron-rich nuclei and the processes that forge new elements in the collision of neutron stars.
A team of researchers at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams at Michigan State University recently created and identified five new isotopes. Researchers said this will help them better understand how stars behave. The university said the creation of these isotopes will lead to more significant advancements in nuclear physics.
In creating five new isotopes, an international research team working at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) at Michigan State University has brought the stars closer to Earth. The isotopes—known as thulium-182, thulium-183, ytterbium-186, ytterbium-187 and lutetium-190—are reported in the journal Physical Review Letters.
Less than a year after its opening, the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams produced five never-before-seen isotopes for observation, a success that researchers say highlights the discovery potential of the facility.
Researchers at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) have created five new isotopes. They are the first batch of new isotopes made at FRIB. Researchers say the discoveries will help inform and refine our understanding of fundamental nuclear science.
The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science (DOE-SC) posted a highlight titled “Long-Lived State in Radioactive Sodium Discovered at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams” about the discovery of an unusually long-lived excited state, or isomer, in radioactive sodium-32. DOE-SC posts about 200 published research findings annually, selected by their respective program areas in DOE-SC as publication highlights of special note.
Michigan State University Honors College students Landon Buskirk and Andrew Yeomans-Stephenson, traveled to Hawaii for the joint meeting of the American Physical Society Division of Nuclear Physics and the Physical Society of Japan. The organizing committee selected Buskirk and Yeomans-Stephenson to present at the five-day event, based on papers the students submitted. Both students conduct research at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB).
In FRIB’s first year, its measurements tackled the changes in the structure of the shortest-lived nuclei, exotic decay modes, nuclear reactions that affect cosmic events such as X-ray bursts, and processes in the crusts of neutron stars.
An MSU assistant professor precisely targets cancer cells with diagnostics and therapies using radioisotopes produced by FRIB.
A team of scientists, including researchers from FRIB, published an article in Nature Astronomy on the determination of the equation of state from nuclear experiments and neutron star observations.
The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science (DOE-SC) posted a highlight titled “The Facility for Rare Isotope Beams after one year of operation” about the experiments performed at FRIB in its first year of operation. DOE-SC posts about 200 published research findings annually, selected by their respective program areas in DOE-SC as publication highlights of special note.