Nuclear Physics Seminar

Massive stars end their lives in a supernova explosion triggered by the gravitational collapse of their inner core. The dynamics of the collapse is greatly determined by weak-interaction processes like electron captures on nuclei and neutrino-induced reactions. Novel experimental techniques and improved many-body models allow now an improved description of such processes which led to substantial modifications of the collapse simulations. Supernovae are also the environment of fast explosive nucleosynthesis. This most likely includes the r-process by which half of the elements heavier than iron are produced. The r-process runs through extremely neutronrich nuclei the properties of which have to be theoretically modelled due to the current lack of experimental data. Very recently a novel nucleosynthesis process has been found, named the $u$p process. It should occur in each supernova producing medium-mass nuclei and might be the long searched-for origin of the protonrich Mo and Ru nuclides. (Wspólne seminarium Fizyki Jądrowej i Struktury Jądra Atomowego)