Nuclear Physics Consolidated Grant 2013

核物理学旨在了解核系统的结构和动力学。它是理解宇宙的关键，从它诞生的第一微秒开始，当夸克-胶子等离子体盛行时，通过它的星星和星系形成的历史，核反应在能量的产生和元素的创造中发挥着至关重要的作用。该领域也有应用，造福社会的不同领域，从医学和安全到电力生产，并对其他科学领域的强烈影响。我们的研究兴趣集中在核物理的基本方面，从强子到奇异的核系统。我们使用互补的方法来解决有关的关键问题：核子和轻核的结构和相互作用;集体运动的新形式;核结构的演变;和松散束缚系统。曼彻斯特小组是英国核社区的一部分，该社区设计了一种操作模式，使其能够在实验和理论核物理方面做出国际领先的贡献。实验工作在海外的特定设施进行，并集中投资于进行这项工作所需的仪器。原子核提供了一个独特的量子实验室，在有效的二体力和三体力的驱动下，可以研究微观和介观特征。它们是复杂的多体系统，但经常显示出意想不到的非线性和简单的激发模式，这些模式来自底层的壳结构、配对和集体激发模式。这种性质也表现在更简单的介观系统（例如，金属团簇，量子点和原子凝聚体）中，对这些系统的理解在很大程度上依赖于核物理中开发和磨练的技术。一个基本的挑战是从单个核子之间的强、弱和电磁力的相互作用从头开始理解核性质。近年来，轻核的这类方案取得了巨大进展。对于更重的核，壳层、团簇和其他基于有效相互作用的超平均场多体技术为关联实验数据提供了必要的框架，但仍然缺乏精确的方法来可靠地预测核性质，因为人们从接近稳定的核中移动了几个以上的核子。我们还旨在将核子相互作用与描述强作用力的基础理论联系起来，量子色动力学关键量是描述核子结构如何响应外部电场和磁场的极化率。我们正在开发理论工具，以确定这些从氢和其他轻原子核的光子散射实验。后者需要了解中子的性质，因为它是一种不稳定的粒子。

Nuclear Physics aims to understand the structure and dynamics of nuclear systems. It is key to understanding the Universe from the first microseconds of its inception when the quark-gluon plasma prevailed, through its history of star and galaxy formation where nuclear reactions play an essential role both in the generation of energy and the creation of elements. The field also has applications that benefit society in diverse areas, from medicine and security to power production, and a strong impact on other fields of science.Our research interests are focused on fundamental aspects of nuclear physics ranging from hadrons to exotic nuclear systems. We use complementary methods to address key issues concerning: the structure and interactions of nucleons and light nuclei; new forms of collective motion; evolution of nuclear structure; and loosely bound systems. The Manchester group is part of the UK nuclear community that has devised a mode of operation which enables it to make leading edge contributions at an international level in both experimental and theoretical nuclear physics. Experimental work is performed at specific overseas facilities with focussed investment in the necessary instrumentation to carry out this work.Atomic nuclei provide a unique quantal laboratory in which microscopic as well as mesoscopic features, driven by effective two-body and three-body forces, can be studied. They are complex many-body systems, but often display unexpected regularities and simple excitation patterns that arise from underlying shell structure, pairing and collective modes of excitation. Such properties are also exhibited by simpler mesoscopic systems (for example, metallic clusters, quantum dots, and atomic condensates) the understanding of which draws heavily on techniques developed and honed in nuclear physics. A fundamental challenge is to understand nuclear properties ab-initio from the interplay of the strong, weak, and electromagnetic forces between individual nucleons. In recent years, enormous progress has been made with such programmes for light nuclei. For heavier nuclei, shell, cluster and other beyond mean field many-body techniques, based on effective interactions, provide essential frameworks for correlating experimental data, yet still lack the refinement to reliably predict nuclear properties as one moves more than a few nucleons from nuclei close to stability.We also aim to make connections between the interactions of nucleons and the underlying theory that describes the strong force, Quantum Chromodynamics. Key quantities are the polarisabilities that describe how the structures of nucleons respond to external electric and magnetic fields. We are developing theoretical tools to determine these from experiments on the scattering of photons from hydrogen and other light nuclei. The latter are needed to learn about the the properties of the neutron since it is an unstable particle.