{"id":18425,"date":"2022-02-17T14:00:45","date_gmt":"2022-02-17T14:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/?p=18425"},"modified":"2022-06-28T16:08:57","modified_gmt":"2022-06-28T15:08:57","slug":"understanding-mystery-nuclear-matter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/understanding-mystery-nuclear-matter\/18425\/","title":{"rendered":"Understanding the mystery of nuclear matter"},"content":{"rendered":"
The US Department of Energy (DOE)\u2019s mission is to ensure the security and prosperity of America by addressing its energy, environmental, and nuclear challenges through transformative science and technological solutions. Through its Office of Science, the DOE Office of Nuclear Physics supports research in the physical sciences at over 300 institutions across the country, including universities, national laboratories, non-profit organisations, and private sector institutions.<\/p>\n
The Office administers research through several major programme offices across a broad range of disciplines, including Nuclear Physics. The Nuclear Physics programme seeks to solve the great mystery of how the Universe was formed, by discovering, exploring, and understanding all forms of nuclear matter. The quest to understand the properties of different forms of nuclear matter requires long-term support for both theoretical and experimental research efforts.<\/p>\n
The Nuclear Physics programme supports four scientific user facilities, which provide opportunities to study several science frontiers, including the synthesis of the heavy elements in the cosmos. Each of these facilities have unique capabilities that advance the programme\u2019s scientific mission.<\/p>\n
To solicit research proposals with the aim of furthering future discovery, the Office of Science issues many funding announcements every year. In January 2022, the DOE announced $8m for theoretical research in nuclear interactions, nucleon structure, and properties of nuclei and nuclear matter via collaborations. This is the third round of its Nuclear Theory Topical Collaborations, which bring together leading nuclear scientists to address well-defined topical areas.<\/p>\n
In conversation with The Innovation Platform<\/em>, the DOE\u2019s Associate Director of Science for Nuclear Physics, Timothy Hallman, details the overall aims of the DOE\u2019s work in nuclear physics and explains how the Office works to achieve its key goals.<\/p>\n The overarching goals that our Office is working towards are set out in a document called the Long-Range Plan for Nuclear Science. Every five to seven years, we commission a community-driven exercise to establish what the vision for the field will be for the next five to ten years. The most recent document, released in 2015, includes four top recommendations.<\/p>\n The first key recommendation is to extract the science from the facilities we are already operating, or finishing the construction of, including the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider at Brookhaven National Laboratory, the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF) at Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (TJNAF), The Facility for Rare Isotope Beams at Michigan State University, and the Argonne Tandem Linac Accelerator System (ATLAS) at Argonne National Laboratory. Another focus is to work on deploying a ton-scale neutrino-less double beta decay experiment. The third recommendation is to construct a high-luminosity, high polarization electron-ion collider (EIC). Lastly, the fourth focus is to invest in more modest cost instrumentation to allow scientists to take advantage of the capabilities at the facilities we operate.<\/p>\nWhat are the current goals and objectives of the Office of Science for Nuclear Physics?<\/h3>\n