Welcome to the RIA Website
at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics!

Unstable nuclei play a critical in the quest for addressing some of the most compelling open questions in nuclear astrophysics, such as nucleosynthesis in stellar explosions and the origin of the heavy elements in nature. The experimental study of unstable nuclei has therfore emerged as one of the major thrusts in nuclear astrophysics. The rare isotope accelerator (RIA) is the facility needed to fully engage in this exciting area of research. With RIA the majority of the nuclear physics in stellar explosions becomes finally accessible to experiments on earth. RIA is therefore of critical importance for the future of nuclear astrophysics.

Ongoing major investments in new astronomical observatories will ensure that the observational data needed to understand stellar explosions and the origin of the elements will be availabe in the next decades. With RIA we will be able to understand the underlying nuclear physics. This will allow one to fully interpret observations in terms of the major physics questions.

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