Nuclear Astrophysics

Nuclear physics has a long and productive history of application to astrophysics which continues today. Advances in the accuracy and breadth of astrophysical data and theory drive the need for better experimental and theoretical understanding of the underlying nuclear physics. This paper will review some of the scenarios where nuclear physics plays an important role, including Big Bang Nucleosynthesis, neutrino production by our sun, nucleosynthesis in novae, the creation of elements heavier than iron, and neutron stars. Big-bang nucleosynthesis is concerned with the formation of elements with A <= 7 in the early Universe; the primary nuclear physics inputs required are few-nucleon reaction cross sections. The nucleosynthesis of heavier elements involves a variety of proton-, alpha-, neutron-, and photon-induced reactions, coupled with radioactive decay. The advent of radioactive ion beam facilities has opened an important new avenue for studying these processes, as many involve radioactive species. Nuclear physics also plays an important role in neutron stars: both the nuclear equation of state and cooling processes involving neutrino emission play a very important role. Recent developments and also the interplay between nuclear physics and astrophysics will be highlighted.Comment: To be published in the Proceedings of 19th Lake Louise Winter Institute (15-21 February 2004). 9 pages, 3 figure

R-matrix Methods with an application to 12C(alpha,gamma)16O

We review some aspects of R-matrix theory and its application to the semi-empirical analysis of nuclear reactions. Important applications for nuclear astrophysics and recent results for the ${}^{12}{\rm C}(\alpha,\gamma){}^{16}{\rm O}$ reaction are emphasized.Comment: 7 pages. Published in the Proceedings of the Fifth European Summer School on Experimental Nuclear Astrophysics, Santa Tecla, Sicily, Italy, 20-27 September 2009, Editors Claudio Spitaleri, Claus Rolfs, and Rosario Gianluca Pizzone, AIP Conference Proceedings number 1213 (AIP, New York, 2010), pp. 35-4

Angular distributions of γ rays from the 7Li(p,γ) reaction at low energies

Angular distributions of the 14–17 MeV γ rays from the 7Li(p,γ) reaction at Ep=450, 402, and 80 keV were measured at 0°≤θlab≤135°, using a BGO detector and a 28-μg/cm2 LiF target. The angular distributions at Ep=450 and 402 keV agree with the previous results by Mainsbridge; at Ep=80 keV the ground-state transition is anisotropic on the order of 20%, confirming recent results by Chasteler et al

Sulfur cycling and metabolism of phototrophic and filamentous sulfur bacteria

Phototrophic sulfur bacteria taken from different habitate (Alum Rock State Park, Palo Alto salt marsh, and Big Soda Lake) were grown on selective media, characterized by morphological and pigment analysis, and compared with bacteria maintained in pure culture. A study was made of the anaerobic reduction of intracellular sulfur globules by a phototrophic sulfur bacterium (Chromatium vinosum) and a filamentous aerobic sulfur bacterium (Beggiatoa alba). Buoyant densities of different bacteria were measured in Percoll gradients. This method was also used to separate different chlorobia in mixed cultures and to assess the relative homogeneity of cultures taken directly or enriched from natural samples (including the purple bacterial layer found at a depth of 20 meters at Big Soda Lake.) Interactions between sulfide oxidizing bacteria were studied

The structure of borders in a small world

Geographic borders are not only essential for the effective functioning of government, the distribution of administrative responsibilities and the allocation of public resources, they also influence the interregional flow of information, cross-border trade operations, the diffusion of innovation and technology, and the spatial spread of infectious diseases. However, as growing interactions and mobility across long distances, cultural, and political borders continue to amplify the small world effect and effectively decrease the relative importance of local interactions, it is difficult to assess the location and structure of effective borders that may play the most significant role in mobility-driven processes. The paradigm of spatially coherent communities may no longer be a plausible one, and it is unclear what structures emerge from the interplay of interactions and activities across spatial scales. Here we analyse a multi-scale proxy network for human mobility that incorporates travel across a few to a few thousand kilometres. We determine an effective system of geographically continuous borders implicitly encoded in multi-scale mobility patterns. We find that effective large scale boundaries define spatially coherent subdivisions and only partially coincide with administrative borders. We find that spatial coherence is partially lost if only long range traffic is taken into account and show that prevalent models for multi-scale mobility networks cannot account for the observed patterns. These results will allow for new types of quantitative, comparative analyses of multi-scale interaction networks in general and may provide insight into a multitude of spatiotemporal phenomena generated by human activity.Comment: 9 page