Browse 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.

The Moon might be stranger than we think.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.