Physics PhD student sets the kink straight

Wednesday 23 January 2013

Nuclei appear in nature with a multitude of shapes, from spheres to rugby balls. The charge radius is an experimental measure of the shape of the protons inside a nucleus. In lead isotopes, a noticeable kink in the experimental data of charge radii had been noticeably difficult to reproduce theoretically for decades.  The nuclear physics group at the University of Surrey have recently made a breakthrough in understanding how this radius changes when more neutrons are added to lead isotopes.

In the new paper, published in the top-5 journal Physical Review Letters, a Surrey PhD student, Phil Goddard, and his two supervisors, have explained this long-standing anomaly. Using quantum mechanics and numerical simulations, the trio have managed to find a cause for the kink in this experimental observable. See publication here.

This a remarkable feat for a first-year PhD student. Phil Goddard was a University of Surrey undergraduate, taking the unique MPhys programme with a Research Year abroad. Phil spent his undergraduate research year at Yale University in the United States, performing experiments in nuclear physics.