Study of the Strong Nuclear Interaction at Short Distances

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Carlos Yero is awarded an NSF Mathematical and Physical Sciences Ascending Postdoctoral Research Fellowship to conduct a program of research and education at Old Dominion University. Yero will lead two experiments at Jefferson Laboratory in Newport News, Virginia, that will investigate the short-range correlations between pairs of nucleons (neutrons and protons) to better understand the short-range part of the nucleon-nucleon interaction. One experiment will measure electron scattering from Ca-40 and Ca-48, two isotopes of calcium, to explore how the pairing up of neutrons and protons is affected by the eight extra neutrons in Ca-48. The other experiment will measure electron scattering from deuterons, which are made from a single neutron bound to a single proton and are the simplest of all nuclei. The deuteron experiment will be done at very high momentum and provide information on the nucleon-nucleon (NN) interaction over very small distances. Yero will involve high school and undergraduate students in this research through the Old Dominion University HALES and REYES outreach programs, both through research mentorships and through lectures in both English and Spanish.At extremely short range, pairs of nucleons interact very strongly, and briefly fluctuate into a Short Range Correlation (SRC) pair with very large relative momentum. These pairs are predominantly proton-neutron pairs. They account for all of the high-momentum nucleons and most of the kinetic energy in the nucleus. Studying the abundances and properties of these SRC pairs will inform researchers about nuclear structure, nucleon structure modification in the nucleus, and the NN interaction at very short distances.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.