PhD Thesis – Scott Carmichael (University of Notre Dame)

On April 2, Scott Carmichael successfully defended his Ph.D. thesis on “An experimentally constrained reaction rate fo⁵⁷Ni(p,γ)⁵⁸Cu” at the University of Notre Dame. Scott constrained the amount of observable ⁴⁴Ti produced in supernovae by understanding the ⁵⁷Ni(p,γ)⁵⁸Cu reaction rate that had never previously been experimentally determined, combining two measurements. One used GODDESS for a high-resolution study of ⁵⁸Cu through gamma-ray spectroscopy, and the other used high-resolution charged-particle spectroscopy using the newly-installed Enge spectrometer at the Notre Dame (previously ORNL). Scott worked closely with Prof. Rebecca Surman on nucleosynthesis calculations showing the dramatic reduction in uncertainties related to ⁴⁴Ti nucleosynthesis – a major target of gamma-ray astronomy.