www.hzdr.de discovered 02.16 title accelerator is more powerful than luna: it can boost atomic nuclei to energies ten times higher, up to five million electron volts, which opens a window on processes that occurred at later points in the timeline of our universe’s development, with helium or carbon as the fuel. this includes, for instance, the fusion of a carbon and a helium nucleus into an oxygen nucleus – a reaction that is central to modelling stars. eliminating interferences currently, the pelletron-type accelerator is still housed at hzdr. the tank-like, six-meter, ten-ton apparatus was previously used in the development of pharmaceuticals in england. it is now being fitted for its future use with an additional ion source for hydrogen and helium nuclei as well as a new electronic control module. at the same time, researchers are preparing the detector systems. the felsenkeller lab will use highly sensitive germanium detectors to measure the reaction products. additionally, a veto-system will be installed - detectors to identify interfering signals, the so-called background, which is then removed from the measurement. these tricks, as daniel bemmerer explains, will make the dresden detector almost as sensitive as the one inside the gran sasso, which is located much deeper underneath the earth’s surface. a master’s student is also currently studying natural radioactivity in the entire tunnel system for his thesis, enabling the researchers to take these parameters into account as well. in the meantime, construction is well underway inside both tunnels. the old flooring has been removed, a new floor plate is being manufactured and installation of the technical equipment is being prepared. humidity is extremely high in the cellar corridors, which is why the tunnels must be lined with a second layer, an enclosure, inside which the climate can be controlled to protect the facility from untimely corrosion. researchers expect to install the facility and be able to start their experiments next fall. kai zuber is eager to study the fusion of helium-3 and helium-4 cores into beryllium in order to better calculate and compare solar neutrino flows. daniel bemmerer’s research program will focus on the formation of oxygen-16 nuclei. scientists from around the world will, moreover, have access to the felsenkeller accelerator lab. they can apply for beam time, as dresden-based researchers will only use the facility part of the time. there is a great deal of interest among the relevant research groups. dresden students will also be able to enjoy unique training and research opportunities at the new accelerator lab. after all, the 25-kilometer drive from hzdr to the valley 'plauenscher grund' is a lot easier than the journey to the gran sasso lab in italy – and tu dresden is just 3.7 kilometers from the felsenkeller. publication: f. cavanna, r. depalo, m. aliotta, m. anders, d. bemmerer, a. best, a. boeltzig, c. broggini, c.g. bruno, a. caciolli, p. corvisiero, t. davinson, a. di leva, z. elekes, f. ferraro, a. formicola, z. fülöp, g. gervino, a. guglielmetti, c. gustavino, g. gyürky, g. imbriani, m. junker, r. menegazzo, v. mossa, f. r. pantaleo, p. prati, d. a. scott, e. somorjai, o. straniero, f. strieder, t. szücs, m. p. takács, d. trezzi: three new low- energy resonances in the 22 ne(p, γ)23 na reaction, in physical review letters, 2015 (doi: 10.1103/physrevlett.115.252501) weighty research: kai zuber, bernd rimarzig and daniel bemmerer (from left to right) will soon erect the particle accelerator in the ground below dresden. photo: rainer weisflog contact _institute of radiation physics at hzdr pd dr. daniel bemmerer d.bemmerer@hzdr.de _institute for nuclear and particle physics at tu dresden prof. kai zuber kai.zuber@tu-dresden.de