Nuclear Physics Division at a glance
NPD staff in numbers
Teaching & research
positions: 3 professors and 6 PhDs,
4 retired senior scientists
(including 2 professors) employed part-time or volunteering their
experience;
1 PhD and 3 MSc on technical and administrative positions;
5 PhD students.
Scientific activities
The staff of NPD are active in several fields of science.
Physics of nucleus-nucleus collisions in the wide range of energies
The properties of nuclear matter are studied in nucleus-nucleus
collisions in the wide range of system size and energy. We are
involved in the research conducted by the Chimera Collaboration at LNS
Catania, FOPI Collaboration at GSI Darmstadt and NA61 Collaboration at
CERN. System size varies from p+p to Au+Au, beam energy varies from
20AMeV (Catania) to 160AGeV (CERN). In those experiments nuclear
matter undergoes compression and heating, and by changing system size
and energy various states of excited nuclear matter are produced.
Detailed analysis of various observables will hopefully lead to the
discovery of nuclear matter equation of state, as well as the
description of nucleon interaction in the nuclear
environment.
Spectroscopy of exotic nuclei
Short-lived exotic nuclei are produced in nuclear reactions and the
properties of their excited states are studied through observation of
gamma rays. Those rays are emitted in the process of deexcitation of
the excited state. The gamma ray energies and angular correlation
between rays are measured. Extremely short lifetimes of the excited
states (~10-12s) can be measured as well. The experiments
employ many-detector gamma-sensitive arrays. Our experiments are
conducted at Heavy Ion Laboratory of the University of Warsaw (Warsaw
Cyclotron), ILL Grenoble and LNL Legnaro. Detailed analysis of the
data provided by the experiments leads first to description of
energies, spins, and parities of the excited states and their decay
chains, and later to the microscopic description of nuclear
states.
Application of nuclear physics techniques
Many methods developed in the nuclear physics are being used outside its traditional limits. Those applications include:
- medical diagnostics utilizing PET (Positron Emission Tomography);
- the study of damage done to the biological samples by the heavy ions;
- the study of natural radiation in the environment.