Nuclear Physics Rolling Grant

宇宙的大部分质量是由位于原子中心的原子核组成的。核物理学的基本问题是：“核存在的极限是什么？”在实验室里能制造的最重的原子核是什么？核裂变前所能维持的角动量的极限是多少？新形式的集体运动会在远离核稳定谷的地方出现吗？“在高度稀释或富含中子的物质中，量子态的顺序是如何改变的？“这项研究计划的目的是试图回答这些问题。目前还没有人知道原子核的重量，换句话说，究竟有多少中子和质子可以结合在一起。我们将研究在实验室中可以制造的最重的原子核，并确定它们的性质，这将使我们能够更好地预测“超物质”。对于较轻的核，我们将在质子和中子滴线区域进行探索，这是束缚核和非束缚核之间的边界。我们将比以往任何时候都更仔细地确定这些滴灌线的精确位置。当我们接近中子滴线时，只有轻核才能接近，我们将探索基本核力如何改变它们在扩散中子物质中的行为。在稳定线的另一边，那些在质子滴线上的电荷太多，以至于它们非常不稳定，并试图通过质子发射过程获得更大的稳定性。我们将研究当质子变得不受束缚时，核的行为是如何受到影响的。对于这些奇异的系统，我们还将探索原子核如何倾向于重新排列其形状，可以是球体，橄榄球，梨等，以及它如何在可能的自由度中存储能量。我们还将研究当我们使这些原子核旋转得越来越快时，它们的性质是如何发展的。我们将试图比以往任何时候都更仔细地确定重核中超高自旋态的精确性质，就在核由于裂变而分裂之前。这项研究计划将采用各种各样的实验方法来探测核结构的许多方面，主要使用我们在几个世界领先的加速器实验室建造的仪器。这项工作将需要在一系列设施中进行一系列相关实验，以便我们深入了解上述问题的答案。这些实验将帮助理论学家改进和测试他们试图预测原子核性质的计算，这些计算通常会得到非常不同的结果。这个问题的解决将有助于我们描述原子核所代表的复杂的多体系统。

The majority of the mass of the universe is made up of atomic nuclei that lie at the centre of the atom. The fundamental questions in nuclear physics are, 'What are the limits of nuclear existence?'; 'What are the heaviest nuclei that can be made in the laboratory?'; 'What are the limits on the angular momentum that a nucleus can sustain before fission?'; 'Do new forms of collective motion occur far from the valley of nuclear stability?' How does the ordering of quantum states, alter in highly dilute or neutron-rich matter?' The aim of this research proposal is to try to answer these questions. No one yet knows how heavy a nucleus can be; in other words, just how many neutrons and protons can be made to bind together. We will study the heaviest nuclei that can be made in the laboratory and determine their properties which will allow better predictions to be made for the 'superheavies'. For lighter nuclei we will explore in the region of the proton and neutron drip lines, which are the borders between bound and unbound nuclei. We will determine more carefully than ever before the precise location of these drip lines. As we approach the neutron drip line, only accessible for light nuclei, we will explore how the fundamental nuclear forces change their behaviour in diffuse neutron matter. On the other side of the line of stability, those at the proton drip line have so much electrical charge that they are highly unstable and try to achieve greater stability through the process of proton emission. We will investigate how nuclear behaviour is affected when protons become unbound. For these exotic systems we will also explore how the nucleus prefers to rearrange its shape, which can be a sphere, rugby ball, pear, etc. and how it stores its energy among the possible degrees of freedom. We will also investigate how the properties of these nuclei develop as we make them spin faster and faster. We will try to determine more carefully than ever before the precise nature of ultra high spin states in heavy nuclei, just before the nucleus breaks up due to fission. This programme of research will employ a large variety of experimental methods to probe many aspects of nuclear structure, mostly using instrumentation that we have constructed at several world-leading accelerator laboratories. The work will require a series of related experiments at a range of facilities in order for us to gain an insight into the answers to the questions posed above. These experiments will help theorists to refine and test their calculations that have attempted to predict the properties of nuclei, often with widely differing results. The resolution of this problem will help us to describe the complex many-body system that the nucleus represents.