Theoretical Nuclear Structure Physics

我们的计划集中于更好地了解原子核的性质，例如为什么某些原子核，如氦、氧、钙、铁等比它们的邻居更稳定，只有几个核子更丰富或更贫乏，为什么类似原子的原子核在2、8、20、28等处形成“闭壳”，为什么类核子(质子或中子)喜欢相互配对而不是彼此配对，为什么一些原子核衰变而另一些不这样，以及为什么大多数原子核都有变形的形状。导数问题与一些核融合(聚变)或其他核分裂(裂变)时释放的能量有关。事实上，我们既不了解原子核的组成部分--它们的夸克子子结构--也不理解将它们结合在一起的强大作用力--胶子场将三个夸克集合束缚成核子，并相互连接起来。我们的目标是了解真实世界中的原子核的组成要素以及它们之间的相互作用，这些问题既像宇宙起源一样抽象，也像化石燃料的替代品一样实用。国际和平研究所整个历史上的计划的基石一直是对下一代科学家的教育和培训。事实上，在过去的十年里，这个项目培养出了八名博士生：两名继续在学院从事博士后研究工作，三名在我们的一个国家实验室担任工作人员，其余三名受雇于工业。国际和平研究所目前正在指导四名博士生，其中两人在弗吉尼亚州纽波特纽斯的能源部JLab做论文工作，另外两人仍在路易斯安那州立大学工作，其中一人专注于在核合成中发挥关键作用的“等待点”核，另一人从事所谓的“无核”壳层模型计算，这是该领域的“重大挑战”计算问题之一。后者试图根据目前已知的组成部分和强相互作用来模拟真实原子核的结构。除了一名在PI指导下获得博士学位的学生外，所有学生都是外国公民；他们都是在美国接受实践培训并最终获得长期工作的外国公民。

Our program is focused on gaining a better understanding of the properties of atomic nuclei, such as why certain nuclei like helium, oxygen, calcium, iron, etc. are more stable than their neighbors that are only a few nucleons richer or poorer, why nuclei like atoms form "closed shells" at "magic numbers" 2, 8, 20, 28, etc., why like-nucleons (protons or neutrons) like to pair with each other and less with one another, why some nuclei decay and others don't, and why a majority of nuclei have a deformed shape. Derivative issues are related to the energy released when some nuclei are fused (fusion) or when others break apart (fission). Truth be known, we simply do not understand nuclei either in terms of constituent parts - their quark substructure - or the strong forces that hold them together - the gluon fields that bind sets of three quarks into nucleons and nucleons to one another. Our goal is to understand real-world nuclei in terms of their building blocks and interactions between them, which spans questions as abstract as the origin of the universe and as practical as alternatives to fossil fuels.A cornerstone of the PI's program throughout its history has been the education and training of next generation scientists. Indeed, over the last ten years this program has produced eight Ph.D. students: two are continuing their research work as postdocs in academe, three hold staff positions in one of our national labs, and the remaining three are employed in industry. The PI is currently mentoring four Ph.D. students, two doing thesis work at DOE's JLab in Newport News, Virginia and another two still at LSU, one focused on "waiting point" nuclei that play a key role in nucleosynthesis and the other is working on so-called "no-core" shell-model calculations that is one of the field's "grand challenge" computational problems. The latter attempts to model the structure of real nuclei in terms of what is currently known about the constituent parts and the strong interaction. All but one of the students mentored through to the Ph.D. degree by the PI have been foreign nationals; all be one of these foreign national found practical training and ultimately long-term employment in the US.