LUNA: the first and the next 25 years of nuclear astrophysics at Gran Sasso

  • Dipartimento di Fisica - Aula 500
  • Seminario

Relatori

Prof. Paolo Prati
Dipartimento di Fisica - Università di Genova

Dettagli

Underground nuclear astrophysics was born twenty five years ago in the core of Gran Sasso, when LUNA (Laboratory for Underground Nuclear Astrophysics) started its activity with a 50kV accelerator,  implementing the visionary idea of Enrico Bellotti, Gianni Fiorentini and Claus Rolfs.

As a matter of fact, the extremely low laboratory background has allowed for the first time the realization of nuclear physics experiments with very small count rates, down to a couple of events per month. This way, the important reactions responsible for the hydrogen burning in the Sun could be studied down to the relevant stellar energies.

In addition to the solar phase of LUNA, a rich program lasting for several years and devoted to the study of the Big Bang nucleosynthesis and of the nucleosynthesis of the elements through the CNO, Mg-Al and Ne-Na cycles in different stars could be developed and still is on the way.

Today, after the first 25 years of LUNA, a new phase has started with the ambitious LUNA-MV project: a 3.5 MV accelerator is going to be installed in the Hall B of the underground laboratory. The new facility will open the possibility to study reactions of the Helium and Carbon burning phase of stars, directly at the energies of astrophysical interest.

The seminar will introduce the challenging experimental problems of  nuclear astrophysics, it will go through the main LUNA results and will describe the scientific program for the first years of  LUNA-MV.