Precision Electromagnetic Studies of the Structure of Few Body Nuclei and Nucleons at Jefferson Lab

加州州立大学洛杉矶分校的核物理小组研究低质量原子核的核结构以及中子和质子的结构。这些研究使用了托马斯·杰斐逊国家实验室的高能电子加速器，以及其他地方类似的低能量加速器。在目前的研究阶段，我们将领导一个小组研究氦最常见的同位素氦-4的核结构。氦-4是测试中子、质子和外来粒子如何结合形成核基态的理论模型的绝佳实验室。氦-4之所以特别令人感兴趣，还因为宇宙中大约25%的可见质量是由氦-4核组成的。了解这个原子核将告诉我们一些关于可见宇宙的重要组成部分，以及作为核理论的试验场。本科生和研究生都积极参与我们的研究。这些学生以没有意义的方式参与研究，直接与我们一起工作或组成团队。他们将做并且已经做了数据简化和分析，为批准的实验设备的构建做出贡献，参与实验的运行，并学习如何使用蒙特卡罗模拟技术来理解复杂的设备部件。我们的目标是让学生在他们的大学生涯中尽快获得研究经验。这种经历对我们的学生很有帮助，无论他们是决定继续研究生水平的研究，还是进入行业，他们在团队合作中解决复杂问题的背景将是一个优势。高中科学教师也通过数据简化和分析为我们的研究做出了贡献。我们希望有老师用我们的数据写一篇物理学硕士论文。

The nuclear physics group at California State University, Los Angeles,studies nuclear structure of low mass nuclei and the structure of theneutron and proton. These studies use the high energy electronaccelerator at Thomas Jefferson National Laboratory, and similar lowerenergy accelerators at other sites. In the present research period wewill be leading a group to study the nuclear structure of the mostcommon isotope of helium, helium-4. Helium-4 is an excellent laboratoryfor testing theoretical models of how neutrons, protons and exoticparticles combine to form the nuclear ground state. Helium-4 is also ofparticular interest because about 25% of the visible mass in theuniverse is bound up in helium-4 nuclei. Understanding this nucleus willtell us something significant about a large component of the visibleuniverse, as well as serve as a testing ground for nuclear theories.Undergraduate students and graduate students are significantly involvedwith our research. These students participate in the research inmeaningful ways, working directly with us or in teams. They will do andhave done data reduction and analysis, contributed to the constructionof experimental equipment for approved experiments, participated inrunning the experiments, and learned how to use Monte Carlo simulationtechniques in understanding complex pieces of apparatus. Our goal is tobring students into a research experience as soon as possible in theircollege careers. This experience serves our students well, either ifthey decide to go on to graduate level research, or to enter industry,where their background in team work to solve complex problems will be anadvantage. High School science teachers have also contributed to ourresearch effort by doing data reduction and analysis. We hope to have ateacher do a Master's thesis in physics using our data.