Research

Our office sponsors research in many experimental and theoretical fields. We support research groups at many Universities and National Laboratories.

Jump down to nuclear physics research on: Heavy Ions, Medium Energy, Nuclear Structure and Nuclear Astrophysics, Fundamental Symmetries, Theoretical Nuclear Physics, Computational Nuclear Physics, Nuclear Data, Accelerator Research and Development

Heavy Ions

heavy ion collisions at RHIC, the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL)

The Heavy Ion subprogram investigates the high temperature frontier of quantum chromodynamics (QCD), by trying to recreate and characterize new forms of matter and other new phenomena that might occur in extremely hot, dense nuclear matter, such as the quark-gluon plasma (QGP), and which have not existed since the Big Bang. Measurements are carried out primarily using relativistic heavy ion collisions at RHIC, the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL). Participation in the heavy ion program at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) provides U.S. researchers the opportunity to search for new properties of the QGP under substantially different collision conditions than those provided by RHIC, providing information regarding the matter that existed during the infant universe. This subprogram also supports advanced detector R&D, instrumentation development as well as scientific research to exploit NP’s next new accelerator facility called the Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) at BNL. The EIC will be a discovery machine for unlocking the secrets of the "glue" that binds the building blocks of visible matter in the universe.

Medium Energy

The Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF) at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (TJNAF or JLab) provides high quality beams of polarized electrons that allow scientists to extract information on the quarks and gluons that make up protons and neutrons.

The Medium Energy subprogram primarily explores the low temperature frontier of quantum chromodynamics (QCD) to understand how the properties of existing matter arise from the properties of QCD. This research is conducted at two Nuclear Physics (NP) National User Facilities and other facilities worldwide. The Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF) at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (TJNAF or JLab) provides high quality beams of polarized electrons that allow scientists to extract information on the quarks and gluons that make up protons and neutrons. CEBAF also uses polarized electrons to make precision measurements of processes that can provide information relevant to the intensity frontier to discover the New Standard Model. The Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) provides colliding beams of spin-polarized protons to probe the spin structure of the proton, another important aspect of the QCD frontier. Experiments are also being carried out at Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory (TUNL) and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL or Fermilab). This subprogram also supports advanced detector R&D, instrumentation development as well as scientific research to exploit NP’s next new accelerator facility called the Electron-Ion Collider (EIC). The EIC will be a discovery machine for unlocking the secrets of the "glue" that binds the building blocks of visible matter in the universe.

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Nuclear Structure and Nuclear Astrophysics

The Nuclear Structure and Nuclear Astrophysics portfolio supports high-impact science with proton-rich and neutron-rich nuclei as well as nuclear processes that inform our understanding of stellar nucleosynthesis, neutron stars, and Big Bang nucleosynthesis. Two NP National User Facilities are pivotal in making progress in these frontiers. The Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) is the newest user facility in the Office of Science and started operations in May 2022 to advance the understanding of rare nuclear isotopes and the evolution of the cosmos. The Argonne Tandem Linac Accelerator System (ATLAS) at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) is used to study questions of nuclear structure by providing high-quality beams of all the stable elements up to uranium and selected beams of short-lived nuclei for experimental studies of nuclear properties under extreme conditions and reactions of interest to nuclear astrophysics. The portfolio supports a broad range of university-based scope, including operations at the Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory (TUNL) and the Texas A&M University Cyclotron Institute. The program also partners with other federal agencies to support limited operations of the 88-Inch Cyclotron at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) for basic research and to meet national security needs.

Fundamental Symmetries

germanium detectors are suspended in a copper framework array 

The Fundamental Symmetries (FS) subprogram portfolio supports research to reveal the symmetries and forces governing the history of our universe. Questions addressed through FS experiments include; Why is there more matter than anti-matter? What is the mass of the neutrino and why is it so small? What new forces or particles remain to be discovered. These questions are investigated through experiments relying on cold and ultracold neutrons, trapped atoms and molecules, beta decay and neutrinoless double beta decay. Experiments are currently being carried out or developed in deep underground labs around the world, at neutron facilities, and at three university "Centers of Excellence:” the Center for Experimental Nuclear Physics and Astrophysics (CENPA) at the University of Washington, Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory (TUNL) and the Texas A&M Cyclotron Institute (TAMU) with infrastructure capabilities to developed advanced detector systems and to exploit low energy accelerator and research reactor capabilities.

Theoretical Nuclear Physics

The Theoretical Nuclear Physics subprogram provides the formal mathematical aspects of physics needed to explain the fundamental nature of the world around us, the universe. Theory research support the interpretation of a wide range of data obtained from all the other Nuclear Physics (NP) subprograms and to advance new ideas and hypotheses that stimulate experimental investigations. This subprogram supports several national laboratory theory groups, university nuclear theory research as well as community theory efforts through Topical Collaborations, the Facility for Rare Isotopes and Beams Theory Alliance (FRIB TA) at Michigan State University and the Institute for Nuclear Theory (INT) at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington, where nuclear theorists from across the Nation collaborate to focus on key frontier areas in nuclear physics.

Computational Nuclear Physics

Theoretical Nuclear Physics  

Nuclear Physics Computing subprogram supports research in  nuclear physics that rely on large-scale, high-performance computing (HPC).  Large-scale computing is essential in extracting new knowledge of nuclear interactions  from experiment data and developing quantitative understanding about nuclear  matter. The Nuclear Physics Computing program supports the ASCR partnership  projects of Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computation (SciDAC) and  Nuclear Theory Topical Collaborations (TC) projects.  They are five-year multi-institution  collaborative projects, involving large-scale computations and are closely  aligned with the NP experimental programs. These research projects cover the  large-scale simulations of astrophysics objects, nuclear structure and nuclear  interactions, fundamental symmetries, quark and gluon structure and dynamics.  Nuclear Physics Computing program supports the Lattice QCD program jointly with  High Energy Physics (HEP), developing Lattice QCD techniques that are critical  to the understanding of nuclei, hadron structure, and the dynamics of strong  interactions. Some HPC resources needed for NP research are provided by the  National Energy Research Scientific Computing center (NERSC) and through ASCR  Leadership Computing Challenge (ALCC) program. 

For accessing presentations made at the annual Principal Investigator Exchange meeting click here.

Nuclear Data

Graphic depicting Nuclear Medicine, Nuclear Astrophysics, Nuclear Energy, Nuclear Structure, Education, Stockpile Stewardship, and National Security

The Nuclear Data subprogram collects, evaluates, and disseminates nuclear data with its support of the U.S. Nuclear Data Program and the National Nuclear Data Center (NNDC). This process combines historical and modern experiments, theory, and modeling to publish best values for nuclear properties such as cross sections and decay data. The extensive nuclear databases produced by this effort are an international resource consisting of carefully organized scientific information gathered over 50 years of low-energy nuclear physics research worldwide. The Nuclear Data subprogram is multi-disciplinary with applications to energy, defense, space, and medicine. Nuclear data underlies modeling and simulation software in nuclear applications so it is key for ensuring results are accurate. Working groups have been established among researchers, as well as federal programs, to help coordinate, prioritize, and fund research efforts to improve nuclear data in basic science and applied nuclear technologies.

Accelerator Research and Development

Curved hallway at Brookhaven National Laboratory's Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) 

The Office of Nuclear Physics (NP) supports cutting-edge accelerator research and development for the programmatic needs of its current and planned facilities. In the process, transformative technological advances and core competencies in accelerator science that are developed by NP are also often relevant to other applications and other SC programs. For example, superconducting radio frequency (SRF) particle acceleration developed for NP programmatic missions has contributed to technological advances for a broad range of applications including materials research, cancer therapy, food safety, bio-threat mitigation, national defense, waste treatment, and commercial fabrication.

The Accelerator Research and Development activity supports a broad range of activities aimed at research and development related to the science, engineering, and technology for accelerators of electrons, protons and heavy ions. Research and development activities are supported that will advance fundamental accelerator technology and its applications to nuclear physics scientific research. Areas of interest include the development of transformative accelerator technologies for the Electron-Ion Collider (EIC); linear accelerators such as the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF) at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (TJNAF); and development of devices and methods that are useful in the generation of intense rare isotope beams at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB). A major focus of the above areas is the accelerators and its related technologies. Also of importance is development of next generation high intensity ion sources and polarized electron sources to realize the full potential of NP facilities, including FRIB and the future EIC.