Session U2: DNP Prize Session

Two Facets of the Deuteron

The deuteron, our simplest nucleus, provides a unique testing ground for our understanding of nuclear structure. With the advent of medium energy facilities that were constructed during the latter part of the last century, tremendous theoretical and experimental efforts were initiated. In particular, studies of the deuteron with beams of pions, electrons and photons were performed at a number of these facilities including LAMPF, MIT-Bates, VEPP-3 at Novosibirsk, SLAC and Jefferson Lab. Novel polarization techniques were developed for some of these studies. Some highlights from these experiments will be presented.   

Nuclear Diagnostics of the Cosmos

It is by now well established that the bulk of the elements heavier than helium have been assembled in stars, and that supernovae have played a major role in this synthesis. Though there remain some interesting exceptions - the origin of the light p-process nuclei and a few other rare isotopes and the site for the r-process, to name but two - the abundances we see in the sun are, at least qualitatively, understood. Nucleosynthesis is thus increasingly used as a diagnostic for cosmic events and evolution. From the numerous possibilities, I will discuss four in some detail: nucleosynthetic diagnostics of a) the neutrino burst in core-collapse supernovae; b) the neutrino-powered wind from young neutron stars; c) the average rate of nucleosynthesis in the Galaxy as evidenced by the abundances of gamma-ray line emitters $^{26}$Al and $^{60}$Fe; and d) Population III stars, ``hypernovae,'' and gamma-ray bursts. Uncertainties in nuclear physics will be discussed where appropriate.