Nuclear physics articles within Nature Physics

Featured

  • News & Views |

    The visible mass in the Universe emerged when hadrons — the building blocks of atomic nuclei — formed from a hot fireball made of quarks and gluons. This mechanism has now been investigated in baryon-rich matter at relatively low temperatures.

    • Ralf Rapp

  • Article |

    Virtual photons emitted from strong-interaction matter created in relativistic heavy-ion collisions decay into electron–positron pairs, which provide information about the system’s properties.

    • J. Adamczewski-Musch
    • , O. Arnold
    •  & P. Zumbruch

  • Research Highlight |

    • Stefanie Reichert

  • News & Views |

    One of the fundamental radioactive decay modes of nuclei is β decay. Now, nuclear theorists have used first-principles simulations to explain nuclear β decay properties across a range of light- to medium-mass isotopes, up to 100Sn.

    • Arnau Rios

  • News & Views |

    Zirconium alloys are widely used as cladding material in nuclear reactors due to their neutron transparency. Now, it is shown that 88Zr has a surprisingly high neutron capture cross-section exceeding that of other zirconium isotopes by six orders of magnitude.

    • Stephan Heinitz
    •  & Ulli Köster

  • News & Views |

    Quark–gluon plasma has been recreated in heavy-ion collisions, providing a glimpse of the very early Universe. The PHENIX Collaboration offers new insights into the possible creation of this state in smaller collision systems.

    • Yen-Jie Lee

  • Letter |

    A quark–gluon plasma is produced in proton–gold, deuteron–gold and helium–gold collisions. Observing elliptic and triangular flow in this nearly inviscid fluid from these different initial geometries provides a unique benchmark for hydrodynamic models.

    • C. Aidala
    • , Y. Akiba
    •  & L. Zou

  • Letter |

    The weak interaction between the nucleus and the electrons in a chain of Yb isotopes is measured with tabletop atomic physics techniques. The dependence of the interaction strength on the number of neutrons confirms the prediction by standard model.

    • D. Antypas
    • , A. Fabricant
    •  & D. Budker

  • News & Views |

    Mercury isotopes are unique in exhibiting dramatic differences in their nuclear shapes. The analysis of over more than twenty Hg isotopes now shows that this follows from the influence of single-particle effects on the collective properties of a nucleus.

    • Paul Cottle
    •  & Kirby Kemper

  • Letter |

    Spectroscopy and shell model calculations reveal the 181Hg isotope as the endpoint of the shape-staggering of Hg nuclei, a consequence of neutron removal which arises from the interplay of single-particle and collective degrees of freedom.

    • B. A. Marsh
    • , T. Day Goodacre
    •  & K. Zuber

  • Measure for Measure |

    Hans-Georg Menzel walks us through the complex set of units characterizing radioactivity and ionizing radiation.

    • Hans-Georg Menzel

  • Perspective |

    The addition of nihonium, moscovium, tennessine and oganesson to the periodic table are a reminder of the achievements in nuclear physics and chemistry. Witold Nazarewicz outlines the future challenges for the field.

    • Witold Nazarewicz

  • Editorial |

    US nuclear diplomacy appears to be entering a turbulent phase. Although their voice is currently sidelined by geopolitical events, physicists have a duty to speak up.

  • Measure for Measure |

    Michael Jentschel and Klaus Blaum explain why the most famous equation of physics needs checking — and how to do it.

    • Michael Jentschel
    •  & Klaus Blaum

  • Measure for Measure |

    A nuclear clock could outperform atomic clocks, but its development has turned out to be a formidable task, writes Marianna Safronova.

    • Marianna Safronova

  • Measure for Measure |

    Alberto Moscatelli surveys a series of experiments on the electron g-factor that marked the departure from the Dirac equation and contributed to the development of quantum electrodynamics.

    • Alberto Moscatelli

  • Editorial |

    The 50th anniversary of the Institut Laue–Langevin marks a time for celebration, and for reflection on the future of Europe's neutron-scattering landscape.

  • Article |

    The central densities of protons and neutrons in stable atomic nuclei are saturated. More exotic nuclei — with imbalanced proton and neutron numbers — may have depleted central densities. Experiments now suggest such depletion for the 34Si nucleus.

    • A. Mutschler
    • , A. Lemasson
    •  & K. Wimmer

  • Commentary |

    Fusion power is one of a very few sustainable options to replace fossil fuels as the world's primary energy source. Although the conditions for fusion have been reached, much remains to be done to turn scientific success into commercial electrical power.

    • Steven C. Cowley

  • Review Article |

    The quest for energy production from controlled nuclear fusion reactions has been ongoing for many decades. Here, the inertial confinement fusion approach, based on heating and compressing a fuel pellet with intense lasers, is reviewed.

    • R. Betti
    •  & O. A. Hurricane

  • Review Article |

    For achieving proper safety and efficiency of future fusion power plants, low-activation materials able to withstand the extreme fusion conditions are needed. Here, the irradiation physics at play and fusion materials research is reviewed.

    • J. Knaster
    • , A. Moeslang
    •  & T. Muroga

  • Review Article |

    One way of realizing controlled nuclear fusion reactions for the production of energy involves confining a hot plasma in a magnetic field. Here, the physics of magnetic-confinement fusion is reviewed, focusing on the tokamak and stellarator concepts.

    • J. Ongena
    • , R. Koch
    •  & H. Zohm

  • Article |

    Doubly magic atomic nuclei — having a magic number of both protons and neutrons — are very stable. Now, experiments revealing unexpectedly large charge radii for a series of Ca isotopes put the doubly magic nature of the 52Ca nucleus into question.

    • R. F. Garcia Ruiz
    • , M. L. Bissell
    •  & D. T. Yordanov

  • Letter |

    A magnetotransport study of zirconium pentatelluride now reveals evidence for a chiral magnetic effect, a striking macroscopic manifestation of the quantum and relativistic nature of Weyl semimetals.

    • Qiang Li
    • , Dmitri E. Kharzeev
    •  & T. Valla

  • News & Views |

    Ab initio calculations of an atomic nucleus with 48 nucleons set a benchmark for computational nuclear physics and provide new insights into the properties of the atomic nucleus and strongly interacting matter.

    • Daniel P. Watts

  • Commentary |

    Sustaining and measuring high temperatures in fusion plasmas is a challenging task that requires different heating systems and diagnostic tools. Information on the spatial distribution of temperature is one of the key elements for improving and controlling plasma performance.

    • Didier Mazon
    • , Christel Fenzi
    •  & Roland Sabot

  • News & Views |

    Deep-sea sediments reveal the production sites of the heaviest chemical elements in the Universe to be neutron star mergers — rare events that eject large amounts of mass — and not core-collapse supernovae.

    • Friedrich-Karl Thielemann

  • Article |

    Determining—and defining—the size of an atomic nucleus is far from easy. First-principles calculations now provide accurate information on the neutron distribution of the neutron-rich 48Ca nucleus—and constraints on the size of a neutron star.

    • G. Hagen
    • , A. Ekström
    •  & J. Simonis

  • News & Views |

    A recent experiment has provided tantalizing evidence in favour of the elusive 'giant pairing vibration' — an exotic excitation of the atomic nucleus.

    • Jorge Piekarewicz

  • Progress Article |

    The on-line isotope separation technique for the production of accelerated beams of radioactive ions has led to important advances in our understanding of atomic nuclei. These are now reviewed, and further prospects are discussed.

    • David Gareth Jenkins

  • Article |

    Isotope production is usually associated with nuclear reactors, but there are alternative approaches. One such proposal is based on the well-known atomic physics experimental techniques of optical pumping and magnetic guiding, and its viability for isotope separation is now experimentally demonstrated.

    • Thomas R. Mazur
    • , Bruce Klappauf
    •  & Mark G. Raizen

  • News & Views |

    Powerful γ-ray detectors are revealing fresh details about the interior of the nucleus, focusing initially on cases where there is a large excess of neutrons and edging towards the neutron drip-line limit.

    • Philip Walker

  • Editorial |

    An ambitious programme to achieve power generation from nuclear fusion is making some progress, at last.

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