Gamma-Ray Spectroscopy of Pear-Shaped Atomic Nuclei

The aim of this project is to better understand the structure of the atomic nucleus, specifically by studying novel "pear shaped" nuclear deformations in nuclei in the actinide region (the radon, radium, thorium, and uranium nuclei). The nuclei of interest do not exist in nature as they are unstable (radioactive) and have short half-lives, often thousandths or millionths of a second. The nuclei are therefore created in the laboratory in nuclear reactions and studied instantaneously - before they decay. One of the best ways to study the nuclei is detect the gamma-rays that they emit. The gamma rays can give information about the excited states of the nucleus, and the arrangement of excited states is related to the behaviour of the constituent neutrons and protons.

The PhD project will involve conducting one or more experiments at international particle-accelerator laboratories such as JYFL (in Jyvaskyla, Finland), Legnaro National Laboratory (in Padova, Italy) and at Argonne National Laboratory (in Chicago). The primary tasks of the PhD student will be helping to run the experiments, the analysis of data from one of the experiments, as well a interpretation and publication of the results. There are several possible experiments that are available such as a study of parity doublets in the odd-mass thorium nuclei.

The PhD student should be willing to travel and to spend time at large international nuclear-physics facilities.

Programme Start Date: 1st October 2023