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Experimental nuclear physics is the practical investigation of the processes that occur at the heart of an atom. This includes building a better fundamental understanding of fusion and fission, and harnessing them for sustained energy generation. Other areas of study are the creation of superheavy elements, and the application of radioactive substances in medicine.
Electron capture in 163Ho can be used to determine the electron neutrino mass. The Q value of this process is crucial for the evaluation of the systematic uncertainty in such a measurement, and a 50-fold improvement is now reported.
The trapping of triply charged 229mTh3+ is described and its nuclear decay half-life determined, showing useful properties for the development of a nuclear clock and applications in the search for new physics.
A promising pathway towards the laser cooling of a molecule containing a radioactive atom has been identified. The unique structure of such a molecule means that it can act as a magnifying lens to probe fundamental physics.
The strong interaction is modified in the presence of nuclear matter. An experiment has now quantified with high precision and accuracy the reduction of the order parameter of the system’s chiral symmetry, which is partially restored.
A potential observation of low-energy antihelium-3 nuclei would have profound impacts on our understanding of the Galaxy. Experiments at particle colliders help us understand how cosmic antimatter travels over long distances before reaching Earth.
Measurements of a transversely polarized target were used to probe the spin structure of the proton in the low-energy region where the interactions between the quarks cannot be ignored. These results provide a benchmark for testing our understanding of the strong force.
Although the mass of the electron antineutrino is still eluding direct measurement, the KATRIN experiment with its huge spectrometer has pushed the sensitivity below a billionth of the proton mass.