£3m Surrey sensors will shine new light on why stars explode

Detectors that can stop very high-energy particles in their tracks and measure the speed at which reactions take place inside stars are being developed at the University of Surrey.

Diagram showing how the Surrey sensors will detect particles at GRETINA

The £3.4m FAUST project, funded by UK Research and Innovation’s Science and Technology Facilities Council (UKRI-STFC), will develop detectors to sit inside the new GRETA gamma-ray array. This forms part of the $730m Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) particle accelerator at Michigan State University (MSU), USA.

FAUST stands for “FRIB-Accelerated Beams for Understanding Science and Technology."

MSU operates FRIB as a user facility for the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science (DOE-SC), supporting the mission of the DOE-SC Office of Nuclear Physics and a global user community of 1,800 scientists.

Slowing down particles that are moving close to the speed of light is certainly a challenge. But with our partners, we’re confident in building equipment that is fit for the task. The findings could one day help us unlock the mysteries of how reactions at the heart of stars create the elements that make up everything on earth and across the galaxies.

It’s amazing to think that reactions involving tiny nuclei, invisible to the naked eye, determine how a star explodes. Professor Gavin Lotay, Professor, Director of Research and Innovation

Almost all chemical elements like gold, oxygen, and iron are produced by nuclear reactions in stars. To learn more about where they come from, scientists need a deeper understanding of how these reactions take place.

Scientists will smash beams of speedy rare isotopes into various forms of plastic targets. By measuring the emerging light-charged particles (such as protons) that are produced, they hope to learn about the origins of elements from gold to oxygen and beyond.

The particles will be measured by a combination of silicon detectors, supplied by West Sussex-based Micron Semiconductor Ltd., and caesium iodide crystals, developed by colleagues at the University of York.

The UKRI-STFC Daresbury Laboratory in Cheshire will provide important technical support.

We’re excited to welcome FAUST and the associated research to FRIB.

This international collaboration will answer fundamental questions about the evolution of the universe and the nature of the nuclear force – and we very much look forward to this partnership. Dr Alexandra Gade, FRIB Scientific Director and Professor of Physics at Michigan State University