HELIUM25 - Helium burning and perspectives for underground labs

21 Jul 2025, 01:00 → 25 Jul 2025, 15:50 Europe/Berlin

Building 114, Room 202 (Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR))

Eliana Masha (Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf e.V. (HZDR))

The HELIUM25 workshop aims to discuss the state of the art and future plans related to stellar helium burning. It will bring together the nuclear astrophysics community working on He-burning reactions. Various topics will be discussed, including direct and indirect measurements, the role of underground laboratories, detection methods, and astrophysical implications.

Thursday 24th July 2025 will be dedicated to career development in the nuclear astrophysics community. There will be a panel discussions and workshops on topics such as career paths inside and outside academia and scientific writing. The event will be available both in person and remotely.

The workshop will take place on 21-25 July 2025 at HZDR, Dresden, Germany.

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All communication by the organizers will be sent through the conference e-mail address (helium@tu-dresden.de).

 

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The HELIUM25 workshop gratefully acknowledges support from:

Circulars HELIUM25_1st circular.pdf

Monday 21 July

10:00 → 11:30 Travel to HZDR with Public Transport

Bus line 261 leaves from main station (passing through the city center). Instructions how to reach HZDR will be provided in time.

11:30 → 12:30 Registration

12:30 → 14:00 Lunch Break

14:00 → 14:20 Welcome

14:20 → 15:30 Science session: Models

Convener: Dr Jakub Skowronski (Università and INFN of Padova)

14:20 Fluorine Nucleosynthesis in AGB stars

Speaker: Dr Sergio Cristallo (INAF - Osservatorio di Teramo (Italy))

14:55 Helium burning and its role in the synthesis of key heavy elements

Speaker: Dr Lorenzo Roberti (INFN - Laboratori Nazionali del Sud)

15:30 → 16:00 Coffee Break

16:00 → 17:05 Science session: Models

Convener: Dr Lorenzo Roberti (INFN-LNS)

16:00 Helium Burning and Beyond: Linking Stellar Models, Binary Evolution, and Neural Networks

Speaker: Dr Aldana Grichener (University of Arizona)

16:25 Observing Intermediate-mass Black Holes and the Upper Stellar-mass gap with LIGO and Virgo

Speaker: Dr Ajit Mehta (University of California, Santa Barbara)

16:50 Tracing α-Element Enrichment in the Globular Clusters of the Starburst Dwarf Galaxy IC 10: Insights from Galactic Chemical Evolution Modeling

Speaker: Dr Mahtab Gholami (INAF)

17:05 → 18:00 Discussion

Convener: Dr Sergio Cristallo (INAF - osservatorio Astronomico d'Abruzzo)

18:00 → 19:00 Bus Transfer to Dresden (City Center)

Tuesday 22 July

08:00 → 09:00 Bus Transfer to HZDR (from City Center)

09:00 → 10:30 Science session: Worldwide Facilities for Nuclear Astrophysics

Convener: Dr Denise Piatti (Università and INFN of Padova)

09:00 Status and perspectives of LUNA

Speaker: Dr Federico Ferraro (INFN - Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso)

09:30 Helium-burning reactions at DRAGON/TRIUMF

Speaker: Dr Annika Lennarz (TRIUMF, Vancouver (Canada))

10:00 Status of Felsenkeller and perspectives of underground labs in Germany

Speaker: Dr Axel Boeltzig (Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf)

10:30 → 11:00 Coffee Break

11:00 → 12:30 Science session: Worldwide Facilities for Nuclear Astrophysics

Convener: Dr Steffen Turkat (TUD)

11:00 Exploring He burning with storage rings

Speaker: Dr Jordan Marsh (University of Edinburgh)

11:30 Helium burning with Trojan-Horse method

Speaker: Dr Roberta Spartà (Università di Enna "Kore" and INFN - & Laboratori Nazionali del Sud)

12:00 Results and progress of the JUNA underground laboratory

Speaker: Prof. Weiping Liu (Southern University of Science and Technology and China Insititute of Atomic Energy)

12:30 → 14:00 Lunch Break

14:00 → 15:00 Science session: Worldwide Facilities for Nuclear Astrophysics

Convener: Dr Annika Lennarz (TRIUMF, Vancouver (Canada))

14:00 Current status and future plans for CASPAR underground lab

Speaker: Prof. Daniel Robertson (University of Notre Dame)

14:30 Helium burning studies at n_TOF

Speaker: Prof. Alberto Mengoni (Università di Bologna)

15:00 → 15:30 Coffee Break

15:30 → 17:00 Science session: Towards tomorrow topic

Convener: Dr Roberta Sparta'

15:30 Gamma-decay branching ratio of the Hoyle State

Speaker: Dr Wanja Paulsen (University of Oslo)

16:00 The 12C(a,g)16O reaction at astrophysical energies - status and missing inputs for R-matrix extrapolations

Speaker: Dr Richard James deBoer (University of Notre Dame)

16:30 COREA detector and perspectives for the 12C+alpha at BIBA

Speaker: Jung Keun Ahn (Korea University and Hadron and Nuclear Physics Lab (HANUL))

17:00 → 18:00 Discussion

Convener: Dr Federico Ferraro (INFN - Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso)

18:00 → 19:00 Bus Transfer to Dresden (City Center)

19:30 → 22:30 Social Dinner

Wednesday 23 July

08:00 → 09:00 Bus Transfer to HZDR (from City Center)

09:00 → 10:30 Science session: The Holy Grail

Convener: Prof. Weiping Liu (Southern University of Science and Technology and China Insititute of Atomic Energy)

09:00 The 12C(a,g)16O reaction using TPC detectors and gamma beam

Speaker: Dr Robin Smith (Sheffield Hallam University)

09:30 The status and future plans of 12C(a,g)16O reaction at ERNA

Speaker: Dr Claudio Santonastaso (RIKEN Nishina Center)

10:00 Structure of the 12C nucleus and the triple alpha process in stars

Speaker: Prof. Ivano Lombardo (Università di Catania)

10:30 → 11:00 Coffee Break

11:00 → 11:30 Science session: The Holy Grail

Convener: Dr Jordan Marsh (University of Edinburgh)

11:00 Measurements of the 12C+alpha reaction at JUNA, results and perspectives

Speaker: Dr Yangping Sheng (China Institute of Atomic Energy)

11:30 → 12:30 Discussion

Convener: Dr Axel Boeltzig (Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf)

12:30 → 14:00 Lunch Break

14:00 → 15:30 Science session: n-sources

Convener: Dr Melina Avila (Argonne National Laboratory)

14:00 13C(a,n)16O reaction, results and further plans

Speaker: Dr László Csedreki (HUN-REN Atomki)

14:30 Status of the 22Ne(a,n)25Mg reaction

Speaker: Prof. Andreas Best (University of Naples Federico II)

15:00 Alpha transfer technique to constrain 22Ne(a,n)25Mg rate

Speaker: Dr Heshani Jayatissa (Los Alamos National Laboratory)

15:30 → 16:00 Coffee Break

16:00 → 17:00 Science session: Alpha Induced Reactions

Convener: Dr Robin Smith (Sheffield Hallam University)

16:00 Alpha induced reaction in X-ray Burst

Speaker: Dr Melina Avila (Argonne National Laboratory)

16:20 Investigation of the 15N(a,g)19F reaction at resonance energies Er = 1.3 and 1.4 MeV at Notre Dame

Speaker: Dr Ruoyu Fang (University of Notre Dame)

16:40 Measurement of the 14N(α,γ)18F reaction at Felsenkeller using a new Gas-Jet Target

Speaker: Anup Yadav (Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf)

17:00 → 18:00 Discussion

Convener: ANDREAS CHRISTIAN BEST (University of Naples Federico II)

18:00 → 19:00 Bus Transfer to Dresden (City Center)

Thursday 24 July

08:00 → 09:00 Bus Transfer to HZDR (from City Center)

09:00 → 09:10 Career Day: Welcome and introduction

09:10 → 10:30 Early Career

Convener: Dr Marie Pichotta

09:10 Grant opportunities

Speaker: Barbara Schramm (HZDR)

09:30 Grant writing

Speaker: Carola Franzen (HZDR)

09:50 Academic writing – Editor perspective

Speaker: David Blaschke

10:10 Gender balance, career paths of early-career scientists

Speaker: Joaquín Gómez Camacho

10:30 → 11:00 Coffee Break

11:00 → 11:40 Early Career

Convener: Dr Eliana Masha (Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf e.V. (HZDR))

11:00 Professional experience beyond academia

Speaker: Ruchi Garg

11:20 Experience in academia from ECR

Speaker: Denise Piatti (University and INFN of Padova)

11:40 → 11:50 Career Day: Survey results

Convener: Lucia Barbieri (University of Edinburgh)

11:40 Survey results

11:50 → 13:00 Panel discussion

Speakers: Dr Eliana Masha (Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf e.V. (HZDR)), Dr Jakub Skowronski (Università and INFN of Padova)

13:00 → 14:30 Lunch Break

14:30 → 16:30 Lab Tour: HZDR

The lab tour includes an initial introduction of 15 min (Dr. A. Wagner) and five stations

Accelerator (J. Klopf, A. Wagner)
gELBE (R. Beyer)
FELBE (M. Siemon)
DRACO (S. Bock)
DT generator (M. Osswald, Toralf Döring)

Each group will spend approx. 15 minutes per station

16:30 → 17:00 Coffee Break

17:00 → 18:00 Bus Transfer to Dresden (Felsenkeller Laboratory)

18:00 → 19:00 Lab Tour: Felsenkeller Accelerator Laboratory

Friday 25 July

08:00 → 09:00 Bus Transfer to HZDR (from City Center)

09:00 → 10:00 Science session

Convener: Dr Benjamin Wehmeyer (University of Wroclaw)

09:00 Effects of Mass Loss and Convective Overshooting on Pre-Supernova Neutrinos from Red Supergiants

Speaker: Dr McKenzie Myers (North Carolina State University)

09:20 Abundance Analysis of the Turranburra and Willka Yaku Stellar Streams

Speaker: Dr Kaitlin Webber (Texas A&M University)

09:40 Spectral Distribution Method to alpha-Induced Reactions in Stellar He-Burning Environments

Speaker: Dr Gaurav Saxena (Department of Physics (H&S), Govt. Women Engineering College, Ajmer-305002, India)

10:00 → 10:30 Coffee Break

10:30 → 12:00 Discussion

12:00 → 12:30 Closing

12:30 → 14:00 Lunch Break

14:00 → 15:00 Bus Transfer to Dresden (City Center)