Erika Holmbeck, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
When
Refreshments served at 3:00 pm in the 3rd floor atrium
TAP Stellar & Nuclear Astrophysics Initiative Lecture
Erika Holmbeck, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Visit Dates: November 16-20, 2026
Title: Astrophysical Alchemy: Astronomy at the Intersection with Nuclear Physics
Abstract: Where alchemists of the past failed to transform iron into gold, the Universe succeeds! What cosmic events can undergo this extraordinary process? How do we know?
This talk will describe how the Universe creates the heaviest elements on the periodic table, from precious metals through to the heaviest radioactive elements. I will talk about the exciting confluence of nuclear physics and astrophysics and how cross-disciplinary research is increasingly relevant in the new era of “multimessenger” astronomy. Specifically, my talk will discuss the origin of the heaviest elements with an emphasis on calculating their production in neutron star merger (NSM) sites with nucleosynthesis reaction networks. While observations are essential for verifying our theoretical predictions, currently only one electromagnetic counterpart (“kilonova”) to a gravitational wave-confirmed NSM has been identified. I will discuss an alternative data source that is more numerous and more information-rich than kilonovae—metal-poor stars—and how we can use these unsung heroes as the key to studying the astrophysics and nuclear physics underlying the creation of the heaviest elements in the Universe.
Bio: Erika is a southern California-native whose interest in nuclear physics took her to the University of Notre Dame (in Indiana, not Paris) for her PhD. After a COVID thesis defense in 2020, and a brief postdoc at Rochester Institute of Technology, Erika became a NASA Hubble Fellow, which she took back to California, at Carnegie Observatories in Pasadena. A couple years later, she moved north to join Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory as a Staff Scientist in the Nuclear Data and Theory group, where she has been since 2024.