Equipe SEN
Structure and Nuclear Energy
The SEN team conducts experiments at international facilities that produce nuclei, and studies them using complex detectors and associated simulations.
Research at the interface between fundamental physics and its applications
Total Absorption Gamma Spectroscopy is used to study the β-decay properties of exotic nuclei through photon detection. The results of these measurements feed into our calculations of antineutrino spectra and nuclear reactor residual power.
The measured β-strength helps constrain models of nuclear structure and astrophysics. We conducted 3 measurement campaigns in Finland in 2009, 2014 and 2022
Nuclear astrophysics
The TAGS and e-Shape experiments provide information relevant to understanding the formation of elements heavier than iron, and the explosions of supernovae. We are also running heavy-ion collision experiments (INDRA/FAZIA) designed to constrain the equation of state of nuclear matter, essential for understanding neutron star formation and the mechanism that leads to supernova explosions.
e-Shape
The e-Shape experiment aims to measure the shape of β β decay electron spectra with a detector designed in international collaboration and built at Subatech. The results of this experiment are important for reactor neutrino physics and nuclear astrophysics.
Simulations/calculations
The group first developed nuclear reactor simulations for vβ physics, in order to predict the spectrum of and its uncertainties based on the radioactive properties of fission products. Since then, these skills have been extended via residual power simulations, a safety issue for current and future reactors, such as molten-salt reactors. In addition, the team collaborates with theorists developing a model that can be constrained by our experimental results. This work has spin-offs in nuclear astrophysics.
- 2012
- Reactor calculations and spectrum for the first Double Chooz publication
- 2012
- Pandemonium effect in antineutrino spectra predictions , solution : TAGS
- 2019/TAGS
- 10 years of measurements. Impact on antineutrino spectra predictions, disfavoring the "reactor anomaly"
- 2024-…/(NA)2STARS
- New TAGS detector to increase our knowledge of exotic nuclei
- 3PhD students
- 1post-doctoral fellow
- 5researchers
