PANDORA a New Facility for Interdisciplinary In-Plasma Physics

Abstract

PANDORA, Plasmas for Astrophysics, Nuclear Decays Observation and Radiation for Archaeometry, is planned as a new facility based on a state-of-the-art plasma trap confining energetic plasma for performing interdisciplinary research in the fields of Nuclear Astrophysics, Astrophysics, Plasma Physics and Applications in Material Science and Archaeometry: the plasmas become the environment for measuring nuclear decays rates in stellar-like condition (such as 7Be decay and beta-decay involved in s-process nucleosynthesis), especially as a function of the ionization state of the plasma ions. These studies are of paramount importance for addressing several astrophysical issues in both stellar and primordial nucleosynthesis environment (e.g. determination of solar neutrino flux and 7Li Cosmological Problem), moreover the confined energetic plasma will be a unique light source for high performance stellar spectroscopy measurements in the visible, UV and X-ray domains, offering advancements in observational astronomy. As to magnetic fields, the experimental validation of theoretical first and second order Landé factors will drive the layout of next generation polarimetric units for the high resolution spectrograph of the future giant telescopes. In PANDORA new plasma heating methods will be explored, that will push forward the ion beam output, in terms of extracted intensity and charge states. More, advanced and optimized injection methods of ions in an ECR plasma will be experimented, with the aim at optimizing its capture efficiency. This will be applied to the ECR-based Charge Breeding technique, that will improve the performances of the SPES ISOL-facility currently installed at Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro-INFN. Finally, PANDORA will be suitable for energy conversion, making the plasma as a source of electromagnetic radiation, for applications in Material Science and Archaeometry.

References in corpus (6)

• The 7Be(n,alpha)4He reaction and the Cosmological Lithium Problem: measurement of the cross section in a wide energy range at n_TOF (CERN)
• Measurement of the ${\beta }^{+}$ and orbital electron-capture decay rates in fully-ionized, hydrogen-like, and helium-like ${}^{140}$Pr ions
• A novel scenario for the possible X-ray line feature at ~3.5 keV: Charge exchange with bare sulfur ions
• Laboratory measurements compellingly support charge-exchange mechanism for the 'dark matter' $\sim$3.5 keV X-ray line
• Three-dimensional simulations of ion dynamics in the plasma of an Electron Cyclotron Resonance Ion Source
• Numerical simulations of gas mixing effect in Electron Cyclotron Resonance Ion Sources

Cited by in corpus (3)

• Presolar grain isotopic ratios as constraints to nuclear and stellar parameters of AGB nucleosynthesis
• Theoretical estimate of the half-life for the radioactive ${}^{134}$Cs and ${}^{135}$Cs in astrophysical scenarios
• Experimental nuclear astrophysics in Italy