University of Manchester Nuclear Physics Rolling Grant 2007

核物理学旨在了解核系统的结构和动力学。从夸克-胶子等离子体盛行的最初微秒开始，到恒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都起着至关重要的作用，这是理解宇宙的关键。该领域的应用在从医学、安全到电力生产的各个领域都有益于社会，并对其他科学领域产生了强大的影响。曼彻斯特集团是英国核社区的一部分，该社区设计了一种运营模式，使其能够在国际层面上做出领先的贡献。实验工作在特定的海外设施进行，重点投资必要的仪器来开展这项工作。原子核是一个独特的量子实验室，在有效的二体和三体力的驱动下，可以研究微观和介观特征。它们是复杂的多体系统，但往往表现出意想不到的规律和简单的激励模式，这些模式源于底层的壳结构、配对和集体激励模式。这些性质也表现在更简单的介观系统中，例如金属团簇、量子点和原子凝聚体，对它们的理解在很大程度上依赖于核物理学中发展和磨练的技术。一个基本的挑战是从头开始理解核的性质，从强，弱，和电磁力之间的相互作用的单个核子。近年来，这类轻核项目取得了巨大进展。对于较重的原子核，基于有效相互作用的壳层、团簇和其他超平均场多体技术，为关联实验数据提供了必要的框架，但仍然缺乏改进，无法可靠地预测当一个人从经过充分研究的稳定原子核中移动多个核子时的核性质。独特的是，放射性束流设施允许在N（中子数）、Z（质子数）、T（温度或激发能）和I（角动量）的大范围内使用这两种方法来探索核性质。曼彻斯特小组将解决的关键开放问题包括：*新形式的集体运动是否会发生在远离核稳定之谷的地方？*在高度稀释或富含中子的物质中，量子态的排序及其对核结构和反应的所有后续影响是如何改变的？在接近稳定的原子核中看到的对称是否也远离稳定，我们是否观察到新的对称？

Nuclear Physics aims to understand the structure and dynamics of nuclear systems. It is the 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. 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. Experimental work is performed at specific overseas facilities with focussed investment in the necessary instrumentation to carry out this work. Atomic nuclei are 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, e.g. 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 well-studied stable nuclei. Uniquely, radioactive beam facilities allow an exploration of nuclear properties using both approaches over a wide range of N (neutron number), Z (proton number), T (temperature or excitation energy) and I (angular momentum). The key open questions that the Manchester group will address include: * Do new forms of collective motion occur far from the valley of nuclear stability? * How does the ordering of quantum states, with all of its consequent implications for nuclear structure and reactions, alter in highly dilute or neutron-rich matter? * Do symmetries seen in near-stable nuclei also appear far from stability and do we observe new symmetries?