Neutron poisons, neutron storage, and neutron sources in nuclear plasmas

Prof. Michael Wiescher
Freimann Professor of Physics
University of Notre Dame

This talk will evaluate the important role of neutron capture on light highly abundant nuclei, a process that facilitates the storage of neutrons with its subsequent release in explosive nucleosynthesis environments. The release time is determined by the emerging reaction pattern, but is expected to generate a delayed neutron source which can impact the nucleosynthesis in the Big Bang to neutrino driven wind nucleosynthesis scenarios. The talk will summarize the most important neutron poisons and our present knowledge on reaction cross section and cross section patterns before concentrating on the neutron release through alpha and tritium induced reaction mechanisms.