Nuclear Physics

PEOPLE

Our aim is to understand, describe and use in applications the properties of atomic nuclei by developing systematic theories and approaches of strong interactions at low and intermediate energies, advanced many-body methods based on computing codes for self-consistent treatments of various nuclear reactions and models. The research work of the group is focused on: a large spectrum of nuclear reactions, the production, structure and stability of nuclei and their interactions with external fields. The fundamental observables of nuclei, such as masses, binding and reaction energies, reaction and formation cross-sections, decay modes, structure and lifetime, are obtained by comparing the experimental data with theoretical results for nuclear properties.

1. Nuclear Structure and Reactions

• Nuclear models (phenomenological, microscopical) of nuclear structure for applications to quasiparticle excitations, rotation-vibration, wobbling and chiral dynamics in heavy nuclei, shape coexistence and mixing, giant and pigmy resonances, pairing, quartetting, phase transitions.

• Nuclear reactions: nucleus-nucleus scattering and low-energy fusion (elastic and transfer cross-sections, hindrance to fusion of light and medium nuclei, sub-barrier fusion); determination of the optical nuclear potential, determination of the fusion-evaporation reaction cross-sections for the production of superheavy nuclei (SHN), heavy nuclei (HN) and exotic nuclei.

• Interaction of nuclei with strong laser fields: laser-driven spontaneous emission of nuclear particles, giant resonances, collective rotations, coupling of electronic shells to the atomic nucleus induced by laser pulses, laser-assisted heavy-ion scattering.

• Nuclear matter in extreme conditions: the nuclear matter equation of state at supra-saturation densities at intermediate energies; deconfinement of matter and chiral symmetry restoration at ultra-relativistic energies; hadron production in heavy-ion, proton-proton and lepton-hadron deep inelastic collisions.

2. Radioactive Nuclear Decays, Fission and Quasi-fission

• Estimates of alpha decay and heavy cluster emission rates for HN and new SHN.

• Nuclear fission and quasi-fission calculations for fragment mass, charge, energy, neutron multiplicity and angular distributions, for HN and yet unaccessible SHN.

• Binary and ternary reaction models.

• Study of the particle emission at drip-line nuclei (p, 2p, 2 H (deuteron),4He).

• Effect of the gauge symmetry restoration on the double beta decay to excited collective states.

• Study of beta and double-beta decay (calculations of phase-space factors, nuclear matrix elements and half-lives for beta decay (allowed and forbidden transitions) and double-beta decay; derivation of neutrino properties; investigation of Lorentz violation effects in beta and double-beta decays.

Funding Agencies: