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
Rudigier M
(2019)
Isomer Spectroscopy and Sub-nanosecond Half-live Determination in $^{178}$W Using the NuBALL Array
in Acta Physica Polonica B
Wen K
(2019)
Dissipation Dynamics of Nuclear Fusion Reactions
in Acta Physica Polonica B
Goigoux T
(2019)
$^{67}$Kr Two-proton Radioactivity: Results and Theoretical Interpretations
in Acta Physica Polonica B
Lin H
(2020)
Dynamics of one-dimensional correlated nuclear systems within non-equilibrium Green's function theory
in Annals of Physics
Collins S
(2018)
Investigation of ?-? coincidence counting using the National Nuclear Array (NANA) as a primary standard
in Applied Radiation and Isotopes
Collins SM
(2020)
The impact of high-energy tailing in high-purity germanium gamma-ray spectrometry on the activity determination of 224Ra using the 241.0 keV emission.
in Applied radiation and isotopes : including data, instrumentation and methods for use in agriculture, industry and medicine
Collins SM
(2022)
Determination of the 161Tb half-life.
in Applied radiation and isotopes : including data, instrumentation and methods for use in agriculture, industry and medicine
Arthuis P
(2021)
ADG: Automated generation and evaluation of many-body diagrams II. Particle-number projected Bogoliubov many-body perturbation theory
in Computer Physics Communications
Schuetrumpf B
(2018)
The TDHF code Sky3D version 1.1
in Computer Physics Communications
Timofeyuk N
(2017)
Hyperspherical Harmonics Expansion on Lagrange Meshes for Bosonic Systems in One Dimension
in Few-Body Systems
Rios A
(2020)
Green's Function Techniques for Infinite Nuclear Systems
in Frontiers in Physics
Stevenson P
(2020)
Internuclear potentials from the Sky3D code
in IOP SciNotes
Gómez-Ramos M
(2019)
Perey-effect in continuum-discretized coupled-channel description of ( d, p ) reactions
in Journal of Physics G: Nuclear and Particle Physics
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
Timofeyuk N
(2019)
Three-body problem with velocity-dependent optical potentials: a case of ( d , p ) reactions
in Journal of Physics G: Nuclear and Particle Physics
Rios A
(2019)
Beta decay gets the ab initio treatment
in Nature Physics
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
Giatzoglou A
(2018)
A facility for production and laser cooling of cesium isotopes and isomers
in Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment
Nakhostin M
(2019)
Digital discrimination of neutrons and ? -rays in liquid scintillation detectors by using low sampling frequency ADCs
in Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment
Assié M
(2021)
The MUGAST-AGATA-VAMOS campaign: Set-up and performances
in Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment
Nakhostin M
(2018)
Pulse-height loss in the signal readout circuit of compound semiconductor detectors
in Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment
Rudigier M
(2020)
FATIMA - FAst TIMing Array for DESPEC at FAIR
in Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment
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
Marchini N.
(2019)
Low-energy Coulomb excitation of Zr-94
in NUOVO CIMENTO C-COLLOQUIA AND COMMUNICATIONS IN PHYSICS
Walker P
(2017)
Isomer building blocks and K -forbidden decays
in Physica Scripta
Walker P
(2020)
100 years of nuclear isomers-then and now
in Physica Scripta
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
Guadilla V
(2017)
Experimental study of Tc 100 ß decay with total absorption ? -ray spectroscopy
in Physical Review C
Atkinson M
(2020)
Reexamining the relation between the binding energy of finite nuclei and the equation of state of infinite nuclear matter
in Physical Review C
Bailey G
(2017)
Nonlocal nucleon-nucleus interactions in ( d , p ) reactions: Role of the deuteron D state
in Physical Review C
Phong V
(2019)
Observation of a µ s isomer in In 85 49 134 : Proton-neutron coupling "southeast" of Sn 82 50 132
in Physical Review C
Gandhi R
(2022)
Determination of Co 57 ( n , x p ) cross sections using the surrogate reaction ratio method
in Physical Review C
McIlroy C
(2018)
Doubly magic nuclei from lattice QCD forces at M PS = 469 MeV / c 2
in Physical Review C
Murray I
(2019)
Spectroscopy of strongly deformed Ne 32 by proton knockout reactions
in Physical Review C
Rocco N
(2019)
Neutrino-nucleus cross section within the extended factorization scheme
in Physical Review C
Carbone A
(2018)
Microscopic predictions of the nuclear matter liquid-gas phase transition
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
Barbieri C
(2019)
Lepton scattering from Ar 40 and Ti 48 in the quasielastic peak region
in Physical Review C
Guadilla V
(2020)
Determination of ß -decay ground state feeding of nuclei of importance for reactor applications
in Physical Review C
Somà V
(2020)
Novel chiral Hamiltonian and observables in light and medium-mass nuclei
in Physical Review C
Van Den Bossche R
(2019)
Modelling incomplete fusion dynamics of complex nuclei at Coulomb energies
in Physical Review C
Ha J
(2020)
Shape evolution of neutron-rich Mo 106 , 108 , 110 isotopes in the triaxial degree of freedom
in Physical Review C
Elder R
(2019)
Intruder dominance in the 0 2 + state of Mg 32 studied with a novel technique for in-flight decays
in Physical Review C
Camacho A
(2019)
Comparative study of the effect of resonances of the weakly bound nuclei Li 6 , 7 on total fusion with light to heavy mass targets
in Physical Review C
Sumikama T
(2021)
Observation of new neutron-rich isotopes in the vicinity of Zr 110
in Physical Review C
Stryjczyk M
(2023)
Simultaneous ? -ray and electron spectroscopy of Hg 182 , 184 , 186 isotopes
in Physical Review C
Morales A
(2017)
Simultaneous investigation of the T = 1 ( J p = 0 + ) and T = 0 ( J p = 9 + ) ß decays in Br 70
in Physical Review C
Wen K
(2018)
Two-body dissipation effect in nuclear fusion reactions
in Physical Review C
Timofeyuk N
(2018)
Three-nucleon force contribution in the distorted-wave theory of ( d , p ) reactions
in Physical Review C