Roland Diehl


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©  Roland Diehl,
MPE.       
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ast update 04Apr2010 by rod

Overviews and Introductions

to Roland Diehl's Science and Research Themes

The understanding of cosmic objects and physical processes in their interiors or their interactions is the general theme of astrophysics. My own interests herein emphasize the processes related to atomic nuclei and their physics. Atomic nuclei are agregates of neutrons and protons, the elementary particles part-taking in the nuclear forces. After condensed from the big bang, neutrons and protons have formed a variety of compositions (atomic nuclei), which is far from understood, yet provides the variety of the chemical elements which we and our world is made of, such as Carbon, Oxygen, Silicon, Iron, Gold, or Uranium. Cosmic extremes in the interiors of stars and of supernovae (their explosions) are violent enogh to enable transformations of nuclei, the generation of new nuclei. Such environments are my main interest. This implies that interaction energies of MeV, or ~a thousand times that of atomic-electron related processes such as chemical burning or optical light, are in the main focus. At such energies, atomic nuclei are combined into new species, and electromagnetic light at high energies, called gamma rays, are the messengers of such processes. We now operate telescopes in space, which record such radiation from distant sources. The analysis and interpretation of such data, in the context of theories of astrophysical sources and processes, and of observations from other messengers, are my interests pursued in my research.

A variety of my journal articles over the past years are written in a way which  make these themes accessible to interested people other than experts. Here is a collection: