Experimental Approaches for Constraining Nuclear Contributions to R-Process Uncertainties

Our understanding of the r-process depends upon both the uncertainties in the astrophysical environments and the uncertainties in the nuclear reactions taking place in those environments. The location of the r-process path on the chart of nuclides varies with the different astrophysical conditions, such as the "cold" r-process in neutron star mergers or the "hot" r-process in neutrino-driven winds from core-collapse supernovae, because of the differing temperatures, pressures, and neutron fluxes. Final, observable r-process abundances can vary significantly based on the conditions in which they were formed, but interpretation of this variation requires precise knowledge of the masses, decay modes, level structure, and neutron-capture cross sections of the nuclei along a particular r-process path. This talk will focus on several techniques being developed and employed to better constrain some of the nuclear physics parameters which contribute to improved predictions of r-process abundances.