Difference between revisions of "PREX Wiki:Community Portal"
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(PREX has many physics implications. It will allow an important test of our understanding of neutron matter.) |
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Discussion on PREX and related topics may be submitted here. | Discussion on PREX and related topics may be submitted here. | ||
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| + | Dear PREX collaborators, I am really excited about the PREX experiment and the coming result for the neutron radius. I want to thank you all for the incredible amount of work that you are doing! PREX is unique in the incredibly diverse array of physics that it impacts: atomic parity, nuclear structure, astrophysics... Let me say that your work is really appreciated by myself and many other theorists. If appropriate, I wanted to post here some very short descriptions of recent activity related to PREX. These posts will be neither complete or systematic. However, they may give some feel for the breadth of PREX and I want to encourage questions and comments. Thanks, | ||
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| + | Chuck Horowitz, Indiana University Feb. 9, 2010 | ||
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| + | PREX and microscopic calculations of neutron matter | ||
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| + | Perhaps the best theoretical predictions for the neutron radius of 208Pb are based on the following (1) Calculate the pressure of uniform neutron matter (how the energy rises with density) and (2) Use the observed correlation between the pressure of neutron matter and the neutron radius of 208Pb to make a prediction for PREX. Achim Schwenk and others are carrying out improved calculations of neutron matter based on Chiral Effective Field Theory. Therefore PREX will test our understanding of neutron matter, Chiral Effective Field Theory, and the possible role of three neutron forces. | ||
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| + | This test of neutron matter is very important. For example, even to this day, our understanding of symmetric nuclear matter (equal numbers of neutrons and protons) is incomplete. Most calculations with only two nucleon forces predict a saturation density (density where the energy is minimum) that is too high by a factor of two. Typically, some properties of the three nucleon force are simply fit to reproduce (not predict!) the saturation density of nuclear matter. | ||
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| + | Chuck Horowitz 2/9 | ||
Latest revision as of 12:33, 9 February 2010
Discussion on PREX and related topics may be submitted here.
Dear PREX collaborators, I am really excited about the PREX experiment and the coming result for the neutron radius. I want to thank you all for the incredible amount of work that you are doing! PREX is unique in the incredibly diverse array of physics that it impacts: atomic parity, nuclear structure, astrophysics... Let me say that your work is really appreciated by myself and many other theorists. If appropriate, I wanted to post here some very short descriptions of recent activity related to PREX. These posts will be neither complete or systematic. However, they may give some feel for the breadth of PREX and I want to encourage questions and comments. Thanks,
Chuck Horowitz, Indiana University Feb. 9, 2010
PREX and microscopic calculations of neutron matter
Perhaps the best theoretical predictions for the neutron radius of 208Pb are based on the following (1) Calculate the pressure of uniform neutron matter (how the energy rises with density) and (2) Use the observed correlation between the pressure of neutron matter and the neutron radius of 208Pb to make a prediction for PREX. Achim Schwenk and others are carrying out improved calculations of neutron matter based on Chiral Effective Field Theory. Therefore PREX will test our understanding of neutron matter, Chiral Effective Field Theory, and the possible role of three neutron forces.
This test of neutron matter is very important. For example, even to this day, our understanding of symmetric nuclear matter (equal numbers of neutrons and protons) is incomplete. Most calculations with only two nucleon forces predict a saturation density (density where the energy is minimum) that is too high by a factor of two. Typically, some properties of the three nucleon force are simply fit to reproduce (not predict!) the saturation density of nuclear matter.
Chuck Horowitz 2/9
