Nuclear physics goes
extreme in supernovas
(computer simulation
shown below) and
similar environments.
New elements and
exotic isotopes may be
formed in the tumult.24 SCIENCE NEWS | November 20, 2021FEATURE |IN SEARCH OF EXTREME NUCLEIlook at magnesium-40, which, like lithium-11,
has a Borromean nucleus. Crawford now aims to
determine if her chosen isotope also has a haloed
nucleus. That’s one possible explanation for
magnesium-40’s oddness. Despite the fact that
nuclei with halos have been known for decades,
theories still can’t reliably predict which nuclei
will be festooned with them. Understanding
magnesium-40 could help scientists firm up their
accounting of nuclei’s neutron adornments.Elemental origins
Physicists want to be able to poke around,
like mechanics under the hood, to
understand the cosmic nuclear
reactions that make the universe
go. “Nuclear physics is like the
engine of a sports car. It’s what
happens in the engine that
determines how well the car
performs,” says nuclear physi-
cist Ani Aprahamian of the
University of Notre Dame in
Indiana.
The cosmos powered by that
engine can be a violent place for
nuclei, punctuated with dramatic stellarexplosions and extreme conditions, including
matter crammed into ultratight quarters by
crushing gravity. These environments beget won-
ders of nuclear physics unlike those normally seen
on Earth. FRIB will let scientists get a glimpse at
some of those processes.
For example, physicists think that certain
neutron- rich environments are the cauldron
where many of the universe’s chemical elements
are cooked. This cosmic connection allowed
nuclear physicist Jolie Cizewski to make good on
a childhood dream.
When Cizewski was a little girl, she caught the
astronomy bug, she says. “I decided I was going to
become an astronomer so I could go into space.”
It might seem that she took a left turn from her
childhood obsession. She never made it to orbit
and she didn’t become an astronomer.
But echoes of that childhood dream now anchor
her research. Instead of peering at the stars with
a telescope, she’ll soon be using FRIB to reveal
secrets of the cosmos.
Cizewski, of Rutgers University in New
Brunswick, N.J., is working to unveil details of
the cosmic nuclear reactions responsible for the
nuclei that surround us. “I’m trying to understand
how the elements, in particular those heavier thanThe FRIB cryogenic
plant makes liquid
helium to cool
components of FRIB’s
accelerator that rely on
superconductors, which
conduct electricity
without resistance at
temperatures just above
absolute zero.FROM TOP: MICHIGAN STATE UNIV.; ADAM BURROWS/PRINCETON UNIV., JOE INSLEY AND SILVIO RIZZI/ARGONNE NATIONAL LABrare-isotope.indd 24rare-isotope.indd 24 11/3/21 9:26 AM11/3/21 9:26 AM