Blackmon Studying RIBF
Jeffrey Blackmon is working with colleagues at Texas A&M ¾Å¾Å¸£ÀûÍø, Washington ¾Å¾Å¸£ÀûÍø, IFIN-HH (Romania), Universite de Caen (France), INFN (Italy); Oxford ¾Å¾Å¸£ÀûÍø (United Kingdom), and Kyushu ¾Å¾Å¸£ÀûÍø (Japan) on a series of experiments using rare isotope beams at the newly commissioned Radioactive Isotope Beam Factory (RIBF) in Japan. RIBF, the most powerful radioactive beam facility in the world, makes it possible to do cutting-edge experiments with nuclei that only live fractions of a second. The goal of the experiments is to study the nuclear reactions that occur in stellar explosions such as novae, X-ray bursts, and supernovae. The nuclear reactions occurring in these events are believed to have formed most of the elements found in our Galaxy. Catherine Deibel discussed the experimental nuclear physics group's astrophysics-related research in the year's first for high school students and the public on Oct. 20.