Evolution of the Universe

Invited talk at the Fall meeting of the New York State Section of the American Physical Society, October 20 - 21, 2000, Buffalo, NY.


Click here to start


Table of Contents

Evolution of the Universe

Outline

Why do I talk about this topic? I am just a nuclear physicist!

What happened during the last 15 x 109 years?

Going back in time: Astronomy

Nuclear physics allows us to describe stellar nucleosynthesis

The binding energy per nucleon Source of nuclear energy

Nucleosynthesis in stars forms all elements heavier than Lithium

Nucleosynthesis

Experimental nuclear physics: Measuring stellar reaction rates

The evolution of stars

Formation of heavy elements (beyond Iron)

Better techniques/facilities =>Better info far from stability

Nucleosynthesis is an ongoing process.

Star Formation: 1 x 109 yr after the Big Bang

Big-Bang Problem: Large Scale Structures

Cosmic Microwave Background: Fluctuations in early universe

Cosmic Microwave Background: Fluctuations in early universe

Formation of light nuclei: Three minutes after the Big Bang

Formation of light nuclei: Three minutes after the Big Bang

Formation of light nuclei: Three minutes after the Big Bang

Formation of Nucleons 100 µs after the Big Bang

Unanswered Questions about the Evolution of the Early Universe

Recreating the early universe: relativistic heavy-ion collisions

Production of the QGP Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collisions

Phases of Nuclear Matter

Formation of the Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP)

Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider: Scientific Objectives

From BBC News RHIC is not the end of the world!

From ABC News The Doomsday Machine!

Will the world survive the first collisions at RHIC?

Going back in time by travelling across New York State.

Going back in time by travelling across New York State.

The Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider Brookhaven National Laboratory

Preparing Au ions for injection in RHIC.

Conclusions

Email: wolfs@pas.rochester.edu

Home Page: http://teacher.pas.rochester.edu/