Speaker
Description
Our understanding of the structure of the atomic nucleus, previously based on the information collected on stable nuclei, has been severely challenged in the last thirty years, since systematic research on nuclei far from stability was started. The unusual neutron-to-proton ratio of those systems revealed special features of the underlying nucleon-nucleon interaction, reflected in rearrangements of nuclear shells.
In the last few years the improvements in the range and quality of available radioactive ion beams (RIBs), together with the development of refined detection methods, have allowed the detailed experimental investigation of a number of key nuclei. The nuclear physics groups at the KU Leuven employ a number of complementary techniques to access information on ground- and excited-state properties of short living nuclei produced at RIB facilities.
In this talk a selection of recent results and the perspectives in the short-term future will be presented.
