Low energy neutron beams are used to address many questions in nuclear physics, particle physics and astrophysics. The scientific issues include elucidating the nature of time reversal noninvariance; understanding the origin of the baryon asymmetry in the Universe; describing the weak interaction between quarks and between nucleons; understanding the origin of the elements in stellar and big bang nucleosynthesis.This book summarizes how spallation neutron sources work and discuss the advantages of pulsed beams in reducing systematic errors in precision measurements. It also describes recent breakthroughs in ultracold neutron production, together with the physics that will be addressed by the new generation of intense neutron sources.
Low energy neutron beams are used to address many questions in nuclear physics, particle physics and astrophysics. The scientific issues include elucidating the nature of time reversal noninvariance; understanding the origin of the baryon asymmetry in the Universe; describing the weak interaction between quarks and between nucleons; understanding the origin of the elements in stellar and big bang nucleosynthesis.This book summarizes how spallation neutron sources work and discuss the advantages of pulsed beams in reducing systematic errors in precision measurements. It also describes recent breakthroughs in ultracold neutron production, together with the physics that will be addressed by the new generation of intense neutron sources.
This volume is a collection of invited talks, oral contributions and poster contributions devoted to advances in gamma-ray spectroscopy of various capture reactions. In agreement with the trend of previous meetings in the series, the symposium paid special attention to theoretical and experimental studies of nuclear structure at low energies and to nuclear astrophysics. Among the other topics covered are: statistical properties of nuclei and other quantum many-body systems, fundamental physics, nuclear data, practical application of capture reactions, and new techniques and facilities for capture gamma-ray spectroscopy.
This volume is a collection of invited talks, oral contributions and poster contributions devoted to advances in gamma-ray spectroscopy of various capture reactions. In agreement with the trend of previous meetings in the series, the symposium paid special attention to theoretical and experimental studies of nuclear structure at low energies and to nuclear astrophysics. Among the other topics covered are: statistical properties of nuclei and other quantum many-body systems, fundamental physics, nuclear data, practical application of capture reactions, and new techniques and facilities for capture gamma-ray spectroscopy. Contents: Nuclear Structure; Nuclear Reactions; Nuclear Astrophysics; Statistical Properties of Nuclei; Experimental Facilities; Nuclear Data; Applications; Fundamental Physics. Readership: Graduate students and researchers in nuclear physics.
The neutron exhibits rich physics both as a tool for studying materials, particle and nuclear physics, as well as the object of experimental study. The neutron lifetime is an important input to Big Bang Nucleosynthesis models and is currently known only to approximately 0.3% with the most precise measurements from two different experimental techniques in disagreement by more than 3 [sigma]. Parity violation has been the subject of study since its discovery in 1957. Parity violation experiments provide access to studying the hadronic weak interaction, which is otherwise suppressed by several orders of magnitude below that of the strong interaction. It is the hadronic weak interaction that the NPDGamma experiment accesses via studying the asymmetry in gamma ray emission from the capture of polarized neutrons on liquid parahydrogen. Finally, as part of the NPDGamma experiment, the opportunity arose to use the well known and characterized apparatus for conducting a measurement of the liquid parahydrogen scattering cross section which has important implications in the design of neutron sources and moderators at cold neutron research facilities.
This volume presents the state-of-the-art in selected topics across modern nuclear physics, covering fields of central importance to research and illustrating their connection to many different areas of physics. It describes recent progress in the study of superheavy and exotic nuclei, which is pushing our knowledge to ever heavier elements and neutron-richer isotopes. Extending nuclear physics to systems that are many times denser than even the core of an atomic nucleus, one enters the realm of the physics of neutron stars and possibly quark stars, a topic that is intensively investigated with many ground-based and outer-space research missions as well as numerous theoretical works. By colliding two nuclei at very high ultra-relativistic energies one can create a fireball of extremely hot matter, reminiscent of the universe very shortly after the big bang, leading to a phase of melted hadrons and free quarks and gluons, the so-called quark-gluon plasma. These studies tie up with effects of crucial importance in other fields. During the collision of heavy ions, electric fields of extreme strength are produced, potentially destabilizing the vacuum of the atomic physics system, subsequently leading to the decay of the vacuum state and the emission of positrons. In neutron stars the ultra-dense matter might support extremely high magnetic fields, far beyond anything that can be produced in the laboratory, significantly affecting the stellar properties. At very high densities general relativity predicts the stellar collapse to a black hole. However, a number of current theoretical activities, modifying Einstein’s theory, point to possible alternative scenarios, where this collapse might be avoided. These and related topics are addressed in this book in a series of highly readable chapters. In addition, the book includes fundamental analyses of the practicalities involved in transiting to an electricity supply mainly based on renewable energies, investigating this scenario less from an engineering and more from a physics point of view. While the topics comprise a large scope of activities, the contributions also show an extensive overlap in the methodology and in the analytical and numerical tools involved in tackling these diverse research fields that are the forefront of modern science.
