Novae
Novae are cataclysmic explosions on the surface of a white dwarf star that are powered by nuclear reactions on radioactive isotopes. They are triggered by the transfer of mass onto the white dwarf from a giant companion star. Most of the relevant reactions have never been measured. This leads to orders-of-magnitude uncertainties in the energy generation and element production in these outbursts.FRIB will enable the first systematic measurements of these reactions, necessary for advancing our understanding of the explosive burning of hydrogen through the hot CNO cycles and the rapid proton capture process (rp-process) that drives these violent stellar events.
Supplemental information on Novae and FRIB will soon be found on this page.