CAREER: Investigating shape coexistence near closed shells via lifetime measurements

该奖项的重点是更好地理解原子核的结构，并致力于建立原子核作为质子数、中子数和能量函数的预测模型。将追求研究和教育目标。研究部分的目标是确定预计会呈现多种形状的奇异的、富含中子的核系统的性质。通过实验量化这种所谓的形状共存，研究解决了“亚原子物质如何组织自身以及出现什么现象”的问题，正如更广泛的核物理学界在“达到地平线：2015年核科学长期计划”中概述的那样。研究形状共存的实验是在国家超导回旋加速器实验室进行的，并建立在首席研究员使用β衰变研究奇异核的经验基础上。为了扩大这个项目的影响，教育部分将为密西西比州患有自闭症谱系障碍的学生提供一个新的和独特的物理暑期学校体验。通过让学生们参与到物理中来，学习物理和进行研究的机会可以展示给新一代的高能力学者。作为该项目的一部分，研究将主要集中在确定原子核中激发态的寿命，这些核被预测在相似的激发能下表现出多种共存的形状。这些寿命将用于计算跃迁强度，从而能够计算特定核状态下原子核的变形程度。这些关于核变形的信息可以作为不同核构型的独特指纹和对理论预测的严格检验。对于中子数为20和50附近的富中子核，将获得跃迁强度信息，该信息定义了形状共存预测发生的区域，但仍有待量化。教育部分的目标是为患有自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）的高中学生建立一所物理暑期学校。暑期学校将为密西西比州的自闭症学生提供一个以高度互动的方式体验物理，包括核物理的机会。暑期学校将被设计为一个全面的ASD学生的高等教育过渡项目，使他们能够学习物理，社交技能，并有机会在四年制大学进行研究项目和获得STEM学位。该项目由实验核物理学计划和促进竞争研究的既定计划（EPSCoR）共同资助。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This CAREER award focuses on obtaining a better understanding of the structure of the atomic nucleus and working toward a predictive model of the atomic nucleus as a function of proton number, neutron number, and energy. Both research and educational objectives will be pursued. The objective of the research component is to determine the properties of exotic, neutron-rich nuclear systems that are predicted to exhibit multiple shapes. Through experimentally quantifying this so-called shape coexistence, the research addresses the question, "How does subatomic matter organize itself and what phenomena emerge", as outlined by the broader nuclear physics community in "Reaching for the Horizon: The 2015 Long Range Plan for Nuclear Science". The experiments investigating shape coexistence are performed at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory and build on the principal investigator's experience using beta-decay to study exotic nuclei. To expand the impact of this project, the educational component will provide a new and unique physics summer school experience for students with Autism Spectrum Disorder in Mississippi. By engaging students who are a part of this underserved portion of the population in physics, the opportunities of studying physics and performing research can be shown to a new generation of highly capable scholars. The research that will be performed as part of this project focuses primarily on determining the lifetimes of excited states in nuclei that are predicted to exhibit multiple coexisting shapes at similar excitation energies. These lifetimes will be utilized to calculate transition strengths, which in turn enable calculations of the degree of deformation of a nucleus in a particular nuclear state. This information on the nuclear deformation serves as a unique fingerprint of different nuclear configurations and a stringent test of theoretical predictions. Transition strength information will be obtained for neutron-rich nuclei near neutron numbers of 20 and 50, which define regions where shape coexistence is predicted to occur yet remains to be quantified. The objective of the education component is to develop a physics summer school for high-school aged students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The summer school will offer students with ASD in Mississippi an opportunity to experience physics, including nuclear physics, in a highly interactive way. The summer school will be designed to be a comprehensive postsecondary transition program for students with ASD that will enable them to learn physics, socialization skills, and the opportunities of pursuing research projects and a STEM degree at a 4-year university.This project is jointly funded by the Experimental Nuclear Physics Program and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.