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High-energy-electron scattering probes the strong nuclear interaction at close range

The dense soup of matter in the core of neutron stars is hard to model, but particle-accelerator experiments in which energetic electrons scatter off atomic nuclei could help to explore this high-density regime.
  1. Alexandra Gade

    1. Alexandra Gade is at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, USA.

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Modelling the fundamental strong force between protons and neutrons — collectively called nucleons — is tricky. But in a paper in Nature, Schmidt and collaborators1 demonstrate a way to explore these interactions in atomic nuclei, and compare experimental measurements against calculations that use various models of the strong nuclear interaction. They do so at the shortest inter-nucleon distances yet probed, by poking nucleon pairs using high-energy electrons and focusing on a previously unexplored regime of short-distance, high-momentum interactions in a nucleus.

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Nature 578, 524-525 (2020)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-00469-8

References

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