
Introduction
The nucleus, the core and center of the atom, is a quantal many-body system governed by the strong interaction. Just as hadrons are composed of quarks and gluons, the nucleus is composed of the most stable of these hadrons—neutrons and protons. The question of how the strong force binds these nucleons together in nuclei is fundamental to the very existence of the universe. A few minutes after the Big Bang, the mutual interactions between nucleons led to the formation of light nuclei. These, and the subsequent nuclear process synthesizing heavier nuclei during stellar evolution and in violent events like supernovae, have been crucial in shaping the world we live in.
One of the central goals of nuclear physics is to come to a basic understanding of the structure and dynamics of nuclei. In approaching this goal, nuclear physicists address a broad range of questions, from the origin of the complex nuclear force to the origin of the elements. Among the key issues still to be resolved are the following:
- How do the interactions between quarks and gluons generate the forces responsible for nuclear binding?
- What is the microscopic structure of nuclei at length scales of the size of the nucleon? Is this structure best understood by including quarks and gluons explicitly in the treatment of nuclei?
- How are the different approximate symmetries that are apparent in nuclear structure related to the underlying interaction and how can they be derived from many-body theory?
Page 48Suggested Citation:“3 The Structure of Nuclei.” National Research Council. 1999. Nuclear Physics: The Core of Matter, The Fuel of Stars. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6288.
- What are the limiting conditions under which nuclei can remain bound, and what new structure features emerge near these limits?
- What is the origin of the naturally occurring elements of our world?
Quantitative answers to these questions are essential to our understanding of nuclei; they also have a potential impact far beyond nuclear structure physics. Probes of short-range structures in nuclei can illuminate the nature of quark confinement, by exposing the extent to which quarks either remain confined to their particular neutrons or protons within nuclear matter or are shared among nucleons as electrons are shared in molecules. As yet poorly understood properties of medium-mass nuclei and of very neutron-rich nuclei critically affect the collapse and explosion of supernovae. In creating the heaviest nuclei in the laboratory, nuclear physicists are extending the periodic table of the elements and revealing deviations from chemical periodicity. Among the new isotopes they have produced in approaching the limits of nuclear stability are ones whose radioactive decay will provide crucial new tests of fundamental symmetry principles.
Progress in all these areas relies on technical advances in theoretical and computational approaches, as well as in accelerator and detector design. For example, investigations of short-range structures in nuclei have been spurred by novel developments in proton accelerators and, especially, by the advent of continuous high-energy electron beams. The role of quarks and gluons in such structures is most likely to be revealed in the lightest nuclei, for which experimental maps can now be compared to essentially exact theoretical calculations based on the picture of interacting nucleons. These calculations have been made possible by adapting the latest quantum Monte Carlo computing methods to the unique aspects of nuclear forces.
On the other hand, it is well known in all branches of physics that a direct approach to the dynamics of complex many-body systems, based on the elementary interactions between their constituents, is not always useful. For example, many properties of heavier nuclei can be accurately described using simpler approximations that retain some, but not all, essential microscopic ingredients. Deep insight into the crucial features of nuclear structure can be gained from an understanding of why such approximations work well, and of where they break down. Particular challenges are to understand the variety of collective motions of nucleons in heavy nuclei, and the fascinating phenomenon of nuclear superconductivity. Significant progress in our understanding of heavy nuclei is expected to come from advances in experimental capabilities.
Another major advance is provided by facilities producing beams of short-lived nuclei. Current understanding of both nuclear structure and nucleosynthesis is largely based on what is known of the properties of stable and long-lived, near-stable nuclei. Between these nuclei and the drip lines, where nuclear binding comes to an end, lies an unexplored landscape containing more than 90Page 49Suggested Citation:“3 The Structure of Nuclei.” National Research Council. 1999. Nuclear Physics: The Core of Matter, The Fuel of Stars. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6288.
percent of all expected bound nuclear systems, a region where many new nuclear phenomena are anticipated. As is evident from the map of the nuclear terrain in Figure, the limits of nuclear binding are poorly known at present; often, those limits are close to the regions where the processes that form the elements in stars must proceed.
In the 1996 Long Range Plan, a new experimental facility to explore nuclei near the limits of nuclear binding was identified as the choice for the next major construction project in nuclear science. Recommendation II of the present report is the construction of such a facility. Beams of short-lived nuclei will be produced and accelerated at this facility, and their reactions with target nuclei will be used to synthesize new nuclear species in uncharted territory. By elucidating the properties of these new exotic species, and enabling their use in reactions of astrophysical interest and in tests of fundamental symmetries, this new facility will provide answers to some of the most profound nuclear structure questions identified above.