[Triumf-seminars] TRIUMF Theory Seminar today at 13:00

[TRIUMF Seminars]

Date/Time: Wed 2021-11-10 at 13:00

Location:  Remote              

Speaker:   Nicole Vassh (TRIUMF)

Title:     Fresh approaches to using solar isotopic abundances to determine heavy element origins

Abstract: The era of multi-messenger astronomy presents exciting new paths toward understanding single astrophysical events, but our Sun and meteorites remain the most key informants of the origins of the heaviest elements in our Solar System. We will break down the question of heavy element origins to ask what was the dominant astrophysical source that enriched our Solar System as well as what was the last event to contribute. When considering the last source of enrichment, traces of radioactive isotopes in meteorites are of interest since they point back to only the most recent events due to their decay timescales. We will discuss the diagnostic power of two particularly special radioactive isotopes and compare their abundance ratio in meteorites to those predicted by nucleosynthesis calculations for neutron star mergers and rare supernovae. To address the question of the dominant source, statistical methods offer a fresh and innovative approach to map observation back to fundamental physics. We will discuss the methodology of applying such techniques to the solar isotopic abundances and consider what our findings indicate for the nuclear properties of neutron-rich rare-earth isotopes as well as the astrophysical environment in which these species formed. We will also briefly discuss future studies which will be pursued by my new research program here at TRIUMF which I would be excited to pursue in collaboration with interested members of the TRIUMF community.


https://ubc.zoom.us/j/62535266430?pwd=THVrUzhMdjAyVkNnM05OUWRZYUppZz09

Meeting ID: 625 3526 6430
Passcode: 307647



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