Latifa Elouadrhiri has been presented with the 2021 Jesse W. Beams Research Award, which recognizes especially significant or meritorious research in physics that has earned the critical acclaim of peers from around the world. The award was established by the Southeastern Section of the American Physical Society (SESAPS) in 1973. Elouadrhiri is only the second woman to receive it.
This feature provides an overview of the science behind the discovery of superheavy elements and outlines ORNL's crucial role in supplying actinide target materials, highlighting some of the women scientists involved.
Globular clusters are collections of hundreds of thousands of stars that scientists believe evolved completely isolated from the rest of the universe. As such, they are perfect “stellar laboratories.” This research turned to the nuclear physics of an important type of reaction involving the sodium in these stars to help unlock what happened in the interiors of these stars to create the universe as we know it today.
Physicists have proposed a method to measure the speed of sound characterizing matter created in nuclear collisions. Heavy nuclei consist of hundreds of protons and neutrons, which themselves are composed of quarks and gluons. In heavy-ion collisions, the energy density of matter reaches very high levels, and the nucleons become a quark-gluon plasma. Experimental analyses can reveal properties of the quark-gluon plasma, helping scientists learn about the thermodynamics of dense nuclear matter.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced $5.7 million for six projects that will implement artificial intelligence methods to accelerate scientific discovery in nuclear physics research.
A newly invented detector is allowing physicists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility to “see” neutrons like never before. Fresh insight from these devices has improved operation of the lab’s powerful electron accelerator, which is used in nuclear physics studies of the atom’s nucleus.
Neutrinos may be the key to finally solving a mystery of the origins of our matter-dominated universe, and preparations for two major, billion-dollar experiments are underway to reveal the particles’ secrets. Now, a team of nuclear physicists have turned to the humble electron to provide insight for how these experiments can better prepare to capture critical information. GENIE is simulation framework made of many models that each help physicists reproduce certain aspects of interactions between neutrinos and nuclei to help understand their experimental results. Since so little is known about neutrinos, it’s difficult to directly test GENIE to ensure it will produce both accurate and high-precision results from the new data that will be provided by future neutrino experiments. In this study, the team used an electron-scattering version of GENIE, dubbed e-GENIE, to test the same incoming energy reconstruction algorithms that neutrino researchers will use. Instead of using neutrinos, the
Jefferson Lab has appointed David J. Dean as its Deputy Director for Science. This key leadership position oversees the science and technology aspects of the laboratory’s mission. Dean will take on the responsibilities of this role in January 2022.
Jefferson Lab has appointed Cynthia Keppel as Jefferson Lab’s Associate Director for Experimental Nuclear Physics. In this role, Keppel will oversee more than 170 Jefferson Lab staff members.
A team of researchers used 3D particle simulations to model the acceleration of ions and electrons in a physical process called magnetic reconnection. The results could contribute to the understanding and forecasting of energetic particles released during magnetic reconnection, which could help protect space assets and advance space exploration.
On Oct. 25, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility welcomed U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm and honored guests for a short tour of the lab and briefing on its research mission and plans for the future.
Sandia National Laboratories new 25,000-square-foot $42.5 million Emergency Operations Center complex is expected to be operational by spring 2023.
Iowa State physicists are contributing their expertise and sending thousands of pounds of Ames-manufactured hardware to the sPHENIX experiment at Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York. The experiment's particle detector is designed to explore the flowing, liquid-like, quark-gluon plasma.
Sandia National Laboratories launched three sounding rockets in succession on Wednesday to hasten development of 23 technologies for the nation’s hypersonic modernization priority, including the Navy’s Conventional Prompt Strike and the Army’s Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon programs.
Three Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists have been elected fellows by the American Physical Society (APS). The new APS fellows are Eric Brown, Takeyasu Ito and Nathan Moody.
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and Penn State scientists have demonstrated how a protein can be recovered and purified for radioactive metals like actinium that could be beneficial for both next-generation drugs used in cancer therapies and the detection of nuclear activities.
The American Physical Society has announced new fellows for 2021, and three Argonne scientists have been elected.
The American Physical Society (APS) has elected two scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory as 2021 APS fellows. The awardees are Kétévi Adiklè Assamagan and Swagato Mukherjee.
Analytical chemists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed a rapid way to measure isotopic ratios of uranium and plutonium collected on environmental swipes, which could help International Atomic Energy Agency analysts.
Two researchers affiliated with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility have been selected by their peers for the distinct honor of Fellow of the American Physical Society. The APS announced its 2021 Fellows on Oct. 13.
Scientists seeking to explore the teeming microcosm of quarks and gluons inside protons and neutrons report new data delivered by particles of light. The light particles, or photons, come directly from interactions of a quark in one proton colliding with a gluon in another at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC).
A new measurement of the neutron skin in calcium reveals that heavier types of calcium nuclei are relatively thin-skinned. The new measurement, made by the 48Ca Radius EXperiment (CREX) collaboration at DOE’s Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, was presented at the 2021 Fall Meeting of the APS Division of Nuclear Physics of the American Physical Society. It is the first highly robust electroweak measurement of the neutron skin in a medium-weight nucleus, and it features a precision of about 0.025 millionths of a nanometer.
It has long been theorized that hydrogen, helium, and lithium were the only chemical elements in existence during the Big Bang, and that supernova explosions are responsible for transmuting these elements into heavier ones. Researchers are now challenging this and in AIP Advances propose an alternative model for the formation of nitrogen, oxygen, and water based on the history of Earth's atmosphere. They postulate that the 25 elements with atomic numbers smaller than iron were created via an endothermic nuclear transmutation of two nuclei, carbon and oxygen.
This story is a pilot project conceived by the Software Working Group of the EIC User Group to become part of a series of profiles of future users of the Electron-Ion Collider (EIC), a next-generation nuclear physics research facility being built at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory in partnership with DOE’s Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility and collaborators around the world.
Argonne hosted the 13th annual Modeling, Experimentation and Validation Summer School July 19-30. National labs and industry helped fill a critical educational gap for the engineers and scientists who will shape the future of nuclear energy.
A century ago, scientists first detected the proton in the atomic nucleus. Yet, much about its contents remains a mystery. Scientists report a new theory for understanding what’s inside protons moving at the speed of light.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced up to $400 million in funding for a range of research opportunities to support DOE’s clean energy, economic, and national security goals.
Scientists used a nuclear dating technique to study the dynamics of the Floridan Aquifer. The findings show the promise of this emerging technique to help understand geological processes and to forecast the effects of climate change on coastal aquifers.
Scientists from Argonne and Michigan State University have completed the first tests using a new particle accelerator to gain insights into the creation of carbon in stars.
The protective coatings are intended to extend the lifetime of the materials for applications in nuclear physics facilities.
Scientists have reported new clues to solving a cosmic conundrum: How the quark-gluon plasma – nature’s perfect fluid – evolved into the building blocks of matter during the birth of the early universe.
New evidence suggests protons and neutrons go through a “first-order” phase transition to reach their melted state, a soup of quarks and gluons. This is a kind of stop-and-go change in temperature is similar to how ice melts: energy first increases the temperature.
Protons and neutrons orbit atomic nuclei in shells with caps on how many protons or neutrons they can hold. Full shells mean stable, compact nuclei. Physicists call the number of protons or neutrons in a “magic” numbered full shell. New research shows that a previously reported “magicity” for number 32 does not appear in neutron-rich potassium isotopes.
Three physicists talk about how they got started, their work at SLAC and what they would say to others considering a career in STEM.
Commercially available materials may be a potentially scalable platform for trapping gases for nuclear energy and other applications.
Physicists from the STAR Collaboration of the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science user facility for nuclear physics research at DOE’s Brookhaven National Laboratory, presented long-awaited results from a “blind analysis” of how the strength of the magnetic field generated in certain collisions affects the particles streaming out.
To reduce the need for computer power, researchers typically simulate how quarks combine to make up larger particles by simulating quarks heavier than quarks found in nature. Now, using the Summit supercomputer, a team simulated much lighter quarks than possible in the past. This produced more realistic results that will help scientists investigate the Higgs boson.
Before the Nazis could develop nuclear technology, Allied forces captured the uranium cubes central to Germany’s research. The fate of most is unknown, but a few are thought to be in the U.S. Scientists developing methods to confirm the cubes’ provenance will present their results at ACS Fall 2021.
Protons inside the nucleus cling to neighboring protons and neutrons. However, it may be possible to knock out protons so that they interact less with nearby particles as they exit the nucleus, a phenomenon called color transparency. Physicists have observed color transparency in two-quark particles. But physicists hunting for signs of color transparency in protons in a more complicated three-quark system recently came up empty handed.
Expert Q&A: Do breakthrough cases mean we will soon need COVID boosters? The extremely contagious Delta variant continues to spread, prompting mask mandates, proof of vaccination, and other measures. Media invited to ask the experts about these and related topics.
Achieving fusion ignition – the process that powers the sun, stars and thermonuclear weapons – has been a decades-long goal for inertial confinement fusion research. On Aug. 8, 2021, an experiment at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s National Ignition Facility (NIF) made a significant step toward ignition, achieving a yield of more than 1.3 megajoules (MJ). This is enabled by focusing laser light from NIF - the size of three football fields - onto a target the size of a BB that produces a hot-spot the diameter of a human hair, generating more than 10 quadrillion watts of fusion power for 100 trillionths of a second. This advance puts researchers at the threshold of fusion ignition, an important goal of the NIF, and opens access to a new experimental regime.
Andrew Jackura wants to know what we’re made of. Now, as the winner of the 2021 Jefferson Science Associates (JSA) Postdoctoral Prize, he’ll get the chance to find out. Jackura is a postdoctoral research scientist at Old Dominion University and a scientific user at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. His research focuses on the strong nuclear force, the fundamental force responsible for keeping all ordinary matter in the universe together, including us.
The proton was discovered just over a hundred years ago and has been intensely studied ever since. Yet, there’s still more to learn about this important building block of the visible universe. Now, work toward a better understanding of the proton carried out at the Department of Energy’s Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility has earned Weizhi Xiong the 2020 Jefferson Science Associates (JSA) Thesis Prize.
At North Carolina State University, associate professor James Kneller studies neutrinos emitted from exploding stars.
Scientists studying particle collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider have produced definitive evidence for two physics phenomena predicted more than 80 years ago: that matter/antimatter can be generated directly from collisions of photons and that a magnetic field can bend polarized light along different paths in a vacuum.
The Electron-Ion Collider Center at the Department of Energy’s Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (EIC Center at Jefferson Lab) has announced the winners of six international fellowships to help advance the science program of the Electron-Ion Collider (EIC).
University of Washington researchers have developed a method that uses a gaming graphics card to control plasma formation in their prototype fusion reactor.
Sandia National Laboratories is developing a new kind of imaging system that will enable people to safely examine sealed metal boxes when opening them could be dangerous.
The slow neutron-capture process (the s-process) in nucleosynthesis results in about half of the elements heavier than iron in the universe. Two important reactions in the s-process are Neon-22 (alpha, gamma) and Neon-22 (alpha, neutron), which affect the abundances of elements such as Selenium, Krypton, Rubidium, Strontium, and Zirconium. Researchers recently used two indirect methods to study the reactions.
For the first time, the long-theorized neutron-clustering effect in nuclear reactors has been demonstrated, which could improve reactor safety and create more accurate simulations, according to a new study recently published in the journal Nature Communications Physics.
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