Seminars in 2012:

Efimov Physics: from nuclear physics to atomic physics and return.

In recent years the interest in few-body physics has received a significant boost thanks to

experimental investigations of Efimov physics using cold atoms. With the term Efimov 

physics it is customary to design all the ensemble of universal relations found in few-body 

systems when the scattering length of the two-body subsystem is unnaturally large (for 

recent reviews see [1] and [2]).
After a general introduction to the Efimov physics, I will present the work done the author in 

the study of the Efimov physics for systems up to six particles [3]. In order to keep contact 

with reality, we have worked with a bosonic system made of $^4$He atoms, whose
interaction is such that the few-body systems fall inside the Efimov physics.  I will show 

how the universality manifest itself in these systems.
In order to make the calculations we used the Hyperspherical Harmonics (HH) basis set, 

which has been widely used in the few-body literature to solve the Schroedinger equation 

in a variation way.  This basis has several good properties; for instance, the HH functions 

are the eigen-functions of the few-body Laplacian, simplifying the calculation of the kinetic 

energy, and the basis has a good asymptotic description of the bound states.  The main
drawback of this basis is represented by its fast growing.  In order to cope with this aspect 

of the basis, we used the non-symmetrized hyperspherical (NSHH) expansion method, with 

the technique recently developed by the authors [4,5].

    
1. C.H. Green, Phys. Today 63, 40 (2010)
2. F. Ferlaino and R. Grimm, Physics 3, 9 (2010).
3. M. Gattobigio, A. Kievsky, and M. Viviani,  Phys. Rev. A, 86, 042513 (2012)
4. M. Gattobigio, A. Kievsky, and M. Viviani, Phys. Rev. C  83, 024001 (2011).
5. M. Gattobigio, A. Kievsky, and M. Viviani, Phys. Rev. A  84, 052503 (2011).

currently nearing the end of its construction phase and discuss its wide range physics 

goals. The SNO+ experiment is a multifaceted experiment, that besides its main goals of 

searching for neutrinoless double-beta decay can do many other interesting, low-energy 

neutrino physics. It has the potential of following the strong tradition of the SNO experiment 

and perform various solar neutrino measurements, in particular on the pep and CNO 

neutrinos. It is sensitive to reactor neutrinos and can do a complimentary measurement 

to KamLAND. It also has a unique sensitivity to geo-neutrinos and neutrinos from potential 

supernovae within our galaxy. 

of cure or palliation by maximising the radiation absorbed dose to the tumour while minimising

the absorbed dose to normal healthy tissue and avoiding toxicity. To date, dosimetry is not

used to guide therapy, as regulatory authorities believe there is little evidence of its predictive

quality. Therefore most radionuclide administration methods are based upon empirical and

clinical experience (prescribed activity adjusted by body weight or surface area). This has

resulted in the majority of patient treatments being performed with neither prospective, nor

retrospective dosimetry. The estimation of patient absorbed doses resulting from molecular

radiotherapy is complex, as the internal irradiation depends on the specific biokinetics of the

radiopharmaceutical within the patient and the radioisotope used during the procedure. The

development of patient-specific dosimetry calculations, as are routinely employed in external

beam radiotherapy, is therefore of increasing importance for personalised cancer treatment in

nuclear medicine.
An introduction to some of the radionuclide therapies performed at the Royal Marsden Hospital

and the MIRD (Medical Internal Radiation Dose) approach used in clinical dosimetry will be

presented. A retrospective study on personalised dosimetry calculations for cystic brain

tumours treated with intra-cavitary 32P chromic phosphate radiocolloid will be discussed in

more detail. This study showed the necessity of incorporating patient-specific 3D voxel

Monte Carlo dosimetry methods into clinical protocols, with the potential to benefit treatment

planning and improve therapy outcome.

Tuesday 13th November 2012

Jock McOrist (Department of Mathematics, University of Surrey)

unifying the four fundamental forces of nature. What is perhaps less well-known is how 

successful string theory has been as a tool in other areas of sciences. It has led to new 

and bold ideas in pure mathematics as well as being an outstanding tool for probing 

non-perturbative physics, of relevance to superconductors & the quark gluon plasma. I 

will summarise some of these developments, focussing on the topics of interest to the 

mathematical physics group at Surrey.

Friday 5th October 2012

Dr N. J Stone (University of Tennessee / University of Oxford)
Magnetism in High-K isomers with new insights into the ‘collective’ gR parameter.
Nuclear magnetism in deformed nuclei has long been recognized as capable of providing

detailed information concerning both single particle configurations and collective properties.
Based on recent results with on-line nuclear orientation at ISOLDE, CERN, this talk will explore 

the behavior of the ‘collective’ gR parameter in the region of high-K isomerism covering the 

elements Yb – Os. The results reveal a striking and useful systematic variation. They throw new 

light on how excitations of the quasi-particle vacuum, which forms the ground state of 

even-even nuclei, influence pairing and superconductivity in multi-quasi-particle states.
The topic, which has been strangely neglected in the past, will be introduced from a 

relatively basic level based on the treatment by Bohr and Mottelson.

been a subject of intense investigation for decades. The scarcity of experimental and

observational data has lead to the necessary reliance on theoretical models.  However,

there remains great uncertainty in these models which,  of necessity, have to go  beyond

the over-simple assumption that high density matter  consists only of  nucleons and leptons.

Heavy strange baryons, mesons and quark matter in different forms and phases have to be

included to fulfill basic requirements of fundamental laws of physics.
I will survey the latest developments in construction of the Equation of State (EoS) of

high-density matter at zero and finite temperature assuming different composition of the

matter.  Critical comparison of model EoS with available observational data on neutron

stars, including gravitation mass, radii and cooling patterns and data on X-Ray burst sources

 and low mass X-ray binaries will be made. The effect of changing rotational frequency on the

composition of neutron stars during their lifetime will be demonstrated. Possible conflict

between the EoS of high-density, low temperature compact objects and low density, high

Dr Marielle Chartier (University of Liverpool, UK)

Proton-induced quasifree scattering reactions studied in inverse kinematics with the

LAND-R3B experiment at GSI/FAIR

Understanding nucleon-nucleon correlations beyond the nuclear mean-field and their

modification as a function of density, temperature and isospin asymmetry of the nuclear

medium will determine the nature of many-body systems as diverse as finite nuclei,

extended nuclear matter and compact astrophysical objects such as n stars. The most

direct experimental probes to study single-particle properties of nuclei and investigate

the role of correlations in nuclei and nuclear matter are the high-energy p- and electron-

induced quasifree scattering reactions, such as (p,2p) and (e,e'p), from which

absolute spectroscopic factors can be derived. Both valence and deeply bound nucleons

can be removed, enabling different densities to be studied and probing different types of

correlations.

First exclusive measurements of proton-induced quasifree scattering reactions have been

performed recently at GSI in inverse kinematics with the LAND-R3B setup using both stable

and radioactive beams. In particular the 12C(p,2p)11B reaction was studied using a 4π

Si+NaI target-recoil detector for both nucleons and gammas and forward detectors for

heavy fragments and particles from the decay of continuum states. The spectral function

after p-knockout was extracted for the first time from observing the heavy residues in the

final state, combining gamma spectroscopy and the invariant-mass method. High-energy

intense radioactive beams at FAIR will enable such measurements on exotic nuclei with

the R3B experiment. Central to these is the new STFC-funded R3B Silicon Tracker

currently under construction at the University of Liverpool in collaboration with STFC

Daresbury Laboratory and the Universities of Birmingham, Edinburgh and Surrey.

R3B opens the prospects for a wide-ranging experimental programme, e.g. the

study of the role of correlations in asymmetric nuclei and nuclear matter, of the cluster-

and shell-structure of exotic nuclei and of unbound states beyond the dripline.

No-Core Shell Model with the Continuum

Coupling the No-Core Shell Model with the continuum (NCSMC) leads to a promising

ab-initio method for the description of low-energy nuclear reactions. It naturally extends

the already successful NCSM/RGM technique, increasing its predictive power for both

bound and scattering states. We will discuss the first NCSMC results for nucleon

scattering on light nuclei.

Alejandro Kievsky (INFN Pisa)

Some Measurement of Radioactivity in the Environment: Direct Applications of

Nuclear Spectroscopy

M. W. Reed (Department of Physics, University of Surrey)

Measurements of isomers in the GSI storage ring (ESR) with Schottky

Mass Spectrometry

Isomers provide basic nuclear structure information which tests shell-model predictions.

To reach isomers in heavy neutron-rich isotopes far from the line of stability, methods

such as fission or fusion-evaporation reactions are limited, as cross-sections for

neutron-rich nuclei decrease rapidly once the limit of stability has been left and fission

yields die out. Therefore the use of projectile fragmentation provides a convenient tool

to reach the isotopes which are otherwise unavailable by the more conventional reactions.

The ability with fragmentation to identify projectile-like reaction products on an ion-by-ion

 basis is available, thus enabling ion selection in experiments. Projectile fragmentation

in combination with in- flight fragment separation has enabled microsecond isomers to

 be found some distance from the line of stability [1]. However, detection of long-lived

isomers is somewhat more of a challenge. With the Experimental Storage Ring (ESR)

using Schottky Mass Spectrometry (SMS) it is possible to directly observe an isomer

without requiring its decay [2]. The ESR enables observation of single ions, allowing

measurements to be performed on ions with low production cross sections [3], and

giving the ability to measure isomer energies for ions with half-lives greater than 1 s.

The presentation will review the technique of SMS in measuring isomers and report

some recent results [4, 5].

[1]  S.J. Steer et al., Phys. Rev. C 84, 044313 (2011)

[2]  B. Sun et al., Eur. Phys. J. A 31, 393 (2007).

[3]  Yu.A. Litvinov, et al., Nucl. Phys. A 756, 3 (2005).

[4]  M.W. Reed et al., Phys. Rev. Lett 105, 172501 (2010)

[5]  M.W. Reed et al. To be published