Nuclear and Particle Physics

Nuclear and Particle Physics

Research in this area uses the tools of quantum-mechanical many-body theory and quantum field theory. These are applied to a variety of cutting-edge topics such as nuclear structure and dynamics, beyond-standard-model physics, properties of matter under extreme conditions, gravitation and cosmology.

Quantum-Mechanical Many-Body Theory: Exploring the properties of strongly interacting quantum many-particle systems under realistic conditions of interaction, density, and temperature. The diverse target systems of this research activity include atomic nuclei, nuclear and neutron-star matter, hyper-nuclei, and strongly correlated quantum fluids and electron systems.

Beyond Standard Model Physics: Theoretical and phenomenological aspects of new physics scenarios that could address the shortcomings of the Standard Model, such as neutrino mass, dark matter, matter-antimatter asymmetry, and inflation.

Gravitation and Cosmology: The composition and evolution of the universe, the nature of dark matter and dark energy, modifications to Einstein's theory of gravity, and the implications for cosmology of models of particle physics beyond the Standard Model.

Nuclear and Quark Matter: Predicting properties of ultra-dense matter found in nuclei and neutron stars to gain an understanding of how matter behaves at the extremes of density and temperature.

Properties of Nuclei: Experimental investigation of reaction mechanisms involving heavy ions that reveal fundamental properties of nuclei, as well as the behavior of nuclei under cosmic-ray bombardment.