Grant: Subatomic Physics Envelope - Individual

Atomic nuclei are dense objects found in the center of every atom. They are composed of two kinds of nucleons, proton and neutrons, which interact with each other. Nuclei play an important role in the production of matter in the Universe and serve as fuel for nuclear reactions that take place inside stars. Moreover they can be used as laboratories for testing fundamental interactions in the Standard Model. My objective is to provide answers to fundamental questions like: What is the nature of nuclear forces? How do protons and neutrons tie together to form stable and unstable nuclei? What are the limits of existence of nuclei? This Discovery Grant aims at combining two major advances in the theory of nuclei: the modern approach of effective field theory in developing nuclear forces and novel ab-initio methods to calculate properties of nuclei. This is a fundamental step to take in order to achieve a better understanding of nucleonic matter. I will look at unraveling the reasons why light neutron-rich nuclei develop exotic structures called halo, where some neutrons form a cloud orbiting around a denser core of nucleons. I plan to address how the present knowledge on nuclear forces can predict the location of the neutron drip line in light- and medium-mass nuclei. Furthermore, I plan to study reactions leading to the nucleosynthesis of light elements and neutrino interactions with nuclear matter, relevant to supernovae explosions and neutron star cooling. This exploits synergies with the rare isotope physics program at TRIUMF, Canada's national laboratory for particle and nuclear physics. The success of this proposal has a potential strong scientific impact on the international nuclear theory community. It will considerably strengthen the Canadian efforts in the theory of nuclei and contribute to the education of the next generation of Canadian nuclear physicists.