Lecture 5

Nuclear Decays in Time

• supernova light curves

  SN 1987A (Type II: core collapse)

  SN 1994D (Type Ia: thermonuclear)

Astrophysical Nuclear Decays

• line emission
• famous example: ²⁶Al
  • decay scheme
  • mapping preliminaries: Galactic space coordinates and longitude/latitude sky view
  • COMPTEL 1.8 MeV gamma-ray sky: the Galaxy contains freshly synthesized ²⁶Al!
  • INTEGRAL line spectra and detection of ²⁶Al line shift across Galactic plane, and its likely interpretation
  • INTEGRAL detection of interstellar ⁶⁰Fe
  • possible supernova remnant detection in Antlia

Nuclear Reactions

• notation
• energetics and Q-value
• basic physics: direct vs compound