Birmingham-SHU Nuclear Physics Consolidated Grant Application 2020
Lead Research Organisation:
Sheffield Hallam University
Department Name: College of Business, Technology & Eng
Abstract
Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.
Organisations
- Sheffield Hallam University (Lead Research Organisation)
- University of Brighton (Collaboration)
- Culham Centre for Fusion Energy (Collaboration)
- Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University (Collaboration)
- Extreme Light Infrastructure - Nuclear Physics (ELI-NP) (Collaboration)
- European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM (Collaboration)
- University of Connecticut (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER (Collaboration)
- University of Warsaw (Collaboration)
People |
ORCID iD |
| Robin Smith (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Bishop J
(2022)
Neutron-upscattering enhancement of the triple-alpha process.
in Nature communications
Brune C
(2023)
Photonuclear reactions with charged particles detection for nuclear astrophysics studies
in The European Physical Journal A
Cwiok M
(2023)
Studies of photo-nuclear reactions at astrophysical energies with an active-target TPC
in EPJ Web of Conferences
Haverson K
(2024)
Searching for particle-hole cluster bands in 8 Be using the ISOLDE Solenoidal Spectrometer
in EPJ Web of Conferences
Lennon K
(2024)
Machine Learning Based Compton Suppression for Nuclear Fusion Plasma Diagnostics
in Journal of Fusion Energy
Lois-Fuentes J
(2023)
Cross-shell states in 15C: A test for p-sd interactions
in Physics Letters B
Palada L
(2024)
Clustering in 13 C
in EPJ Web of Conferences
Smith R
(2021)
Precision measurements on oxygen formation in stellar helium burning with gamma-ray beams and a Time Projection Chamber.
in Nature communications
| Description | Nuclear Academic and Industry Liaison Sub-committee |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| Impact | Feedback from industry permits us to provide training for UG and PG students to develop the skills required for industry. |
| Description | Bell Burnell Graduate Scholarship Fund |
| Amount | £35,000 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | BB0019 |
| Organisation | Institute of Physics (IOP) |
| Sector | Learned Society |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 09/2022 |
| End | 03/2026 |
| Description | Nuclear Physics Consolidated Grant 2023 |
| Amount | £93,849 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | ST/Y000331/1 |
| Organisation | University of Birmingham |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 09/2024 |
| End | 09/2027 |
| Title | Developing software tools for Time Projection Chamber data analysis |
| Description | Writing new software packages to analyse TPC data acquired during a 2022 experimental campaign at HIgS at Duke University, USA. |
| Type Of Material | Technology assay or reagent |
| Year Produced | 2025 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | Contribution towards collaborative work with research partners in Poland, the USA, and Romania. Significant training of 3 PhD students (1 in UK, 2 in USA). |
| Title | Machine Learning for event classification in Time Projection Chamber data |
| Description | Using the convolutional neural networks, ResNet 18, ResNet 50 and ResNeXt, for differentiating different types of nuclear reactions that were measured using an electronic TPC detector at the HIgS gamma beam facility. |
| Type Of Material | Technology assay or reagent |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | New ways of rapidly classifying nuclear reaction data. |
| Title | Pulse shape analysis for electron-ion discrimination in silcon detectors |
| Description | Analysing pulse shapes of pre-amplified signals from silicon detectors to differentiate between the different types of radiation being detected. This uses CAEN digitizer hardware and commercial PSD firmware packages. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | This opens up the possibility to measure particularly low energy ions in gamma-induced nuclear reactions and remove backgrounds from electrons. |
| Title | Precision branching ratio measurements in 18O |
| Description | Experimental dataset. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Publication of journal article and conference papers. |
| URL | http://edata.bham.ac.uk/635/ |
| Title | Studies in low energy nuclear physics at HIGS 16O |
| Description | Codes developed for the analysis of Optical Time Projection Chamber data. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | N/A |
| Description | Birmingham-SHU partnership |
| Organisation | University of Birmingham |
| Department | School of Physics and Astronomy |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Planning and running nuclear physics experiments, associated data analysis, feedback on paper writing, co-supervision of PhD students. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Planning and running nuclear physics experiments, associated data analysis, feedback on paper writing, co-supervision of PhD students. |
| Impact | Bishop J, Parker C, Rogachev G, Ahn S, Koshchiy E, et al., (2022). Neutron-upscattering enhancement of the triple-alpha process. Nature communications, 13 (1), pp. 2151 |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | ISOLDE solenoidal spectrometer collaboration |
| Organisation | European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) |
| Country | Switzerland |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Conducting experiments at CERN using the ISOLDE solenoidal spectrometer Leading data analysis. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Building the detector. Conducting experiments at CERN using the ISOLDE solenoidal spectrometer Assisting with data analysis. |
| Impact | Successful SHU-led experiment in November 2023 at CERN ISOLDE and another Liverpool-led experiment in November 2024 at CERN ISOLDE. |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | ISOLDE solenoidal spectrometer collaboration |
| Organisation | Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University |
| Country | Saudi Arabia |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Conducting experiments at CERN using the ISOLDE solenoidal spectrometer Leading data analysis. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Building the detector. Conducting experiments at CERN using the ISOLDE solenoidal spectrometer Assisting with data analysis. |
| Impact | Successful SHU-led experiment in November 2023 at CERN ISOLDE and another Liverpool-led experiment in November 2024 at CERN ISOLDE. |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | ISOLDE solenoidal spectrometer collaboration |
| Organisation | University of Connecticut |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Conducting experiments at CERN using the ISOLDE solenoidal spectrometer Leading data analysis. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Building the detector. Conducting experiments at CERN using the ISOLDE solenoidal spectrometer Assisting with data analysis. |
| Impact | Successful SHU-led experiment in November 2023 at CERN ISOLDE and another Liverpool-led experiment in November 2024 at CERN ISOLDE. |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | ISOLDE solenoidal spectrometer collaboration |
| Organisation | University of Liverpool |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Conducting experiments at CERN using the ISOLDE solenoidal spectrometer Leading data analysis. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Building the detector. Conducting experiments at CERN using the ISOLDE solenoidal spectrometer Assisting with data analysis. |
| Impact | Successful SHU-led experiment in November 2023 at CERN ISOLDE and another Liverpool-led experiment in November 2024 at CERN ISOLDE. |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | ISOLDE solenoidal spectrometer collaboration |
| Organisation | University of Manchester |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Conducting experiments at CERN using the ISOLDE solenoidal spectrometer Leading data analysis. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Building the detector. Conducting experiments at CERN using the ISOLDE solenoidal spectrometer Assisting with data analysis. |
| Impact | Successful SHU-led experiment in November 2023 at CERN ISOLDE and another Liverpool-led experiment in November 2024 at CERN ISOLDE. |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | SHU-Brighton-UKAEA |
| Organisation | Culham Centre for Fusion Energy |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Planning and conducting neutron activation experiments, algorithm development, data analysis, paper writing, co-supervision of a PhD student, who recently passed their PhD defence. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Planning and conducting neutron activation experiments, algorithm development, data analysis, paper writing, co-supervision of a PhD student. |
| Impact | Wong O, Smith R, Nobs C, Bruce A, (2022). Optimising Foil Selection for Neutron Activation Systems. Journal of Fusion Energy |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | SHU-Brighton-UKAEA |
| Organisation | University of Brighton |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Planning and conducting neutron activation experiments, algorithm development, data analysis, paper writing, co-supervision of a PhD student, who recently passed their PhD defence. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Planning and conducting neutron activation experiments, algorithm development, data analysis, paper writing, co-supervision of a PhD student. |
| Impact | Wong O, Smith R, Nobs C, Bruce A, (2022). Optimising Foil Selection for Neutron Activation Systems. Journal of Fusion Energy |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | SHU-UConn-Warsaw-ELI-Bham collaboration |
| Organisation | Extreme Light Infrastructure - Nuclear Physics (ELI-NP) |
| Country | Romania |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Conducting experimental work at the HIgS facility at Duke University in the USA, using gamma beams and a Time Projection Chamber. Contributing to aspects of data analysis. Reporting at conferences. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Building the TPC detector. Conducting experimental work at the HIgS facility at Duke University in the USA, using gamma beams and a Time Projection Chamber. Contributing to aspects of data analysis. Reporting at conferences. |
| Impact | Publication of a conference paper on initial results. The initial results also feature in a review paper of photodisintegration reactions. |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | SHU-UConn-Warsaw-ELI-Bham collaboration |
| Organisation | University of Connecticut |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Conducting experimental work at the HIgS facility at Duke University in the USA, using gamma beams and a Time Projection Chamber. Contributing to aspects of data analysis. Reporting at conferences. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Building the TPC detector. Conducting experimental work at the HIgS facility at Duke University in the USA, using gamma beams and a Time Projection Chamber. Contributing to aspects of data analysis. Reporting at conferences. |
| Impact | Publication of a conference paper on initial results. The initial results also feature in a review paper of photodisintegration reactions. |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | SHU-UConn-Warsaw-ELI-Bham collaboration |
| Organisation | University of Warsaw |
| Country | Poland |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Conducting experimental work at the HIgS facility at Duke University in the USA, using gamma beams and a Time Projection Chamber. Contributing to aspects of data analysis. Reporting at conferences. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Building the TPC detector. Conducting experimental work at the HIgS facility at Duke University in the USA, using gamma beams and a Time Projection Chamber. Contributing to aspects of data analysis. Reporting at conferences. |
| Impact | Publication of a conference paper on initial results. The initial results also feature in a review paper of photodisintegration reactions. |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | SHU-UKAEA |
| Organisation | Culham Centre for Fusion Energy |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Co-supervision and co-funding of a PhD student, algorithm development, conducting radiation detection experiments. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Co-supervision of a PhD student, algorithm development, conducting radiation detection experiments. Access to laboratory resources at UKAEA. |
| Impact | Machine Learning Based Compton Suppression for Nuclear Fusion Plasma Diagnostics. Journal of Fusion Energy. 2024. |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | Nuclear Academic Industrial Liaison Subcommittee |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | The Nuclear Academic and Industry Liaison Sub-committee (NAILS) promotes the exchange of knowledge between industry and academia with the aim of bringing closer the mutual understanding of R&D needs. The group meets every six months. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021,2022,2023,2024,2025 |
| Description | STFC Projects Peer Review Panel - external expert |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | I acted as the external expert on the STFC Projects Peer Review Panel, assessing the scientific merit of a multi-million pound detector project. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |