Microscopic Theory of Nuclear and Hypernuclear Structure and Reactions

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案(公法111-5)资助的。在高能实验中发现了大量的基本粒子。这项研究的主要目标是调查这些粒子的性质，确定这些粒子如何相互作用，环境如何改变这些相互作用，以及通过形成这些粒子的组可以构造哪些对象。这项研究涉及非常小的和非常大的。例如，难以捉摸的中微子，其质量很小，在太空中旅行时可以从一种类型转变为另一种类型，但人们需要理解为什么它似乎比标准理论预测的要频繁得多。提出的中微子对碳-12散射的计算应该有助于理解这一结果。在大范围内，恒星是巨大的核反应堆，这些反应的速率将被计算出来，以了解恒星是如何演化的。有时，非常小的事情会影响到非常大的事情。一些具有奇异性的短寿命粒子在中子星中形成时可能不会衰变。这将产生新的，甚至更密集的物体，奇怪的恒星。然而，要预测可以创建什么对象，必须有一个关于粒子如何相互作用的理论。这项任务通向了超核物理领域，在这个领域中，奇怪的粒子驻留在原子核内。超核的结构和产生速率的计算将被用来发展这些相互作用。这项工作提供了许多当前在物理入门课程中应用物理原理的例子。它也是大三和大四学生的特别项目和博士论文主题的来源。它不仅提供了物理学方面的研究经验，而且还提供了大规模计算方面的经验。这些技能可以应用于许多职业。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).A vast array of elementary particles has been discovered in high energy experiments. The primary goals of this present research are to investigate the properties of these particles, to determine how the particles interact with each other, how the interactions are modified by the environment, and what objects can be constructed by forming groups of these particles. The research involves the very small and the very large. For instance, the elusive neutrino, with its tiny mass, can change from one type to another as it travels through space, but one needs to understand why it appears to do this much more frequently than standard theory predicts. Proposed calculations for neutrino scattering from Carbon-12 should help to understand this result. On a large scale, stars are giant nuclear reactors and the rates of these reactions will be calculated to understand how stars evolve. Sometimes the very small can affect the very large. Some short-lived particles with a property called strangeness may not decay when formed in neutron stars. This would create new, even more dense objects, strange stars. However, to predict what objects can be created, one must have a theory of how the particles interact with each other. This task leads to the area of hypernuclear physics in which strange particles reside inside nuclei. Calculations for the structure and creation rates of hypernuclei will be used to develop these interactions. This work provides many examples of current applications of physics principles for introductory physics courses. It is also a source of special projects for juniors and seniors and topics for doctoral dissertations. It not only provides research experience in physics, but also in large scale computing. These skills can be applied in many professions.