Nuclear Structure and Reactions: Theory and Experiment
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Surrey
Department Name: Physics
Abstract
Nuclear physics research is undergoing a transformation. For a hundred years, atomic nuclei have been probed by collisions between stable beams and stable targets, with just a small number of radioactive isotopes being available. Now, building on steady progress over the past 20 years, it is at last becoming possible to generate intense beams of a wide range of short-lived isotopes, so-called 'radioactive beams'. This enables us vastly to expand the scope of experimental nuclear research. For example, it is now realistic to plan to study in the laboratory a range of nuclear reactions that take place in exploding stars. Thereby, we will be able to understand how the chemical elements that we find on Earth were formed and distributed through the Universe. At the core of our experimental research is our strong participation at leading European radioactive-beam facilities: FAIR at GSI, Darmstadt, Germany; SPIRAL at GANIL, Caen, France; and ISOLDE at CERN, Geneva, Switzerland. While we are now contributing, or planning to contribute, to substantial technical developments at these facilities, the present grant request is focused on the exploitation of the capabilities that are now becoming available. To achieve our physics objectives, we also need to use other facilities, including stable-isotope accelerators, since these can provide complementary capabilities. Experimental progress is intimately linked with theory, where novel and practical approaches are a hallmark of the Surrey group. A key and unique feature (within the UK) of our group is our 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. 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. For example, weakly bound neutrons can orbit their parent nucleus at remarkably large distances. This is already known, and our group made key contributions to this knowledge. What is unknown is whether, and to what extent, the neutrons and protons can show different collective behaviours. Also unknown, for most elements, is how many neutrons can bind to a given number of protons. It is features such as these that determine how stars explode. So, we need a more sophisticated understanding of the nuclear force, and we need experimental information about nuclei with unusual combinations of neutrons and protons to test our theoretical ideas and models. 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. The focus of our activity addresses this 'neutron-rich' territory, exploiting the new capabilities with radioactive beams. Our principal motivation is the basic science, and we contribute strongly to the world sum of knowledge and understanding. Nevertheless, there are more-tangible benefits. For example, our radiation-detector advances can be incorporated in medical diagnosis and treatment. 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. On a more adventurous note, our special interest in nuclear isomers (energy traps) could lead to novel energy applications. Furthermore, we have a keen interest in sharing our specialist knowledge with a wide audience, and we already have an enviable track record with the media.
Organisations
Publications
Rios A
(2015)
Covariance analysis of finite temperature density functional theory: symmetric nuclear matter
in Journal of Physics G: Nuclear and Particle Physics
Rios A
(2017)
Comparison of nuclear Hamiltonians using spectral function sum rules
in Physical Review C
Rios A
(2014)
Density and isospin-asymmetry dependence of high-momentum components
in Physical Review C
Roberts O
(2014)
A LaBr3: Ce fast-timing array for DESPEC at FAIR
in Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment
Roberts O
(2013)
Half-life Measurements of Excited States in <sup><span class="cmr-7">132</span></sup>Te, <sup><span class="cmr-7">134</span></sup>Xe
in Acta Physica Polonica B
Rosenbusch M
(2015)
Probing the N=32 Shell Closure below the Magic Proton Number Z=20: Mass Measurements of the Exotic Isotopes ^{52,53}K.
in Physical review letters
Rubio B
(2014)
Beta Decay Study of the T z = - 2 56Zn Nucleus and the Determination of the Half-Lives of a Few fp-shell Nuclei
in Nuclear Data Sheets
Régis J
(2013)
The generalized centroid difference method for picosecond sensitive determination of lifetimes of nuclear excited states using large fast-timing arrays
in Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment
Sanetullaev A
(2014)
Neutron spectroscopic factors of 55 Ni hole-states from ( p , d ) transfer reactions
in Physics Letters B
Scott M
(2017)
Observation of the Isovector Giant Monopole Resonance via the ^{28}Si(^{10}Be,^{10}B^{*}[1.74 MeV]) Reaction at 100 AMeV.
in Physical review letters
Sellahewa R
(2014)
Isovector properties of the Gogny interaction
in Physical Review C
Sethi J
(2015)
Spectroscopy of the Low-lying States Near the High Spin Isomer in $^{108}$Ag
in Acta Physica Polonica B
Sethi J
(2014)
Study of the level structure of 108 Ag
in EPJ Web of Conferences
Sethi J
(2013)
Structure of nearly degenerate dipole bands in 108Ag
in Physics Letters B
Shand C
(2015)
Structure of $^{207}$Pb Populated in $^{208}$Pb + $^{208}$Pb Deep-inelastic Collisions
in Acta Physica Polonica B
Shane R
(2012)
Proton and neutron knockout from 36 Ca
in Physical Review C
Shi Y
(2012)
Superdeformed multi-quasiparticle high- K states and possible isomers in Pb and Po isotopes
in Physical Review C
Shi Y
(2012)
High- K isomers in neutron-rich zirconium isotopes
in Physical Review C
Shubina D
(2013)
Schottky mass measurements of heavy neutron-rich nuclides in the element range 70 = Z = 79 at the GSI Experimental Storage Ring
in Physical Review C
Simpson E
(2012)
Projectile deformation effects on single-nucleon removal reactions
in Physical Review C
Simpson E
(2012)
Microscopic two-nucleon overlaps and knockout reactions from 12 C
in Physical Review C
Smalley D
(2014)
Two-neutron transfer reaction mechanisms in 12 C( 6 He, 4 He) 14 C using a realistic three-body 6 He model
in Physical Review C
Somà V
(2014)
Nucleon mean-free path in the medium
in EPJ Web of Conferences
Somà V
(2013)
Ab initio Gorkov-Green's function calculations of open-shell nuclei
in Physical Review C
Somà V
(2014)
Chiral two- and three-nucleon forces along medium-mass isotope chains
in Physical Review C
Somà V
(2014)
Three-nucleon forces in exotic open-shell isotopes
in EPJ Web of Conferences
Stanoiu M
(2012)
Spectroscopy of 26 F
in Physical Review C
Stevenson P
(2016)
Skyrme tensor force in heavy ion collisions
in Physical Review C
Stevenson P
(2014)
Isoscalar and Isovector Giant Monopole Resonances from a Continuum Hartree-Fock Method
in EPJ Web of Conferences
Stone N
(2013)
Quasi-particle and collective magnetism: Rotation, pairing and blocking in high-K isomers
in Physics Letters B
Straumal B
(2015)
Amorphization of Nd-Fe-B alloy under the action of high-pressure torsion
in Materials Letters
Stroberg S
(2015)
Neutron single-particle strength in silicon isotopes: Constraining the driving forces of shell evolution
in Physical Review C
Sumikama T
(2021)
Observation of new neutron-rich isotopes in the vicinity of Zr 110
in Physical Review C
Swan T
(2012)
Discovery of isomers in dysprosium, holmium, and erbium isotopes with N = 94 to 97
in Physical Review C
Swan T
(2012)
Hindered decays from a non-yrast four-quasiparticle isomer in 164 Er
in Physical Review C
Söderström P
(2012)
High-spin structure in 40 K
in Physical Review C
Söderström P
(2013)
Shape evolution in 116 , 118 Ru: Triaxiality and transition between the O(6) and U(5) dynamical symmetries
in Physical Review C
Tain J
(2015)
A decay total absorption spectrometer for DESPEC at FAIR
in Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment
Tain JL
(2015)
Enhanced ?-Ray Emission from Neutron Unbound States Populated in ß Decay.
in Physical review letters
Taprogge J
(2015)
ß decay of Cd 129 and excited states in In 129
in Physical Review C
Taprogge J
(2014)
1 p 3 / 2 Proton-Hole State in Sn 132 and the Shell Structure Along N = 82
in Physical Review Letters
Timofeyuk N
(2015)
Widths of low-lying nucleon resonances in light nuclei in the source-term approach
in Physical Review C
Timofeyuk N
(2014)
Overlap functions for reaction theories: challenges and open problems
in Journal of Physics G: Nuclear and Particle Physics
Timofeyuk N
(2013)
Nonlocality in the adiabatic model of A ( d , p ) B reactions
in Physical Review C
Timofeyuk N
(2012)
Core excitations and narrow states beyond the proton dripline: The exotic nucleus 21 Al
in Physical Review C
Timofeyuk N
(2012)
Convergence of the hyperspherical-harmonics expansion with increasing number of particles for bosonic systems
in Physical Review A
Timofeyuk N
(2013)
Spectroscopic factors and asymptotic normalization coefficients for 0 p -shell nuclei: Recent updates
in Physical Review C
Timofeyuk N
(2015)
Convergence of the hyperspherical-harmonics expansion with increasing number of particles for bosonic systems. II. Inclusion of the three-body force
in Physical Review A
Timofeyuk N
(2017)
Hyperspherical Harmonics Expansion on Lagrange Meshes for Bosonic Systems in One Dimension
in Few-Body Systems
Description | We have advanced the following areas: understanding the limits of the nuclear landscape, especially the neutron-rich limits; understanding and exploiting the reactions needed to reach the limits; studying and understanding novel structures observed on approaching the limits; engaging fully with the international community of nuclear physicists; disseminating results through leading journals and conferences; providing excellent training. |
Exploitation Route | The main beneficiaries of this work will be the national and international nuclear physics communities. In addition, the expected results on shell structure and isomeric states will also be of significant interest to the nuclear-astrophysics and isomer-application communities. We have an active involvement and information exchange with both these nuclear structure 'user' communities. The isomer work also links closely to the atomic physics community, in particular through the study of highly charged ions stored in rings and traps. Our theoretical methods will be of interest to the condensed-matter community, especially in relation to pairing condensates. The work on detector development has wide potential applications for medical diagnosis and treatment. The research will also provide manpower trained to a high level (PhDs and PDRAs with a deep understanding of radiation physics and sensor technologies) who may subsequently be employed in many different areas, such as national security, the nuclear power industries, environmental monitoring and control, and medical physics. |
Sectors | Education,Energy,Environment,Healthcare,Security and Diplomacy |
Description | No specific non-academic impact has yet become material. |