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TOPIC: GRETINA

Blobrana

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Posts: 131433

Date: Nov 13 21:26 2010

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GRETINA Moves Into Its Cave Part of what fascinates scientists about nuclear physics and chemistry is learning just how the natural elements came into being. All the elements heavier than iron - over three-quarters of the entries in the periodic table - were created by exploding stars. While their collective mass adds up to a miniscule fraction of the total matter in the universe, without them the universe would be lifeless. Equally fascinating are the rare, human-made superheavy elements, with their promise of an "island of stability" far beyond the masses of the natural elements. Since one of the best ways to study nuclei is to catch the gamma rays they emit as they spin or undergo transmutations, gamma-ray detectors hold the keys to understanding not only nucleosynthesis in stars and supernovae but artificial superheavy elements as well. With a little help from its friends in universities and national laboratories, Berkeley Lab builds some of the best gamma-ray detectors in the world. The Gammasphere now at Argonne National Laboratory, the world's most powerful spectrometer for research in nuclear structure, was built here, and a far more sensitive and precise detector named GRETINA, now being assembled, is gradually taking up occupancy in Cave 4C at the 88-Inch Cyclotron. Read more __________________

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