Fall is kicking off with major developments. The Nuclear Science community is rolling out its new Long Range Plan for Nuclear Science with ambitious scientific and technical goals and clear priorities for the years ahead. Berkeley Lab’s Nuclear Science Division is well aligned with the community’s priorities and will continue to make leading contributions in support of the Long Range Plan and its recommendations.
Additional exciting news comes from CERN, where heavy ion running for LHC Run 3 has commenced and the ALICE experiment is taking data. All detector systems, including the inner tracker system to which LBNL made major contributions, are working as designed and we are looking forward to further revelations on the properties of the quark gluon plasma ahead.
This issue of the NSD newsletter features other exciting examples of NSD science aiming to unravel the nature of the strong force and how technologies pioneered by Berkeley Lab are applied to enable multimessenger astrophysics. In particular, this issue reports on how recent measurements at Jefferson lab are challenging our understanding on how the nuclear interaction between protons and neutrons (nucleons) is modified inside light nuclei. The data seems to indicate that the so-called EMC effect, which measures the modification of the strong interaction inside the nucleus, scales with the overlap between neighboring nucleons. In this issue we also learn about how the LBNL Semiconductor Detector Lab (SDL) is deploying double-sided high-purity germanium (HPGe) strip detectors, a technology pioneered at the SDL, for the next iteration of the NASA Compton Spectrometer and Imager (COSI) mission.
These are just a few examples of the broad spectrum of exciting science and advanced technological developments led by NSD. Some other highlights are featured in the Fragments.
The newsletter also provides a summary of how the Nuclear Science Division continues its strong engagement in outreach and in advancing the IDEA culture within the Division and the broader community. In addition, last month Berkeley Lab’s team, including a sizable contingent from the Nuclear Science Division, was awarded “Absolutely Fabulous Overall Contingent” in the San Francisco Pride Parade. Most recently, the Lab welcomed 200 scouts for the 11th annual Nuclear Science Day for Scouts. It was fantastic to see everyone’s curiosity and fascination with the various facets of nuclear science [photo]. I would like to express my deep appreciation to the many volunteers making this event happen. The badge for this year features the Electron Ion Collider [see photo]. See this Elements article leading up to the event.
Sincerely,
