Jorge Pereira, a JINA/National Superconducting Cyclotron
(NSCL) Laboratory postdoc whose research focuses on one of the most
enigmatic nuclear processes in the cosmos, has received a prestigious
Young Scientist Award sponsored by the journal Nuclear Physics A. The
award was presented June 7 at the International Nuclear Physics Conference
(INPC) in Tokyo.
Pereira’s oral presentation of his paper, “Studies
of r-process nuclei at NSCL,” was deemed best at the conference by a
scientist under the age of 35. INPC takes places every four years and
attracts hundreds of physicists from all over the world.
Believed to occur in spectacular iron-core collapse
supernovae, the r-process describes how unstable neutron-rich nuclei
form in high-temperature, high-neutron-density environments.
“We’ve made great strides here at NSCL in understanding
the r-process, which has been a focus of research in astrophysics for
at least 50 years,” said Pereira, who received a prize of 750 euros
with the award.
During the r-process, nuclei are bombarded by many
billions of trillions of neutrons per second. The process is thought
to forge elements that are heavier than iron, the stable isotope of
which has 26 protons and 30 neutrons. Though much is known about these
heavier elements, precise details about their origins remain elusive.
The National Research Council’s Committee on Physics
has declared the issue that inspires study of the r-process – How were
the heavy elements from iron to uranium made? – to be one of 11 physics
questions for the new century. New or upgraded facilities, such as the
Isotope Science Facility at MSU, are needed to understand to the full
range of unstable, rare isotopes that can exist in nature.
Pereira, 31, has worked at NSCL for nearly three years
and is affiliated with the Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics.
He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Santiago de Compostela in
Spain in 2004.
His work is supported by the National Science Foundation.
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Isotope
Science Facility at Michigan State University
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