Understanding Explosive Stellar Events Using Rare Isotope Beams

Nuclear reactions in explosive stars such as novae, X-ray bursts, and supernovae are responsible for producing many of the elements that make up our world. Exotic nuclei not normally found on earth can play an important role in these events due to the extreme conditions that occur in the explosion. A frontier area of research involves utilizing beams of radioactive nuclei to improve our understanding of these explosions and the implications on cosmic element production. At the future radioactive ion beam facility of Korea, RAON, we will measure astrophysically important reactions using exotic beams to probe the details of cosmic events. Details of RAON and possible day-1 experiments at the facility will be presented.