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Pages 8-18

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From page 8...
... 8 NUCLEAR PHYSICS: THE CORE OF MATTER, THE FUEL OF STARS 8 1 Introduction Research in nuclear physics is an integral part of the search for knowledge and understanding of the world in which we live. All matter is composed of a hierarchy of building blocks.
From page 9...
... INTRODUCTION 9 work was followed by basic, exciting developments: the discovery of neutrons, of nuclear reactions and the transmutations of elements, of isotopes, of the detailed nature of radioactivity. These discoveries followed in quick succession, in parallel with the developing insight that a revolutionary new framework -- quantum mechanics -- was needed to describe phenomena on the scales of the atom and the nucleus.
From page 10...
... 10 NUCLEAR PHYSICS: THE CORE OF MATTER, THE FUEL OF STARS FIGURE 1.1 An illustration of the way in which nuclear physics enters into our world at different length scales. Starting at the top and going clockwise -- the Big Bang, which originated from a singularity (point)
From page 11...
... INTRODUCTION 11 physics methods recur at different scales with a correspondingly enormous range of energies needed for their study. All of the fundamental forces of nature come into play, each with its own special role in governing the behaviors observed over this huge span.
From page 12...
... 12 NUCLEAR PHYSICS: THE CORE OF MATTER, THE FUEL OF STARS undergoing rapid rotation; the states associated with these shapes are extremely stable. • Advanced supercomputers and new mathematical techniques allow, for the first time, exact many-body calculations of the properties of light nuclei, starting with the basic interaction between nucleons, and establishing the importance of the nuclear three-body force.
From page 13...
... INTRODUCTION 13 • Recent theoretical progress in understanding nuclear forces suggests that the mass at which neutron stars, the densest objects in our universe, collapse into black holes, is substantially lower than previously thought. This would imply that many compact objects detected by astronomers in binary systems, and previously thought to be neutron stars, are instead likely to be black holes.
From page 14...
... 14 NUCLEAR PHYSICS: THE CORE OF MATTER, THE FUEL OF STARS INTELLECTUAL HORIZONS The focus of the field is on matter whose behavior is governed primarily by the strong interaction. This class of matter includes most of the known mass in the universe, ranging from the smallest stable particles with strong interactions -- the proton and the neutron -- through atomic nuclei, and up to neutron stars and supernovae.
From page 15...
... INTRODUCTION 15 in the early instants of the Big Bang: only as the universe expanded and cooled from its fiery start did nucleons coalesce from a sea of quarks and gluons. It is the goal of the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC)
From page 16...
... 16 NUCLEAR PHYSICS: THE CORE OF MATTER, THE FUEL OF STARS pushing nuclei to their limits reveals new features and leads to new insights and understanding. • How do nuclei behave when pushed to the limits of their excitation energy, angular momentum, and nuclear binding?
From page 17...
... INTRODUCTION 17 may reside at energies well beyond the reach of direct accelerator experiments. Thus, our only opportunity to find this new physics may be through the "fingerprints" it has left on our low-energy world: subtle violations of the symmetries of the Standard Model.
From page 18...
... 18 NUCLEAR PHYSICS: THE CORE OF MATTER, THE FUEL OF STARS SOCIETAL APPLICATIONS Offshoots from basic research in nuclear physics have profoundly changed our daily lives. Nuclear energy and, by extension, nuclear weapons have had a deep impact on society.

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