Seminar programme: Winter 2020-2021
The Surrey Nuclear Physics Group (NPG) holds regular seminars in experimental,
theoretical and applied nuclear physics. Future seminars and other research activities
are displayed here. This information can also usually be found at the Departmental
web pages and, in some cases, links to the slides of the speakers are available.
Links to recent seminars, workshops and schools are also available from the Recent
Events link in the sidebar - or from here.
Seminar venue:
Seminars usually take place at the University of Surrey. The regular venue is the Physics
Department seminar room 30BB03. Any changes of location will be notified here. A map
of the Surrey campus is also available here.
Forthcoming/Recent Conferences and Schools
The European Conference on Few-Body Problems in Physics (EFB24) was held
at the University of Surrey, Guildford, United Kingdom, from 2nd to 6th September 2019.
This was the 24th edition of this conference series which has, most recently, taken
place in Aarhus (2016), Krakow (2013), Salamanca (2010), and Pisa (2007).
24th European Conference on Few-Body Problems in Physics (EFB24)
The conference proceedings can be found at this link
Forthcoming seminars and events
Tuesday 17th March 2020 at 14.00 in Room 30BB03 - Cancelled
Michael Bowry (University of the West of Scotland)
The search for nuclear pear shapes
In developing theories to explain the structure of atomic nuclei, predictions may be made
regarding their behaviour far away from the magic N and Z numbers. These expectations
drive experimentalists to seek out exotic phenomena to test nuclear models. The appearance
of reflection-asymmetric nuclear shapes is one such example where the nucleus appears
pear-shaped or, alternatively, rather like an avocado. This phenomenon occurs (for example)
in the heavy ‘actinide’ region of the nuclear chart (Z≈88, N≈136) where the presence of low-
lying excited states with angular momentum J = 3 ħ and negative-parity is evident. Such
nuclei are regarded as susceptible to octupole deformation. Some nuclei appear to oscillate
between a symmetric and an asymmetric shape (octupole vibrational) while others appear
permanently octupole deformed. In addition, reflection-asymmetry in odd-N or odd-Z
actinides has important implications in the search for the atomic electric dipole moment
(EDM), considered an important test of physics beyond the standard model. What is the
microscopic origin of reflection-asymmetry and how are these shapes inferred in experiments?
This seminar will address recent experimental and theoretical progress in this area which
has greatly accelerated in the last decade. The UK maintains a strong component of expertise
in international collaborations at radioactive ion beam (RIB) facilities such as ISOLDE and
TRIUMF with access to high-intensity actinide beams. RIB production methods and a variety
of spectroscopic techniques employed to study the octupole degree-of-freedom in actinide
nuclei will be presented.
Tuesday 24th March 2020 at 14.00 in Room 30BB03 - Cancelled
Matthew Barton (Warsaw University of Technology, Warsaw)
Pairing dynamics in low energy nuclear collisions
Seminar Organiser:
The seminar organiser is Dr Natasha Timofeyuk