Throwing Nuclear Darts at the Speed of Light: Physicists Flip Particle Accelerator to Gain a Clearer View of Atomic Nuclei

Mar 31, 2021

Throwing Nuclear Darts at the Speed of Light: Physicists Flip Particle Accelerator to Gain a Clearer View of Atomic Nuclei

Posted by Genevieve Klien in categories: particle physics, space

Shooting beams of ions at proton clouds, like throwing nuclear darts at the speed of light, can provide a clearer view of nuclear structure. Credit: Jose-Luis Olivares, MIT

Shooting beams of ions at proton clouds may help researchers map the inner workings of neutron stars.

Physicists at MIT and elsewhere are blasting beams of ions at clouds of protons —like throwing nuclear darts at the speed of light — to map the structure of an atom ’s nucleus.