Radioactive nuclei in the cosmos

NUCL 5

J. C. Blackmon, blackmon@lsu.edu, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Louisiana State University, 202 Nicholson Hall, Tower Dr, Baton Rouge, LA 70803-4001
Radioactive nuclei play an important role in many astrophysical phenomena, but particularly in stellar explosions where the time scale of the event can be shorter than the lifetime of many radioactive nuclei. Our understanding of stellar explosions like novae and X-ray bursts has been limited in part by a lack of experimental information on short-lived radioactive nuclei, but the development of low energy radioactive ions beams is now allowing some of these key reactions to be measured directly. We will present results from recent measurements at the Holifield Radioactive Ion Beam Facility, focusing on measurements that are important for understanding the hot-CNO cycle of reactions that powers novae and ignites X-ray bursts.