Contact Information:
Department of Chemistry
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX 77842
Phone: (979) 845-1411
Fax: (979) 845-1899
yennello@mail.chem.tamu.edu

Sherry J Yennello
Professor

Ph. D., Indiana University

Awards:

• NSF Young Investigator
• Oak Ridge Junior Faculty Enhancement Award
• General Electric Faculty for the Future Award
• Center for Teaching Excellence Scholar

Areas of Interest:

• Nuclear Chemistry
• Reactions with Exotic Nuclei

Yennello Research Laboratory

Research is centered around utilizing the newly available ability to produce beams of nuclei removed from the valley of stability to investigate nuclear reaction mechanisms. The experiments study the collisional dynamics of heavy-ion reactions and the thermodynamics of the resultant hot nuclear system.

Emission of fragments prior to equilibrium allows us to learn about cluster formation by studying the dynamics involved in the collision of two composite groups of nucleons. Projectile fragmentation reactions allow determination of the final state of the excited nuclear system thus enabling a reconstruction of the thermodynamics of fragmentation.

Much of our work is conducted at the Cyclotron Institute using the K500 superconducting cyclotron. Beams of radioactive ions can currently be separated in the recoil spectrometer, MARS. Complementary experiments with stable beams are also performed utilizing a 4-pi neutron detector for event characterization and selection.

A new forward array, FAUST, capable of measuring isotopically resolved fragments from projectile fragmentation reactions has recently been constructed (as shown in the photograph).

Transition in isospin behavior between light and heavy fragments emitted from excited nuclear systems, E. Martin, R. Laforest, E. Ramakrishnan, D. J. Rowland, A. Ruangma, E. M. Winchester, and S. J. Yennello, Phys. Rev. C 62, 027601 (2000).

Inhomogeneous isospin distribution in the reactions of ²⁸Si+ ¹¹²Sn and ¹²⁴Sn at 30 and 50 MeV/nucleon, M. Veselsky, R.W. Ibbotson, R. Laforest, E. Ramakrishnan, D.J. Rowland, A. Ruangma, E.M. Winchester, E. Martin and S.J. Yennello, Phys. Rev. C 62, 041605 (2000).

Signals for a transition from surface to bulk emission in thermal multifragmentation, L. Beaulieu, T. Lefort, K. Kwiatkowski, R.T. de Souza, W.-c. Hsi, L. Pienkowski, B. Back, D.S. Bracken, H. Breuer, E. Cornell, F. Gimeno-Nogues, D.S. Ginger, S. Gushue, R.G. Korteling, R. Laforest, E. Martin, K.B. Morley, E. Ramakrishnan, L.P. Remsberg, D. Rowland, A. Ruangma, V.E. Viola, G. Wang, E. Winchester and S.J. Yennello Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 5971 (2000).

Radioactive Beaams at Texas A&M University, R.E. Tribble, A. Azhari, C.A. Gagliardi, J.C. Hardy, A. Mukhamedzhanov, X. Tang, L. Trache, S.J. Yennello, Nucl. Phys. (in press).

Effect of nucleon exchange on projectile fragmentation in the reactions of ²⁸Si + ¹¹²Sn and ¹²⁴Sn at 30 and 50 MeV/nucleon, M. Veselsky, R.W. Ibbotson, R. Laforest, E. Ramakrishnan, D.J. Rowland, A. Ruangma, E.M. Winchester, E. Martin and S.J. Yennello, Phys. Rev. C (in press).

Signals for the transition from liquid to gas in hot nuclei, V. Viola, T. Lefort, L. Beaulieu, K. Kwiatkowski, G. Wang, R. deSouza, L. Pienkowski, A. Botvina, H. Breuer, D. Durand, R.G. Korteling, R. Laforest, E. Martin, E. Ramakrishnan, D. Rowland, A Ruangma, E. Winchester and S.J. Yennello Nucl. Phys. A (in press).

Distribution of isospin during fragmentation of excited quasiprojectiles from the reactions of ²⁸Si + ^112,124Sn at 30 and 50 MeV/nucleon, S.J. Yennello, M. Veselsky, R. Laforest, E. Ramakrishnan, D.J. Rowland, A. Ruangma, E.M. Winchester and E. Martin, Nucl. Phys. A (in press).

Isospin Dependence of isobaric ratio Y(³H)/Y(³He) and its possible statistical interpretation, M. Veselsky, R.W. Ibbotson, R. Laforest, E. Ramakrishnan, D.J. Rowland, A. Ruangma, E.M. Winchester, E. Martin and S.J. Yennello, submitted to Phys Lett B.

Thermally-Induced Expansion in the 8 GeV/c pion + 197Au Reaction, T. Lefort, L. Beaulieu, A. Botvina, D. Durand, K. Kwiatkowski, W.-c. Hsi, L. Pienkowski, B. Back, H. Breuer, S. Gushue, R.G. Korteling, R. Laforest, E. Martin, E. Ramakrishnan, L.P. Remsberg, D. Rowland, A Ruangma, V. Viola, E. Winchester and S.J. Yennello, submitted to Phys. Rev. C.

Effect of system N/Z content on the enhanced production of even-Z fragments observed in heavy ion reactions, E.M. Winchester, J.A. Winger, R. Laforest, E. Martin, E. Ramakrishnan, D.J. Rowland, A. Ruangma, S.J. Yennello, G.D. Westfall, A. Vander Molen, and E. Norbeck, in press Phys. Rev. C.