Nuclear Physics at the Extremes: Theory & Experiment
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Surrey
Department Name: Physics
Abstract
For a hundred years, atomic nuclei have been probed more or less exclusively by studying collisions between stable beams and stable targets. This restricted the nuclei that could be studied to just a just a small fraction of those that are thought to exist. Most of the nuclei important to making all of the elements (in various stellar processes) have for example been inaccessible to experiment. The major thrust in nuclear physics worldwide, and a key priority in the UK's programme, is to reach out and study these exotic nuclei by using beams produced from short-lived radioactive isotopes. This in turn reveals that nuclear structure is not always like it seems to be for the stable nuclei, and nuclei are found to have surprising trends in stability and to have different shapes that will affect reaction rates inside stars and supernovae. At Surrey we take these UK priorities and the new opportunities very much to heart, and we seek out and lead programmes at the world's best facilities for making these radioactive beams. To make the beams is difficult and the facilities - as well as the research effort - are international in scale. Surrey builds and runs innovative experimental equipment at these facilities. The present grant request is focused on the exploitation of these capabilities at the best laboratories.
Experimental progress is intimately linked with theory, and the development of novel and better theoretical approaches are a hallmark of the Surrey group. An outstanding feature of the group as a whole, which is key to our research plans and acknowledged as a rare and valuable strength, is our powerful blend of theoretical and experimental capability.
Our science goals are aligned with current STFC strategy for nuclear physics, as expressed in detail through the Nuclear Physics Advisory Panel's road map. We wish to understand the boundaries of nuclear existence, i.e. the limiting conditions that enable neutrons and protons to bind together to form nuclei. Under such conditions, the nuclear system is in a delicate state and shows unusual phenomena. It is very sensitive to the properties of the nuclear force. It is unknown whether, and to what extent, the neutrons and protons can show different collective behaviour or even how many neutrons can bind to a given number of protons. It is features such as these that determine how stars explode. To tackle these problems, we need a more sophisticated understanding of the nuclear force, we need more powerful theories that can build this understanding into the calculations, and we need experimental information about nuclei with unusual numbers of neutrons relative to protons so that we can test our theoretical ideas. Therefore, theory and experiment go hand-in-hand as we push forward towards the nuclear limits.
An overview of nuclear binding reveals that about one half of predicted nuclei have never been observed, and the vast majority of this unknown territory involves nuclei with an excess of neutrons. Much of our activity addresses this "neutron rich" territory, exploiting the new capabilities made possible with radioactive beams and exploiting advances in computational power and analytical theories to bring superior new theoretical tools to bear on the latest observations.
Our principal motivation is the basic science and the STFC "big questions", and we contribute strongly to the world sum of knowledge and understanding. The radiation-detector advances that our work drives can be incorporated in medical diagnosis and treatment and in environmental management. We engage strongly with the National Physical Laboratory on these topics. In addition, we provide an excellent training environment for our research students and staff, many of whom go on to work in the nuclear power industry, helping to fill the current skills gap. Furthermore, we have a keen interest in sharing our specialist knowledge with a wide audience, and actively pursue a public engagement agenda.
Experimental progress is intimately linked with theory, and the development of novel and better theoretical approaches are a hallmark of the Surrey group. An outstanding feature of the group as a whole, which is key to our research plans and acknowledged as a rare and valuable strength, is our powerful blend of theoretical and experimental capability.
Our science goals are aligned with current STFC strategy for nuclear physics, as expressed in detail through the Nuclear Physics Advisory Panel's road map. We wish to understand the boundaries of nuclear existence, i.e. the limiting conditions that enable neutrons and protons to bind together to form nuclei. Under such conditions, the nuclear system is in a delicate state and shows unusual phenomena. It is very sensitive to the properties of the nuclear force. It is unknown whether, and to what extent, the neutrons and protons can show different collective behaviour or even how many neutrons can bind to a given number of protons. It is features such as these that determine how stars explode. To tackle these problems, we need a more sophisticated understanding of the nuclear force, we need more powerful theories that can build this understanding into the calculations, and we need experimental information about nuclei with unusual numbers of neutrons relative to protons so that we can test our theoretical ideas. Therefore, theory and experiment go hand-in-hand as we push forward towards the nuclear limits.
An overview of nuclear binding reveals that about one half of predicted nuclei have never been observed, and the vast majority of this unknown territory involves nuclei with an excess of neutrons. Much of our activity addresses this "neutron rich" territory, exploiting the new capabilities made possible with radioactive beams and exploiting advances in computational power and analytical theories to bring superior new theoretical tools to bear on the latest observations.
Our principal motivation is the basic science and the STFC "big questions", and we contribute strongly to the world sum of knowledge and understanding. The radiation-detector advances that our work drives can be incorporated in medical diagnosis and treatment and in environmental management. We engage strongly with the National Physical Laboratory on these topics. In addition, we provide an excellent training environment for our research students and staff, many of whom go on to work in the nuclear power industry, helping to fill the current skills gap. Furthermore, we have a keen interest in sharing our specialist knowledge with a wide audience, and actively pursue a public engagement agenda.
Planned Impact
The proposed research will benefit end users in the nuclear industry, such as AWE, National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL), the Environment Agency, BAE systems, Public Heath England and radiation detection instrumentation manufacturers such as Kromek, Canberra and ORTEC, through trained manpower (PhDs, PDRAs and graduates from the two Surrey MSc programmes on Medical Physics and Radiation and Environmental Protection) as well as the carefully measured and evaluated nuclear decay and structure data provided by the group. The Surrey group's formal links with the NPL Radioactivity Group as part of the wider NPL-Surrey partnership provide the ideal bridge to facilitate this. The Surrey/NPL link is crucial to the STFC funded UK Nuclear Data Network and provides a direct link to the UK Nuclear Science Forum (UKNSF), which is responsible for the industrial end users of nuclear data within the UK. Additional links with major end users of nuclear data include work with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Nuclear medicine clinics worldwide measure the radioactivity content of radiopharmaceuticals, such as radium, immediately prior to administration (for patient safety and regulatory compliance). Beneficiaries of our research will therefore also be the 3000 (and growing) nuclear medicine clinics worldwide. The group's work in this field will contribute towards improved safety and effectiveness of treatment for hundreds of thousands of patients worldwide undergoing cancer therapy. It will also enable a major pharmaceutical company to meet regulatory requirements, and proceed with clinical trials on further alpha-particle emitting radiopharmaceuticals.
The many varied public engagement activities of the group will benefit wider society, whether it be schools, the media, policy makers or the wider public. The group will continue to contribute to the dissemination of expert knowledge and advice when science stories aligned with its research are in the news by talking to journalists in both the written and broadcast media and being prepared to be interviewed in the press, as they have done successfully for a number of years.
Through the various outreach activities to schools, science festivals, articles in the popular press, popular science books and television and radio programmes, the group will aim to 'inspire, enlighten and enthuse' not only the next generation of scientists and engineers, but those to whom the young turn for academic and career advice, such as parents and teachers.
Members of the group will provide expert advice on issues relating to this research and the wider area of nuclear and radiation physics and nuclear safety, to government committees and policy makers to ensure that, on such sensitive and often complex topics, policies are evidence based and founded on the most accurate available scientific knowledge.
Nuclear medicine clinics worldwide measure the radioactivity content of radiopharmaceuticals, such as radium, immediately prior to administration (for patient safety and regulatory compliance). Beneficiaries of our research will therefore also be the 3000 (and growing) nuclear medicine clinics worldwide. The group's work in this field will contribute towards improved safety and effectiveness of treatment for hundreds of thousands of patients worldwide undergoing cancer therapy. It will also enable a major pharmaceutical company to meet regulatory requirements, and proceed with clinical trials on further alpha-particle emitting radiopharmaceuticals.
The many varied public engagement activities of the group will benefit wider society, whether it be schools, the media, policy makers or the wider public. The group will continue to contribute to the dissemination of expert knowledge and advice when science stories aligned with its research are in the news by talking to journalists in both the written and broadcast media and being prepared to be interviewed in the press, as they have done successfully for a number of years.
Through the various outreach activities to schools, science festivals, articles in the popular press, popular science books and television and radio programmes, the group will aim to 'inspire, enlighten and enthuse' not only the next generation of scientists and engineers, but those to whom the young turn for academic and career advice, such as parents and teachers.
Members of the group will provide expert advice on issues relating to this research and the wider area of nuclear and radiation physics and nuclear safety, to government committees and policy makers to ensure that, on such sensitive and often complex topics, policies are evidence based and founded on the most accurate available scientific knowledge.
Organisations
Publications
Hooker J
(2022)
Use of Bayesian Optimization to understand the structure of nuclei
in Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms
Häfner G
(2021)
First lifetime investigations of N > 82 iodine isotopes: The quest for collectivity
in Physical Review C
Häfner G
(2021)
Spectroscopy and lifetime measurements in Te 134 , 136 , 138 isotopes and implications for the nuclear structure beyond N = 82
in Physical Review C
Idini A
(2018)
Ab initio optical potentials and nucleon scattering on medium mass nuclei
in Journal of Physics: Conference Series
Idini A
(2017)
Ab Initio Optical Potentials and Nucleon Scattering on Medium Mass Nuclei
in Acta Physica Polonica B
Idini A
(2019)
Ab Initio Optical Potentials and Nucleon Scattering on Medium Mass Nuclei.
in Physical review letters
Johnson R
(2019)
Antisymmetrized, translationally invariant theory of the nucleon optical potential
in Physical Review C
Jongile S
(2020)
Structure of Si 33 and the magicity of the N = 20 gap at Z = 14
in Physical Review C
Jungclaus A
(2024)
Position of the single-particle 3/2- state in 135Sn and the N=90 subshell closure
in Physics Letters B
Kardan A
(2024)
Isomeric states in neutron-rich Z = 76 isotopes and N = 116 isotones
in Physical Review C
Kaya L
(2019)
Isomer spectroscopy in Ba 133 and high-spin structure of Ba 134
in Physical Review C
Keeble J
(2023)
Machine learning one-dimensional spinless trapped fermionic systems with neural-network quantum states
in Physical Review A
Keeble J
(2019)
Machine learning the deuteron
Keeble J
(2020)
Machine learning the deuteron
in Physics Letters B
Kievsky A
(2020)
Few bosons to many bosons inside the unitary window: A transition between universal and nonuniversal behavior
in Physical Review A
Kievsky A
(2017)
Saturation properties of helium drops from a leading-order description
in Physical Review A
Kiss G
(2024)
Structure and astrophysical role of the neutron-rich $$55 \le Z \le 92$$ isotopes: status and perspectives
in The European Physical Journal A
Kitamura N
(2021)
Coexisting normal and intruder configurations in $^{32}$Mg
Kitamura N
(2020)
Structure of Mg 30 explored via in-beam ? -ray spectroscopy
in Physical Review C
Koseoglou P
(2020)
Low- Z boundary of the N = 88 -90 shape phase transition: Ce 148 near the critical point
in Physical Review C
Koseoglou P
(2018)
The boundary of the N=90 shape phase transition: $^{148}$Ce
Larijani C
(2017)
Progress on the chemical separation of fission fragments from 236 Np produced by proton irradiation of natural uranium target
in Radiation Physics and Chemistry
Lee I
(2020)
Populating high spin states of a compound nucleus with the incomplete fusion mechanism: the effectiveness of heavy projectiles
in Journal of Physics G: Nuclear and Particle Physics
Leistenschneider E
(2018)
Dawning of the N=32 Shell Closure Seen through Precision Mass Measurements of Neutron-Rich Titanium Isotopes.
in Physical review letters
Li G
(2019)
Isomer yield ratios in Re 184 from the Be 9 + Ta 181 reaction
in Physical Review C
Li G
(2020)
Measurement and analysis of the isomeric cross section ratios for the Tc 94 nucleus
in Physical Review C
Li G
(2020)
Fusion reaction studies for the Be 9 + Y 89 system at above-barrier energies
in Physical Review C
Li HF
(2022)
First Application of Mass Measurements with the Rare-RI Ring Reveals the Solar r-Process Abundance Trend at A=122 and A=123.
in Physical review letters
Li Y
(2024)
Quantum simulation approach to implementing nuclear density functional theory via imaginary time evolution
in Physical Review C
Li, J.
(2021)
In-beam ?-ray spectroscopy of Cr 62,64
Lin H
(2020)
Dynamics of one-dimensional correlated nuclear systems within non-equilibrium Green's function theory
in Annals of Physics
Lois-Fuentes J
(2023)
Cross-shell states in $^{15}$C: a test for p-sd interactions
Longfellow B
(2020)
Two-neutron knockout as a probe of the composition of states in Mg 22 , Al 23 , and Si 24
in Physical Review C
Lotay G
(2019)
Identification of $\gamma$-decaying resonant states in 26Mg and their importance for the astrophysical s process
in The European Physical Journal A
Lourenço O
(2021)
Neutron star cooling and GW170817 constraint within quark-meson coupling models *
in Chinese Physics C
MacGregor P
(2021)
Evolution of single-particle structure near the N = 20 island of inversion
in Physical Review C
Mahzoon H
(2019)
Nuclear slabs with Green's functions: mean field and short-range correlations
in The European Physical Journal Special Topics
Mallaburn M
(2019)
A time-of-flight correction procedure for fast-timing data of recoils with varying implantation positions at a spectrometer focal plane
in Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment
| Description | Advancing Nuclear Science via Theory and Experiment |
| Amount | £1,724,621 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | ST/V001108/1 |
| Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 09/2021 |
| End | 03/2025 |
| Description | TENSAR - Theory and Experiment for Nuclear Structure, Astrophysics & Reactions |
| Amount | £2,379,779 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | ST/Y000358/1 |
| Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 08/2024 |
| End | 09/2027 |
| Title | The TDHF code Sky3D version 1.1 |
| Description | The nuclear mean-field model based on Skyrme forces or related density functionals has found widespread application to the description of nuclear ground states, collective vibrational excitations, and heavy-ion collisions. The code Sky3D solves the static or dynamic equations on a three-dimensional Cartesian mesh with isolated or periodic boundary conditions and no further symmetry assumptions. Pairing can be included in the BCS approximation for the static case. The code is implemented with a view to allow easy modifications for including additional physics or special analysis of the results. The previous version of this program (AESW_v1_0) may be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cpc.2014.04.008. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2018 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/vzbrzvyrn4/1 |