Professor; Scientific Coordinator, Madison Accelerator Laboratory
Year Started at JMU: 2010
banula@jmu.edu
Contact Info
Website: https://sites.lib.jmu.edu/mal/
Research Description
Dr. Banu’s current research aims to advance fundamental knowledge on a forefront topic in nuclear astrophysics: the synthesis of the rarest stable isotopes naturally occurring on Earth. The astrophysical phenomenon responsible for this synthesis is termed the p-process. Though simulating the p-process nucleosynthesis on a computer is a daunting task, significant progress can be made by performing key experimental studies, which constrain the models that are used to calculate the unknown stellar reaction rates.
Education
- PhD in Experimental Nuclear Physics, 2005, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Germany
- BS in Technological Physics, 2000, University of Bucharest, Romania
Select Publications
- J.Radioanal.Nucl.Chem. 327, 1113 (2021) - High-precision measurements of half-lives for 69Ge, 73Se, 83Sr, 85mSr, and 63Zn radionuclides relevant to the astrophysical p-process via photoactivation at the Madison Accelerator Laboratory, T.A.Hain*, S.J.Pendleton, J.A.Silano, A.Banu
- Phys.Rev. C 99, 025802 (2019) - Photoneutron reaction cross section measurements on 94Mo and 90Zr relevant to the p-process nucleosynthesis A.Banu, E.G.Meekins*, J.A.Silano, H.J.Karwowski, S.Goriely
- Phys.Rev.Lett. 111, 112501 (2013) - Cross-Section Measurements of the 86Kr(γ, n) Reaction to Probe the s-Process Branching at 85Kr R.Raut, A.P.Tonchev, G.Rusev, W.Tornow, C.Iliadis, M.Lugaro, J.Buntain, S.Goriely, J.H.Kelley, R.Schwengner, A.Banu, N.Tsoneva
*undergraduate student researcher
