Nuclear structure & decays is a research area in nuclear physics that investigates the internal configuration, quantum states, and dynamical behavior of atomic nuclei, along with the mechanisms by which unstable nuclei transform via radioactive decay. It encompasses the development and application of models such as shell, collective, and mean-field theories to describe nucleon distributions, energy levels, and transition probabilities, and studies decay modes including alpha, beta, gamma, and fission processes. The field integrates experimental spectroscopy, reaction studies, and advanced many-body calculations to elucidate nuclear forces, shape coexistence, isomerism, and the evolution of structure far from stability, informing both fundamental theory and applications in astrophysics and nuclear technology.
Nuclear isomers are crucial probes for studying the structure of nuclei. Unlike chemical isomers—which have the same chemical formula but different arrangements of atoms—nuclear isomers are nuclei that exist in a long-lived ...
General Physics
Mar 13, 2026
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163
Separated by an ocean and more than a decade, innovative experiments with 31 tin isotopes having either a surplus or shortage of neutrons show how neutrons influence nuclear stability and element formation. The experiments, ...
General Physics
Feb 18, 2026
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42
For the first time, physicists have developed a model that explains the origins of unusually stable magic nuclei based directly on the interactions between their protons and neutrons. Published in Physical Review Letters, ...
A team of physicists from the Institute of Modern Physics (IMP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, together with collaborators, has identified the dominant physical mechanism responsible for energy release in the nuclear ...
General Physics
Feb 9, 2026
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62
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have uncovered experimental evidence that particles of matter emerging from energetic subatomic smashups retain a key feature of virtual particles ...
General Physics
Feb 4, 2026
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282
A novel apparatus at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory has made extremely precise measurements of unstable ruthenium nuclei. The measurements are a significant milestone in nuclear physics ...
General Physics
Jan 30, 2026
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85
An international team of researchers has systematically measured the β-decay half-lives of 40 nuclei near calcium-54, providing key experimental data for understanding the structure of extremely neutron-rich nuclei.
General Physics
Jan 19, 2026
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920
Muons are unstable subatomic particles that spontaneously and rapidly transform into other particles via a process known as electroweak decay. Altering the speed with which muons decay into other particles was so far deemed ...
Researchers from The Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have reported the first observation of a dynamic magnetochiral instability in a solid-state material. Their findings, published ...
Condensed Matter
Jan 13, 2026
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36
Researchers from the High Energy Nuclear Physics Laboratory at the RIKEN Pioneering Research Institute (PRI) in Japan and their international collaborators have made a discovery that bridges artificial intelligence and nuclear ...
General Physics
Dec 22, 2025
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208
