The Nuclear Theory Group at UNC-CH focuses on nuclear structure, fundamental symmetries, nuclear astrophysics and general many-body physics.

 

Below is a brief description of the research pursued by the members of the group.

 

You can click on their names for more information.

Nuclear structure and fundamental symmetries

My research is in nuclear theory and its application to problems of fundamental importance in particle physics and astrophysics.

 

Topics in this interdisciplinary line of research include: Double beta decay (and the mass of the neutrino), CP violation in nuclei, Nucleosynthesis in stars and supernovae, Neutrino scattering and the weak interaction in nuclei.

 

I'm also interested in the foundations of nuclear structure, particularly density-functional theory in heavy nuclei.

Many-body physics and

lattice calculations

I am interested in the thermodynamics and hydrodynamics of strongly interacting non-relativistic matter, from condensed matter systems to nuclear physics.

 

My expertise is in the use of lattice Monte Carlo methods, especially at finite temperature and density, to characterize many-body quantum systems.

 

I also like to explore the connections between the physics and the methods in different areas, like QCD, quantum chemistry, nuclear and condensed-matter physics.

Nuclear astrophysics

 

The theoretical component of my research focuses on the Monte Carlo estimation of thermonuclear reaction rates and the implications for the synthesis of the elements in the universe.

 

Numerical computer modeling and visualization are key for both aspects. We have recently studied in particular the nucleosynthesis in type II supernovae, classical novae, and AGB stars.

 

Our reaction rate effort is described in more detail here. More information on my experimental efforts can be found here.

POSTDOCS

Eric R. Anderson

Nobuo Hinohara

Mika Mustonen

Eric R. Anderson

Nobuo Hinohara

Mika Mustonen

GRADUATE STUDENTS

Tom Shafer

Michael Hoffman

Tom Shafer

Michael Hoffman