Nuclear Physics

Published September 14, 2009

Astrophysics Nuclear Physics

Simulations support the prediction that when nuclei are squeezed to high densities in the core of a supernova, they merge into exotic shapes such as rods and slabs.

Published August 31, 2009

Astrophysics Nuclear Physics Particles & Fields

The Moon might be stranger than we think.

Published August 31, 2009

Nuclear Physics

A laser spectroscopy technique that has helped resolve a puzzle about the structure of ⁵⁷Cu could prove useful in studying other exotic, short-lived nuclei.

Michael Wiescher, Physics 2, 69 (2009) – Published August 17, 2009

Astrophysics Nuclear Physics

Advances in experimental techniques that measure nuclear reactions that occur in stars are opening new opportunities for understanding the stellar and chemical evolution of our Universe.

Klaus Jungmann, Physics 2, 68 (2009) – Published August 10, 2009

Atomic & Molecular Physics Particles & Fields Nuclear Physics

A huge, predicted atomic parity violation has now been observed in ytterbium, further aiding tabletop experimental searches for physics beyond the standard model that complement ongoing efforts at high-energy colliders.

Published June 1, 2009

Nuclear Physics

Phase separation could be an experimentally observable signature of the predicted critical point in dense quark matter.

Published May 11, 2009

Nuclear Physics

An algebraic version of Bohr’s collective model is shown to be an effective tool for the analysis of rotational and vibrational spectra in nuclei.

Published April 13, 2009

Nuclear Physics

The study of reaction rates between unstable, light nuclei can lead to a better understanding of thermonuclear processes in massive stars and novae.

Published March 30, 2009

Nuclear Physics

High-precision mass measurements of an isotope of mercury will help us to understand the forces between nucleons in nuclei.

Paul Mantica, Physics 2, 18 (2009) – Published March 2, 2009

Nuclear Physics

Experiments show that spherical and nonspherical states of a light nucleus near neutron number 28 coexist at the same energy, challenging the usefulness of the notion of stable and persistent “magic numbers.”

Published February 23, 2009

Nuclear Physics

A method for calculating the overlap of wave functions in a many-body system will make it easier to determine quantum mechanical states starting from mean-field calculations.

Dam T. Son, Physics 2, 5 (2009) – Published January 20, 2009

Particles & Fields Nuclear Physics

The critical point is one of the main features of the phase diagram of strongly interacting quark-gluon matter. Finding this critical point in the lab will require luck and an understanding of the possible experimental signatures.

Published December 15, 2008

Nuclear Physics

The report of a successful experiment at the new radioactive ion trap at RIKEN paves the way for future measurements of more exotic nuclei, and tests some of the key methods needed to build future rare-isotope accelerators.

Scott Pratt, Physics 1, 29 (2008) – Published October 13, 2008

Particles & Fields Nuclear Physics Interdisciplinary Physics

Energetic particle jets created in relativistic heavy-ion collisions might create detectable shock waves as they travel through the quark-gluon plasma.

Published September 29, 2008

Nuclear Physics

Various models in nuclear physics can be used to fit the masses of known nuclei, but the predictions tend to be inconsistent for masses that have not been measured. A thorough study examines this problem and provides a route to quantify these errors.

Published August 18, 2008

Nuclear Physics

The long-held belief that nuclear states of very heavy elements that carry a large angular momentum would be unstable has been shattered in recent years. Now, a new experiment that can probe the outermost nuclear orbitals in ²⁵⁰Fm studies these states and poses a challenge to theory.

Joseph B. Natowitz, Physics 1, 12 (2008) – Published August 11, 2008

Nuclear Physics

Heavy nuclei formed by fusion reactions often decay rapidly by fissioning into two fragments. Understanding how these decays occur and over what time scale provides a means to locate the superheavy “island of stability.”

Published July 17, 2008

Nuclear Physics

When an antiproton is fired into an atomic nucleus, will it live long enough for the nucleus to respond to the attractive strong force between the antiproton and the protons and neutrons? Calculations suggest that it would and predict the experimental signatures of an antiproton annihilating in a locally compressed nucleus.