Nuclear Astrophysics Studies at Shallow-Underground Felsenkeller Laboratory

by Dr Eliana Masha (HZDR), Ms Maria Lukyanova (TU Dresen and HZDR)

Thursday 6 Nov 2025, 16:30 → 17:30 Europe/Rome

P2A (Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia - Edificio Paolotti)

The Felsenkeller shallow-underground laboratory in Dresden hosts a 5 MV Pelletron accelerator and the lowest-background HPGe detector setup in Germany. The laboratory is shielded by 45 m of rock, which reduces the cosmic-ray muon flux by a factor of 40, the neutron background by 180, and the γ-ray background by more than 1000 relative to surface levels, providing excellent conditions for precision nuclear astrophysics experiments. The accelerator delivers intense proton, alpha, and carbon beams to study key reactions for Big Bang nucleosynthesis, solar fusion, and nucleosynthesis in massive stars. Operational since 2019, the laboratory is equipped with several experimental setups and has already addressed multiple science cases of astrophysical relevance. Felsenkeller is an open facility for the international community, with user access in recent years supported through the ChETEC-INFRA network.
This talk will present an overview of the available experimental setups, recent results, and future perspectives at Felsenkeller. A detailed presentation of the ongoing study of the ²H(p,γ)³He reaction, performed in collaboration with the University of Padova, is included, with experimental methods, data analysis, and preliminary results presented by Maria Lukyanova.