Cococubed.com Catching Element Formation In The Act
Home Astronomy research   Software Infrastructure:      MESA      FLASH-X      STARLIB      MESA-Web      starkiller-astro      My instruments   White dwarf pulsations:      12C(α,γ) & overshooting      Probe of 12C(α,γ)16O      Impact of 22Ne      Impact of ν cooling      Variable white dwarfs      MC reaction rates      Micronovae      Novae   White dwarf supernova:      Stable nickel production      Remnant metallicities      Colliding white dwarfs      Merging white dwarfs      Ignition conditions      Metallicity effects      Central density effects      Detonation density      Tracer particle burning      Subsonic burning fronts      Supersonic fronts      W7 profiles   Massive stars:      Pop III with HST/JWST      Rotating progenitors      3D evolution to collapse      MC reaction rates      Pre-SN variations   Massive star supernova:      Yields of radionuclides      26Al & 60Fe      44Ti, 60Co & 56Ni      SN 1987A light curve      Constraints on Ni/Fe      An r-process      Effects of 12C +12C   Neutron Stars and Black Holes:      Black Hole spectrum      Mass Gap with LVK      Compact object IMF      He burn neutron stars   Neutrino Emission:      Neutrino emission from stars      Identifying the Pre-SN      Neutrino HR diagram      Pre-SN Beta Processes      Pre-SN neutrinos   Stars:      Hypatia catalog      SAGB stars      Nugrid Yields I      He shell convection      BBFH at 40 years      γ-rays within 100 Mpc      Iron Pseudocarbynes   Pre-Solar Grains:      C-rich presolar grains      SiC Type U/C grains      Grains from massive stars      Placing the Sun      SiC Presolar grains   Chemical Evolution:      Radionuclides in 2020s      Zone models H to Zn      Mixing ejecta   Thermodynamics & Networks      Skye EOS      Helm EOS      Five EOSs      Equations of State      12C(α,γ)16O Rate      Proton-rich NSE      Reaction networks      Bayesian reaction rates   Verification Problems:      Validating an astro code      Su-Olson      Cog8      Mader      RMTV      Sedov      Noh Software Instruments AAS Journals    2024 AAS YouTube    2024 AAS Peer Review Workshops 2024 ASU Energy in Everyday Life 2024 MESA Classroom Outreach and Education Materials Other Stuff:    Bicycle Adventures    Illustrations    Presentations Contact: F.X.Timmes my one page vitae, full vitae, research statement, and teaching statement.	The Case for a New MeV Gamma-Ray Mission: Radionuclide Astronomy in the 2020s A White Paper for the 2020 Decadal Survey C.L. Fryer, F.X. Timmes, A, Hungerford, A. Couture, and 256 co-authors Gamma-ray astronomy explores the most energetic photons in nature to address some of the most pressing puzzles in contemporary astrophysics. It encompasses a wide range of objects and phenomena: stars, supernovae, novae, neutron stars, stellar-mass black holes, nucleosynthesis, the interstellar medium, cosmic rays and relativistic-particle acceleration, and the evolution of galaxies. MeV γ-rays provide a unique probe of nuclear processes in astronomy, directly measuring radioactive decay, nuclear de-excitation, and positron annihilation. The substantial information carried by γ-ray photons allows us to see deeper into these objects, the bulk of the power is often emitted at $gamma;-ray energies, and radioactivity provides a natural physical clock that adds unique information. New science will be driven by time-domain population studies at γ-ray energies. This science is enabled by next-generation γ-ray instruments with one to two orders of magnitude better sensitivity, larger sky coverage, and faster cadence than all previous γ-ray instruments. This transformative capability permits: (a) the accurate identification of the γ-ray emitting objects and correlations with observations taken at other wavelengths and with other messengers; (b) construction of new γ-ray maps of the Milky Way and other nearby galaxies where extended regions are distinguished from point sources; and (c) considerable serendipitous science of scarce events -- nearby neutron star mergers, for example. Advances in technology push the performance of new γ-ray instruments to address: How do white dwarfs explode as Type Ia Supernovae (SNIa)? What is the distribution of 56Ni production within a large population of SNIa? How do SNIa γ-ray light curves and spectra correlate with their UV/optical/IR counterparts? How do massive stars explode as core-collapse supernovae? How are newly synthesized elements spread out within the Milky Way Galaxy? How do the masses, spins, and radii of compact stellar remnants result from stellar evolution? How do novae enrich the Galaxy in heavy elements? What is the source that drives the morphology of our Galaxy's positron annihilation γ-rays? How do neutron star mergers make most of the stable r-process isotopes? Over the next decade, multi-messenger astronomy will probe the rich astrophysics of transient phenomena in the sky, including light curves and spectra from supernovae and interacting binaries, gravitational and electromagnetic signals from the mergers of compact objects, and neutrinos from the Sun, massive stars, and the cosmos. During this new era, the terrestrial Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) and Argonne Tandem Linac Accelerator System (ATLAS) will enable unprecedented precision measurements of reaction rates with novel direct and indirect techniques to open perspectives on transient objects such as novae, x-ray bursts, kilonovae, and the rapid neutron capture process. This ongoing explosion of activity in multi-messenger astronomy powers theoretical and computational developments, in particular the evolution of community-driven, open-knowledge software instruments. The unique information provided by MeV γ-ray astronomy to help address these frontiers makes now a compelling time for the astronomy community to strongly advocate for a new γ-ray mission to be operational in the 2020s and beyond. Check out the full white paper submitted to the 2020 Decadal Survey.