Topic: CASPAR - Astrophysics Deep Underground
The Compact Accelerator System for Performing Astrophysical Research (CASPAR) is a low-energy, high-intensity accelerator designed to measure the probability of key nuclear fusion reactions occurring under the temperature conditions found in stellar environment. CASPAR is the first deep underground accelerator in the United States, located in the Ross Campus at the 4850-foot level of the Sanford Underground Research Facility. The project completed a successful initial experimental campaign from 2018 to 2021, followed by a four-year hiatus due to the DUNE excavations. CASPAR will restart its scientific program in 2026 with a focus on nuclear reactions that played key roles in the evolution of the Universe’s first stars and in explosive astrophysical environments. This presentation will illustrate the success of conducting these experiments in an underground environment and will highlight key results as well as future plans.
Speaker: Dr. Frank Strieder
Dr. Frank Strieder is an Associate Professor of Physics at South Dakota Mines. His research focuses on understanding nuclear processes in stellar evolution and the origin of the chemical elements. He is a principal investigator for the CASPAR project and has been active at SURF since 2015. Currently, serves as the chair of the SURF User Association Executive Committee. He was chair or co-chair of several editions of the Conference on Science at the Sanford Underground Research Facility (CoSSURF) usually held every other year on the South Dakota Mines campus. He received his Ph.D. from Ruhr-University Bochum in Germany in 2000. Before he joined South Dakota Mines in 2015, he was a principal investigator for the Laboratory Underground for Nuclear Astrophysics (LUNA), the first underground accelerator facility in the world, locate in the Gran Sasso underground laboratory in Italy. He has 30 years of experience working in different underground laboratories worldwide.
You can register for this talk here.
