The main goal of ASTRUm is to employ stored and cooled radioactive ions for forefront nuclear astrophysics research. Four key experiments are proposed to be conducted at GSI in Darmstadt, which holds the only facility to date capable of storing highly charged radionuclides in the required element and energy range. The proposed experiments can hardly be conducted by any other technique or method. The weak decay matrix element for the transition between the 2.3 keV state in 205Pb and the ground state of 205Tl will be measured via the bound state beta decay measurement of fully ionized 205Tl81+. This will provide the required data to determine the solar pp-neutrino flux integrated over the last 5 million years and will allow us to unveil the astrophysical conditions prior to the formation of the solar system. The measurements of the alpha-decay width of the 4.033 MeV excited state in 19Ne will allow us to constrain the conditions for the ignition of the rp-process in X-ray bursters. ASTRUm will open a new field by enabling for the first time measurements of proton- and alpha-capture reaction cross-sections on radioactive nuclei of interest for the p-process of nucleosynthesis. Last but not least, broad band mass and half-life measurements in a ring is the only technique to precisely determine these key nuclear properties for nuclei with half-lives as short as a millisecond and production rates of below one ion per day. To accomplish these measurements with highest efficiency, sensitivity and precision, improved detector systems will be developed within ASTRUm. Possible applications of these systems go beyond ASTRUm objectives and will be used in particular in accelerator physics. The instrumentation and experience gained within ASTRUm will be indispensable for planning the future, next generation storage ring projects, which are launched or proposed at several radioactive ion beam facilities.

Half of the approximately 4 million annual cancer cases in Europe receive radiotherapy. While many cancer patients have benefitted from technical improvements in recent years, widespread diseases, such as pancreatic and lung cancer, still have dismally low cure rates, with median survival of less than 2 years. Carbon ion radiotherapy (CIRT) offers unprecedented precision in delivering tumour dose, and can be the much needed game changer for these patients. However, CIRT is vulnerable to uncertainties in patient positioning, anatomy changes and organ motion. The current clinical approach is to increase the high dose volume to ensure target coverage, counteracting the primary advantage of CIRT. Novel strategies for image guidance and beam range assessment are crucial to unlock the full potential of CIRT for the best possible patient care. PROMISE, for the first time, will produce mixed ion beams that enable concurrent treatment and image guidance. Carbon ions deliver the dose to the target while Helium ions, simultaneously accelerated to the same velocity, traverse the patient and monitor tumour location and beam range. PROMISE realizes true portal imaging, providing real-time information on the target anatomy as seen by the treatment beam. Coupled with innovative detectors, AI-based image recognition, and online dose reconstruction, this technique will enable to drastically reduce safety margins, and achieve the full potential of CIRT. The GSI accelerators are uniquely suited to develop the first mixed beam of Carbon and Helium, along with strategies for their cost-effective translation to existing and future clinical CIRT centres. The method will be validated experimentally in GSI’s former CIRT treatment room. Patient simulation studies will highlight clinical benefit and characterize ideal use cases. A demonstration in an animal model will pave the way for clinical transition. The mixed beam image guidance of PROMISE will lead to a paradigm shift in CIRT.

This project NeuTrAE is aimed to advance our understanding on lingering puzzles on the flavor evolution of neutrinos and their implication in particle and nuclear astrophysics. Neutrinos are characterized by their flavors that can change as they propagate in a phenomenon known as neutrino flavor oscillations. The oscillations in vacuum and ordinary matter are well understood and confirmed by several experiments. Astrophysical compact objects, such as core-collapse supernovae and the violent merger event of two neutron stars or a neutron star and a black hole, are profuse sources of neutrinos. In those astrophysical environments the neutrino flux becomes so intense that the flavor interference of neutrinos with each other has to be taken into account. This non-linear effect coupling neutrinos propagating in different directions and with different energies is known as collective neutrino oscillations. Accounting for the collective neutrino oscillations in simulations of astrophysical environments requires a quantum kinetic transport. It remains a tremendous challenge due to the high-dimensionality of the problem and the vastly different scales for flavor and hydrodynamical evolution. The impact of neutrino flavor transitions on those compact objects remains elusive without efficient and sophisticated treatments. I propose the project NeuTrAE providing a pipeline to study the impact of collective neutrino oscillations in astrophysical environments. It consists of three steps: performing neutrino quantum kinetic simulations, developing numerically effective schemes that can be incorporated in state-of-the art hydrodynamical simulations, and assessing the impact of neutrino flavor transformations on heavy element nucleosynthesis and its electromagnetic signatures. NeuTrAE will also commit to significant advance on dynamical evolution of astrophysical compact objects.

NanoBiosens seeks to expand the potential of Solid-State Nanochannels (SSNs) in the field of electrochemical sensing and the study of phenomena at nanoscale. SSNs have garnered significant attention among researchers due to their promising applications. Inspired by the sophisticated transport mechanisms found in biological channels in nature, SSNs offer precise control over ion transport. Ion transport across SSNs is controlled by the geometry and physicochemical properties of the surface. Thus, highly selective and sensitive transport relies on controlling the internal chemistry and architecture of the channel. SSNs offer, in addition, new avenues to diverse device with nanofluidic and sensing applications. In this project, we endeavor the creation of SSN-based devices for biosensing while simultaneously delving into fundamental studies of building block behavior in nanoconfinement. To achieve these objectives, I will develop and test a novel dual-signal setup that combines electrochemical and iontronic measurements in SSNs. While pure electrochemical sensing faces challenges related to sensitivity, cost efficiency, and complexity, iontronic sensing enables the adjustment of ion transport properties in SSNs enhancing the performance of the sensor. Leveraging SSNs' exceptional sensitivity, we will pioneer highly sensitive enzyme-based biosensors. The innovative dual-signal sensing mechanism will harvest both the information of EC sensing and the high sensitivity of iontronic sensing. It will offer fundamental studies on building block performance within nanoscale confinement, providing invaluable insights into their behavior. Such studies are crucial for refining the precision and effectiveness of nanoscale architectures and their applications. Thus, NanoBiosens extends beyond immediate impact, seeking to push the boundaries of SSN, exploring novel methods and mechanisms for future advancements and applications.

The lightest chemical elements –Hydrogen and Helium– were created about a minute after the Big Bang. Elements up to Iron are forged by fusion reactions in stars. Heavy elements between Iron and Uranium are produced by a sequence of neutron captures and beta-decays known as rapid neutron capture or r process. The freshly synthesized r-process elements undergo radioactive decay through various channels depositing energy in the ejecta that powers an optical/infrared transient called “kilonova” whose basic properties like luminosity and its dependence on ejecta mass, velocity, radioactive energy input, and atomic opacities I contributed to determine for the first time. Our predictions have been dramatically confirmed by the observation of a kilonova electromagnetic transient associated with the gravitational wave signal GW170817 providing the first direct indication that r-process elements are produced in neutron-star mergers. Additional events are expected to be detected in the following years, representing a complete change of paradigm in r-process research as for the first time we will be confronted with direct observational data. To fully exploit such opportunity it is fundamental to combine an improved description of exotic neutron-rich nuclei involved in the r-process with sophisticated astrophysical simulations to provide accurate prediction of r-process nucleosynthesis yields and their electromagnetic signals to be confronted with observational data. Based on my broad knowledge and expertise in all the relevant areas, and the unique experimental capabilities of the GSI/FAIR facility, I am in prime position to advance our understanding of r-process nucleosynthesis and determine the contribution of mergers to the chemical enrichment of the galaxy in heavy elements.