Research

Is a nucleus spherical or deformed? Do nucleons behave as individual entities or should they be considered as the building blocks of a collective state? How does the structure of an atomic nucleus change when extreme amounts of protons or neutrons are present? ...
These are only a few questions which our group is trying to answer. In cooperation with other international research teams and using the results of former experimental and theoretical studies, we tend to probe the unknown properties of the strong interaction. To reach this goal, our research focuses on the structure of exotic nuclei, i.e. nuclei with extreme proton to neutron ratios. Especially among these isotopes, new nuclear phenomena appear such as changes in the conventional shell structure, the presence of new magic numbers, configuration mixing, shape coexistence and nuclear deformation.
Excellent probes to study nuclear structure are the spin and the static moments of the nucleus: the mean square charge radius, the magnetic dipole moment and the electric quadrupole moment. The mean square charge radius gives an indication for the extension of the nuclear charge in space while the magnetic moment is sensitive to the configuration of the valence nucleons. The electric quadrupole moment probes the average deviation of the nuclear charge distribution from a sphere.

Our research group performs nuclear-moment measurements at several international accelerator facilities, such as ISOLDE-CERN (Switzerland) and GANIL (France). The experimental outcome is analyzed and interpreted in the framework of existing theoretical models, resulting in new and often challenging information on the nuclear structure far from stability.
Our main research is performed in three international collaborations which are presented below. For each of the collaborations, a brief description is given of the experimental technique which is used. Furthermore, the currently running research projects are introduced and the facility where the experiments are performed is cited. Apart from the three collaborations in which our group plays a key role, we also participate in other experimental campaigns e.g. at GSI (Darmstadt, Germany).