Dr. Rakitha Beminiwattha, Assistant Professor of Physics at Louisiana Tech University, and Louisiana Tech Physics doctoral students Yufan Chen and Devaki Bhatta Pathak (who graduated in Winter Quarter 2020), were among a team of international researchers who have helped to measure the neutron distribution in a heavy nucleus, specifically, that of lead, and published the most precise measurement to date of the neutron distribution from the Lead (Pb) Radius Experiment (PREX) at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility in Virginia.
Working with experts from 32 prestigious institutions around the world, Beminiwattha, Chen, and Pathak have determined that the heavy nucleus of lead has an unexpectedly thick skin of neutrons; this layer of neutrons on the outside of a lead nucleus is twice as thick as physicists previously thought.
Researchers Find That Atomic Nucleus Is Thin Skinned
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Measuring lead nucleus tells of neutron stars
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Probing the Skin of a Lead Nucleus
April 27, 2021•
Physics 14, 58
Researchers make the most precise measurement yet of the neutron distribution in a heavy nucleus, with implications for the structure of neutron stars.
Figure 1: A cartoon image of a lead-208 nucleus, showing the mixed proton-neutron core and the neutron “skin” (left). Measuring the thickness of the neutron skin offers clues about how neutron stars are structured (right).×
Popular cartoon visualizations depict the protons and neutrons in a nucleus as colored marbles packed randomly into a sphere. In reality, heavy nuclei in which neutrons tend to outnumber protons are more differentiated, with the neutrons nudged radially outward. At the outer limits of such nuclei, the neutrons form a thin “skin” enclosing a core of mixed neutrons and protons (Fig. 1). Now, the Lead Radius Experiment (PREX) Collaboration at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility in Virginia has determined the thickne
Neutron stars may be bigger than expected, measurement of lead nucleus suggests
Apr. 27, 2021 , 11:00 AM
Say what you want about lead, it’s got a surprisingly thick skin of neutrons, that is. In fact, the layer of neutrons on the outside of a lead nucleus is twice as thick as physicists thought, according to a new study. The seemingly abstruse result could have out-of-this-world implications: Neutron stars, the ultradense spheres left behind when stars explode in supernova explosions, could be stiffer and bigger than theory generally predicts.
“It’s a fantastic experimental achievement,” says Anna Watts, an astrophysicist at the University of Amsterdam who studies neutron stars. “It’s been talked about for years and years and years, and it’s so cool to finally see it done.”