Feature Channels: Nuclear Physics

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Neutrons are inherently unstable and don’t last long outside an atomic nucleus, and because they decay on a time scale similar to the period for Big Bang Nucleosynthesis, accurate simulations of the BBN era require thorough knowledge of the neutron lifetime, but this value is still not precisely known. This week in Review of Scientific Instruments, scientists at Los Alamos National Lab report an exciting new method to measure it.

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For more than 40 years, Argonne has promoted the peaceful uses of nuclear energy and technology through its affiliation with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

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Building on a Brookhaven Lab innovation designed for brain imaging in moving rats, a team in Virginia and West Virginia designs a device for studies of human interaction, dementia, movement disorders, and more

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New research by a Florida State University professor reveals that plutonium's electronic properties are more complex than previously thought and that the element operates more like lighter elements such as iron or nickel.

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The first experimental result has been published from the newly upgraded Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility at the U.S. Department of Energy's Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. The result demonstrates the feasibility of the experiment that is designed to study quark confinement: why no quark has ever been found alone.

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A new tool at Berkeley Lab will be taking on some of the periodic table’s latest heavyweight champions to see how their masses measure up to predictions.

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New leadership takes the helm at Sandia National Laboratories

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Physicists measured fast electron populations. They achieved this first-of-its-kind result by seeing the effect of the fast electrons on the ablation rate of small frozen argon pellets.

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Scientists discover new signposts in the quest to determine how matter from the early universe turned into the world we know today.

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Electric and magnetic properties of a radioactive atom provide unique insight into the nature of proton and neutron motion.

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The Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors carried out the largest time-dependent simulation of a nuclear reactor ever to support Tennessee Valley Authority and Westinghouse Electric Company during the startup of Watts Bar Unit 2, the first new US nuclear reactor in 20 years. The simulation was carried out primarily on OLCF resources.

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Much like two friendly neighbors getting together to chat over a cup of coffee, the minuscule particles in our sub-atomic world also come together to engage in a kind of conversation. Now, nuclear scientists are developing tools to allow them to listen in on the particles’ gab fests and learn more about how they stick together to build our visible universe. The first complex calculations of a particle called the sigma have been carried out and published in Physical Review Letters.

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The Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF) at the U.S. Department of Energy's Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility has achieved two major commissioning milestones and is now entering the final stretch of work to conclude its first major upgrade. Recently, the CEBAF accelerator delivered electron beams into two of its experimental halls, Halls B and C, at energies not possible before the upgrade for commissioning of the experimental equipment currently in each hall. Data were recorded in each hall, which were then confirmed to be of sufficient quality to allow for particle identification, a primary indicator of good detector operation.

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Accelerators built to explore the building blocks of matter help to feed the nation's need for certain critical radioisotopes used to diagnose, track, and treat disease.

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Weapon physicist Greg Spriggs is on a mission to preserve decomposing films of U.S. atmospheric nuclear tests. The first batch of these declassified films were released today.

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A new model identifies a high degree of fluctuations in the glue-like particles that bind quarks within protons as essential to explaining proton structure.

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Supercomputing calculations confirm that rare nickel-78 has unusual structure, offering insights into supernovas.

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Chad Parish of Oak Ridge National Laboratory is senior author of a study that explored degradation of tungsten under reactor-relevant conditions. Learning how energetic atomic bombardment affects tungsten microscopically helps engineers improve nuclear materials.

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Sandia National Laboratories explores the evolution of nuclear deterrence in a new documentary that combines modern and historical footage with a wide range of interviews. On Deterrence features interviews with former secretaries of defense, general officers, policymakers, analysts, scholars and scientists with varied viewpoints to describe the impact of nuclear deterrence since the end of World War II.

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Scientists experimentally validated the predicted damage mechanism for materials in nuclear energy environments.