External news and journal publications discussing FRIB science.
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.
