Art Olin
604-222-7349
TRIUMF
Barry Davids
604-222-7396
Research Scientist - TRIUMF
Barry Davids graduated with a B.Sc. in Mathematics from the University of Chicago in 1993 and went on to complete a Ph.D. in Physics at Michigan State University. As a Ph.D. candidate, he studied the 7Be(p, γ)8B process that gives rise to most of the high-energy neutrinos emitted by the Sun. Knowledge of this process is crucial to our understanding of the solar neutrino problem. Barry performed studies to infer the astrophysical S factor of this reaction. Barry did post-doctoral work at the Kernfysisch Versneller Instituut, before coming to TRIUMF in 2003.
Barry is the project leader for EMMA (ElectroMagnetic Mass Analyser), a recoil mass spectrometer currently being developed for TRIUMF’s ISAC-II facility. When ISAC-II’s intense beams of exotic nuclei react with a target, EMMA will detect and analyze the reaction products. By studying nuclei at the edge of stability, researchers advance our knowledge of the structure of matter and of the force that holds the nucleus together. Barry is responsible for the conception, design, and funding of EMMA; commissioning of the detector is projected for 2011.
Barry also works on DSL (TRIUMF’s Doppler Shift Lifetimes facility), studying the 15O(α, γ)19Ne reaction. This reaction contributes to the ignition of x-ray bursts on accreting neutron stars. Using the Doppler shift attenuation method, Barry and his colleagues infer reaction rates of astrophysical processes like 15O(α, γ)19Ne by measuring the lifetimes of excited compound nuclei. Barry is the Chair of the TRIUMF Seminar Committee and the Nuclear Astrophysics Scientific Working Group at the Canadian Institute for Nuclear Physics. He sings bass in the Gallery Singers, an early music chamber choir.
Chris Ruiz
604-222-7666
Research Scientist - TRIUMF
Chris Ruiz is the DRAGON Group Leader at TRIUMF.
He started out life as a 'wannabe' astronomer, studying a BSc(hons) in Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Edinburgh, taking classes up on Blackford Hill at the Edinburgh Royal Observatory. At the end of his undergraduate degree, Chris got his first taste of experimental nuclear physics through a laboratory project studying Bell's inequality and its ramifications for quantum physics, via a really neat experiment using radioactive sodium-22. From then on he was hooked, then taking a PhD with the Edinburgh Nuclear Physics Group, studying prospective indirect methods of obtaining the important 15O(a,g)19Ne stellar reaction rate at Louvain-la-Neuve in Belgium, and also the first post-accelerated radioactive beam experiment at ISAC: the resonant elastic scattering of sodium-22 on protons - requiring development of a multi-channel R-matrix code.
Chris then joined the DRAGON group as a Post-Doc in 2003, eventually leading the 26Al(p,g)27Si measurement. After a short stint as a Post-Doc with the University of York Nuclear Physics Group, heading the TRIUMF side of the development of the SHARC silicon barrel array, Chris was hired as a TRIUMF Board-Appointed Research Scientist in order to head the DRAGON Group in 2007. Since then, Chris has been actively involved in shaping nuclear astrophysics research at the lab along with his colleagues. In addition to the DRAGON project, Chris currently spends time also on the NEURAL project, as well as the TUDA facility. Chris is the project leader for the ISAC Implantation Station, a facility that will allow the preparation of high-quality long-lived radioactive targets for use in charged-particle induced and neutron induced reaction experiments.
Chris is currently the Past Chair of the TRIUMF Users Group Executive Committee, as well as head of the TRIUMF Undergraduate Student Scholarship program.
Chris enjoys snowboarding, playing classical, folk and rock guitar, rock climbing, scuba diving, and attempting to cultivate an organic garden. He is also a motorcycle enthusiast and enjoys long rides deep into B.C. on his Yamaha FZ6.
Dave Hutcheon
604-222-1047
604-222-6474
TRIUMF
Dave Hutcheon obtained a B.A. in Physics and an M.A. in Nuclear Physics at the University of Saskatchewan. A Ph.D. in Nuclear Physics from the University of Alberta was based on the study of nuclear structure by gamma-ray spectroscopy. Further nuclear structure studies followed in post-doctoral work at the University of Oxford, the University of Manitoba and the University of Alberta.
Dave's research direction changed when he took up a Research Scientist position at TRIUMF in 1975. Nuclear structure gave way to studies of reactions and pion production with 200-500 MeV proton beams, beginning with targets of Ca-40 and Pb-208 but ending with reactions invovling only 1 or 2 nucleons. The last of these studies involved detection of the heavy product from the reaction p(n,d)pi-0 . The experience in detection at 0 degrees in (slightly) inverse kinematics led Dave rashly to criticize an early design for a recoil separator at ISAC. This led to a heavy involvement in the design, construction and use of the DRAGON separator.
Dave has been a Research Scientist Emeritus since 2007 and maintains an interest and quasi-active role in DRAGON experiments on radiative capture of hydrogen or helium. A recurring feature of his research work has been proton radiative capture by: the deuteron [Nucl.Phys. A454(1984)549]; the neutron [Nucl.Phys. A458(1986)637]; the triton [Nucl.Phys. A455(1986)687]; the neutron again [Nucl.Phys. A543(1992)685]; the negative pion, both free [TRIUMF experiment E643] and quasi-free [Phys.Rev C55(1997)2492]; Sodium-21 [P.R.L. 90(2003)162501]; Aluminum-26 [P.R.L. 96(2006)252501]; Magnesium-23 [Phys.Rev. C81(j2010)045808].
John D'Auria
604-222-7337
604-291-4607
Simon Fraser University (Emeritus) and AAPS
Lothar Buchmann
604-222-7403
Senior Research Scientist - TRIUMF
Lothar Buchmann gained his diploma (`master') in 1979 and his PhD in 1984 at the University of Münster within the astrophysics group of Prof. Claus Rolfs. His PhD thesis was the first study of the 26Al(p,gamma)27Si reaction rate at stellar energies and beyond. Lothar then came to TRIUMF as a joint research associate with the University of Toronto in the group of Dick Azuma. His posdoc experience included work on the MR-spectrometer, pion scattering and building the TISOL isotope seperator. In 1988 Lothar became a TRIUMF Research Scientist and became involved in the development of a continuous wave, optically pumped ion source at TRIUMF, and in addition, a nuclear polarimeter for low proton energies usable both at the optically and the Lambshift polarized ion sources based on the 6Li(p,3He)a reaction.
From 1989-2000 Lothar worked at the TISOL isotope separator which continued and resulted in the transition of the separator from a test facility to a facility being able to perform physics experiments. This transition began in the summer of 1989 when the first ECR source at an isotope on-line separator became operational. Using the TISOL facility, Lothar was the principal investigator of a 16N-decay study employing the ECR source. This study led to the placement of significant restrictions on the low energy p-wave (E1-capture) part of the 12C(alpha,gamma)16O reaction, which dominates the rate at the energies associated with quiescent helium burning in Red Giants. This so called 'TRIUMF-Red Giant' experiment received much press around the world, and is still considered a landmark measurement in the understanding of stellar evolution. The experiment let Lothar to put his nose into low energy scattering theory for which he developed many programs. His expertise has been extended to many other reactions now.
Lothar was one of the principal investigators of a 7Be(p,gamma)8B study, important in the context of the solar neutrino problem and the new generation of solar neutrino detectors. Lothar led the efforts to prepare a 7Be target (in collaboration with the University of Washington together with K. Snover and A. Adelberger). The target part led to the production of a small size metallic 7Be target where the 7Be was produced at a 13 MeV (TR13) cyclotron at TRIUMF employing a liquid 7Li target. The joint TRIUMF-University of Washington measurement of this reaction is considered one of the best determinations of the reaction rate.
Lothar was a crucial member in the team that steered the specifications for the ISAC facility and instrumentation to ISAC, like DRAGON. He was involved in some of the experiments therein including the TUDA and DRAGON facilities.
At present, Lothar is involved in the deevelopment of two time projection chambers: TACTIC for detecting recoil particles from particle reactions at low velocities and NEURAL, a detector for neutron induced charged particle detections.
Dave Ottewell
604-222-1047
Peter Machule
604-222-7384
Alex Rojas
604-222-1047
TRIUMF
Alex works mainly with Barry Davids on the EMMA facility, but is also heaviliy involved in DRAGON experiments. Visit his homepage at http://rojas.triumf.ca.
Greg Christian
604-222-1047
TRIUMF (DRAGON)
Greg is the latest member of the Dragon team. Greg earned his bachelors degree in physics from the Georgia Institute of Technology and his masters and PhD degrees from Michigan State University. His work at MSU consisted of studying particle-unbound states in nuclei near and beyond the neutron dripline, using the Modular Neutron Array (MoNA) and beams from the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory (NSCL). His masters thesis involved the study of neutron-unbound states populated from direct fragmentation of 48Ca, and his PhD thesis consisted of studying neutron-unbound levels in 27,28F. These nuclei are located close to the magic number N = 20, and their structure helps to explain the onset of intruder confugurations in nuclei with large neutron excess (a region of the nuclear chart often referred to as the "island of inversion"). In particular, by measuring the ground state energy of neutron-unbound 28F, he and his co-workers were able to determine a low-Z or "southern" shore of the island of inversion for N = 19 isotones.
After finishing his PhD, Greg came to TRIUMF as a postdoc in the DRAGON group. He is looking forward to working in a different lab as well as a different subfield (nuclear astrophysics vs. nuclear structure). Outside of physics, his interests include bicycle racing, hiking, cooking, and a variety of other activities.
Jennifer Fallis
604-222-1047
TRIUMF
phone ext. 6807
Oliver Kirsebom
604-222-1047
TRIUMF (EMMA)
Oliver works with Barry Davids on the EMMA facility, but also collaborates with DRAGON experiments.
Here is Oliver's self-penned bio:
Born in Switzerland only a stone's throw from the European accelerator lab CERN, Oliver Kirsebom seemed destined to a carrier in physics from the very beginning. Unaware of his destiny, Oliver spent most of his childhood playing football (known as soccer in some parts of the world), and his interest in physics was not triggered until high school when he realized that physics actually had a lot in common with his favorite subject, maths.
Oliver's physics carrier peaked early with his participation in the International Physics Olympiad 2002 as one of five representatives from Denmark (where he had moved at age 9). He fondly remembers the experimental test during which he succeeded, in an attempt to measure electrolysis in water, to short cut the power supply. Twice.
Oliver did his undergraduate in maths and physics at the University of Aarhus, Denmark, whereafter he spent a year at the University of Washington in Seattle, USA, as a Fulbright scholar. There, he followed grad courses in physics and made his presence known on the nuclear theory floor by rebooting a computer that was being used for long-term calculations. He returned to Aarhus to do a phd in experimental nuclear physics. During the following four years he travelled to a number of European laboratories to take part in experiments, primarily ISOLDE at CERN, but also KVI in Groningen, The Netherlands, IGISOL in Jyvaskyla, Finland, and CMAM in Madrid, Spain. Most of his time, however, he spent in front of a computer, analyzing data from two of these experiments: One aiming to clarify the mechanism by which resonances in 12C break up into three alpha particles and another aiming to determine the neutrino spectrum from the beta decay of 8B - the latter of considerable relevance to solar neutrino physics.
After successfully defending his phd thesis, Oliver moved to Vancouver, Canada, in late September 2011 to take up a two-year postdoc position at TRIUMF (for good measure, it should be mentioned that Oliver is still affiliated with Aarhus University, and his salary his paid by the Danish Villumm Kann Rasmussen foundation.) At TRIUMF Oliver works with Barry Davids on the EMMA spectrometer, an experimental apparatus that does not yet exist, but hopefully soon will. His research interests tend to be broad. Lately, a problem related to the abundance of primordial lithium in the Universe has occupied much of his time.
Having lived for many years in a largely 2D country (Denmark), Oliver greatly appreciates the 3D features that Vancouver and its surroundings offers. In winter he likes to go skiing, and in summer he enjoys hiking and mountain biking, when not playing football, beach volley or some other sport in the city. He enjoys drinking both in winter and summer.
Watch Oliver's impressive mountain biking skills here.
Sarah Reeve
604-222-1047 x685
TRIUMF
Bing Guo
China Institute of Atomic Energy (Beijing)
Ulrike Hager
Colorado School of Mines
Uwe Greife
303-273-3618 x457
Colorado School of Mines
