Köln 2025 – scientific programme

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HK: Fachverband Physik der Hadronen und Kerne

HK 13: Focus Session I: Neutron capture reactions in the cosmos and the lab (joint session HK/SYMM)

HK 13.2: Invited Talk

Tuesday, March 11, 2025, 14:25–14:50, HS 1 Physik

n-capture experiments in inverse kinematics — •Rene Reifarth — LANL, Los Alamos, USA

Virtually all of the isotopes heavier than iron would not exist without neutron-induced reactions. Despite there importance in many different astrophysical scenarios, there are almost no direct measurements for isotopes with half-lives shorter than a few years. A radically new approach is necessary to overcome this constraint.

Ion storage rings offer unprecedented possibilities to investigate radioactive isotopes of astrophysical importance in inverse kinematics. During the last years, a series of pioneering experiments proofed the feasibility of this concept for the fusion of charged paricles at the Experimental Storage Ring (ESR) at GSI. In the future, a combination of a free-neutron target and an ion storage ring can bring the half-life limit for direct neutron-induced reactions down to fractions of a minute.

I will review different astrophysical scenarios, status of current experiments as well as prospects of this new experimental endeavor.