Physical Society Colloquium

Understanding the Universe using rare isotopes

Reiner Krücken

UBC & TRIUMF

TRIUMF's science program is centred on two themes: (1) probing the structure and origins of matter and (2) advancing isotopes for science and medicine. While the talk will provide a brief overview of the full TRIUMF program it will concentrate on the current and future rare isotope program at TRIUMF~Rs ISAC facility. Exotic nuclei far from stability, so called rare isotopes, play an essential role in the quest to understand some of the most fundamental questions about our Universe from describing the inner workings of atomic nuclei from first principle to understanding the origin of the heavy elements and their role in various astrophysical environments. Also, rare isotopes offer unique opportunities to search for physics beyond the standard model or particle physics by precision measurements of their electro-weak decay. The ISAC facility at TRIUMF is one of the world leading rare isotope beam facilities pursuing these questions in nuclear structure, nuclear astrophysics and electro-weak interaction studies. The Advanced Rare Isotope Laboratory (ARIEL) currently under construction at TRIUMF will vastly expand the scope of this research program.