Meeting on Nuclear Structure, Reactions, and Astrophysics

Last week I participated in the NSAC Town Hall meeting on Nuclear Structure, Reactions, and Astrophysics at Argonne National Laboratory. Several other members of the FRIB-TA were there too. Particularly notable was the participation by the FRIB-TA Bridge Faculty and Theory Fellows. These young scientists made excellent presentations in the Theory Working Group, the slides for which you can access here (https://indico.phy.anl.gov/event/22/page/63-nuclear-structure-reaction-theory-working-group). They also played a notable role in our construction of a list of the key scientific problems for our sub-field in the next decade (https://indico.phy.anl.gov/event/22/attachments/72/175/SummariesCombined_V6.pdf).

Our success over the past seven years was featured in Thomas Papenbrock’s opening talk (https://indico.phy.anl.gov/event/22/attachments/72/155/ANL-Townhall-Papenbrock.pdf). And support for the Theory Alliance and all its activities was strong across the entire meeting. Indeed, the first resolution that was adopted out of the Town Meeting (https://indico.phy.anl.gov/event/22/attachments/72/174/NuclearStructureReactionsAstrophysicsResolutions.pdf) with the support of all participants, stated that the FRIB-TA is one of several activities that are "critical to fully realize the scientific potential of the field and foster future breakthroughs”.

The White Paper summarizing the findings of the Town Meeting is due to NSAC on February 28. I appreciate your engagement in the process to this point, and look forward to further collaboration with you on the writing of that document.

Happy Thanksgiving,
Daniel Phillips
FRIB-TA Director