MY RESEARCH INTERESTS
direct nuclear reactions and experiments
Unstable nuclei are mostly studied through reactions, because they decay back to stability, often lasting less than a few seconds. Reaction theory makes the critical connection between experiments such as the ones performed at NSCL and nuclear structure (or nuclear astrophysics). Within the realm of direct reactions, I have studied elastic, inelastic excitation, breakup and transfer.
nuclear astrophysics and other applications
Breakup and transfer reactions can be used as indirect methods to obtain capture rates of astrophysical relevance. These capture rates enter in the simulations of stars, and explosive sites such as novae, supernovae and neutron star mergers. In addition, reliable models for some specific direct reactions are crucial for nuclear waste management and reactors. Finally, we also need reactions to unveil the hidden secrets of the effective nuclear force that binds some exotic systems and not others.
few-body methods
Nuclei are many body systems of large complexity. Describing a reaction while retaining all the complexity of the projectile and target nuclei would be a daunting task. Fortunately, to describe many direct reactions, only a few
structure degrees of freedom are necessary. Thus, we develop simplified few-body models that retain the important features. Link to Faddeev framework recently developed.
optical potentials
When reducing the problem to a few composite bodies, we need to introduce effective interactions - optical potentials. One of the greatest challenges in reaction theory is extracting these optical potentials from ab-initio many-body theory. Link to Ab-initio optical potential Phys Rev C paper.
uncertainty quantification
Another important line of research in my group is the use of Bayesian statistical tools to quantify the uncertainty on our predictions and help in experimental design. The few-body methods we use rely on effective potentials between constituents that are not well known. The uncertainties coming from these effective potentials need to be quantified. An example of such studies is shown in the figures. Link to BAND MANIFESTO!
The context of rare isotopes in nuclear theory
(physics today)
Fun ScienceNews article on FRIB science
Review of probes for capture rates
(annual review)
Nuclear Reactions for Astrophysics
(our book)
Bayesian Statistics in Reaction UQ
(PRL)
Vintage
Recent Talks
Nuclear reactions for astrophysics
Institute for Nuclear Theory Seminar
(online, September 2020) - (video)
Uncertainty Quantification in Nuclear Reactions
DNP Fall meeting
(Crystal City, October 2019) - slides
Working Toward an Inclusive Nuclear Physics Community
Low Energy Community Meeting
(Durham August 2019) - slides
For students
If you would like to join the group, please email nunes(AT)frib.msu.edu
You can find more information about work expectations in our guidelines document