Artemisia Spyrou

Professor, Department of Physics & Astronomy

Pronouns: she/her

Location: 2008 640 S Shaw Ln Room 2008

Photo of: Artemisia Spyrou

Bio

My research interests extend into two fields, both in experimental nuclear physics. For the first one, I study nuclear reactions that take place inside stars and — through different astrophysical processes — are responsible for the synthesis of all known elements. My second field of interest is focused on understanding the structure of atomic nuclei, which again indirectly influences the astrophysical processes.
The elements that we observe today on earth were all created inside stars through different types of nuclear reactions. Starting with hydrogen and helium, the light elements are produced by reaction cycles that burn the existing fuel and slowly build the heavier nuclei up to the region of iron. Above iron, most elements are created through two processes (s- and r-process), which involve neutron-induced reactions together with β-decays. There is also a small group of proton-rich nuclei, called ‘p-nuclei’, which cannot be created by these neutron-processes but rather by a different process called ‘p process’. There are several open questions governing the synthesis of the heavy elements. My work as an experimentalist is to study the nuclear reactions involved in these astrophysical processes. For this purpose, my group developed the SuN detector — a total absorption gamma-ray spectrometer that is used for measuring reaction rates and beta-decay properties involved in the nucleosynthesis and, in particular, related to the r- and p-processes.
# Education:
* 2007: Ph.D., National Technical University of Athens

Selected Publications

Constraining the Synthesis of the Lightest 𝑝 Nucleus 74 Se, A. Tsantiri, a. Spyrou, et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 135 (2025) 212701 View Publication
Enhanced production of 60Fe in massive stars, A. Spyrou et al. , Nature Comms. 15 (2024) 9608 View Publication
Extracting model-independent nuclear level densities away from stability, D. Muecher, A. Spyrou, et al. Phys. Rev. C Lett 107 (2023) L011602 View Publication
Extreme shape coexistence observed in 70Co, C. Dembski, A. Spyrou, et al. Nature Comms. Phys. 8 (2025) 77 View Publication
First Study of the 139Ba(n,γ)140Ba Reaction to Constrain the Conditions for the Astrophysical i Process, A. Spyrou, D. Muecher, et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 132 (2024) 202701. View Publication
Influence of neutron-capture reactions on the nucleosynthesis of strontium, C. Harris, A. Spyrou, Nature Comms. Phys. (2026) View Publication
Unlocking i-process nucleosynthesis by bridging stellar and nuclear physics, M. Wiedeking, et al. Nature Reviews (2025) View Publication