Correlation between neutron pairs observed in helium-8 nuclei
2023-08-02
(Press-News.org)
Atomic nuclei consist of nucleons such as protons and neutrons, which are bound together by nuclear force or strong interaction. This force allows protons and neutrons to form bound states; however, when only two neutrons are involved, the attractive force is slightly insufficient to create such a state. This prompts the question: would four neutrons be adequate? This question has captivated atom physicists, who have actively sought to unlock this mystery in both the theoretical and experimental realms.
With weakly bound nuclei, in which there is no strong attraction from the center, considering two neutrons as a single unit is essential for understanding four-neutron correlations. Therefore, a research team led by Associate Professor Wataru Horiuchi and Professor Naoyuki Itagaki, from the Osaka Metropolitan University Graduate School of Science, focused on the possibility of enhanced correlations between the two neutron pairs that comprise the four extra neutrons in the helium isotope 8He. (8He contains two protons and a total of six neutrons.) The team performed extensive quantum mechanics equation calculations and successfully demonstrated the existence of dineutron-dineutron clusters distributed around the 4He core before showing the arrangement these clusters take.
Professor Horiuchi stated, “Nuclei with an imbalance of protons and neutrons, such as in 8He, do not naturally exist on Earth but are believed to be generated abundantly in cosmic environments, such as in stars, through the process of nucleosynthesis. Our results provide new insights into the still largely unknown binding forms of neutrons and deepen our understanding of the origins of the elements around us.”
Their findings were published in Physical Review C (Letter).
###
About OMU
Osaka Metropolitan University is the third largest public university in Japan, formed by a merger between Osaka City University and Osaka Prefecture University in 2022. OMU upholds "Convergence of Knowledge" through 11 undergraduate schools, a college, and 15 graduate schools. For more research news, visit https://www.omu.ac.jp/en/ or follow us on Twitter: @OsakaMetUniv_en, or Facebook.
END
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
2023-08-02
Research Background
The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has identified the human element as one of the key attributes for the safety of life at sea and a contributing factor to most of the casualties in the shipping sector. The International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) is an international maritime treaty which requires signatory flag states to ensure that ships flagged by them comply with minimum safety standards in construction, equipment and operation. As part of the SOLAS code, there is the requirement that all personnel on vessels at sea must undertake Standards of Training, ...
2023-08-02
Can the humble feijoa help the world tackle type 2 diabetes? University of Auckland scientists are investigating.
With more than 200,000 people in New Zealand living with type 2 diabetes, prevention is key to tackling this important health issue. Could a solution be found growing in New Zealand backyards?
The feijoa study, named FERDINAND, is a six-month weight-loss and maintenance programme, during which adults with raised blood sugar will be given about a gram of whole-fruit feijoa powder (or a placebo) each ...
2023-08-02
New research has found irregular sleep patterns are associated with harmful bacteria in your gut.
The study, published today in The European Journal of Nutrition, by researchers from King’s College London and ZOE, the personalised nutrition company, is the first to find multiple associations between social jet lag – the shift in your internal body clock when your sleeping patterns change between workdays and free days - and diet quality, diet habits, inflammation and gut microbiome composition in a single cohort.
Previous research has shown that working shifts disrupts the body clock and can increase risk ...
2023-08-02
Molecules that act as connected wheels can hold long molecular chains together to modify the properties of soft polymers.
Rotaxanes are interlocked molecular structures with a linear ‘axle’ molecule penetrating one or more cyclic ‘wheel’ molecules. Bulky groups at the end of the axle prevent the wheels from coming off. Now, researchers at Hokkaido University have taken the previous achievements of this technology a step further, making macro-rotaxanes that have multicyclic wheels interlocked with several high-molecular-weight axles. They report their innovation in the journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition.
Rotaxanes, initially regarded as ...
2023-08-02
Mammography screening supported by artificial intelligence (AI) is a safe alternative to today’s conventional double reading by radiologists and can reduce heavy workloads for doctors. This has now been shown in an interim analysis of a prospective, randomised controlled trial, which addressed the clinical safety of using AI in mammography screening. The trial, led by researchers from Lund University in Sweden, has been published in The Lancet Oncology.
Each year around one million women in Sweden are called to mammography screening. Each screening examination is reviewed by two breast radiologists to ensure a high sensitivity, so called double reading. ...
2023-08-02
Decades of research have left knowledge gaps about cells that regulate the immune system: Purdue and NIH
Four decades of research have produced a vast pool of knowledge about regulatory T cells, a subset of our immune cells. Even so, scientists at Purdue University and the National Institutes of Health have identified 14 understudied T-reg proteins that merit increased attention for the molecular roles they play in disease onset.
“Our lab studies the exact molecular mechanism underlying autoimmunity, infection and cancer,” said Majid Kazemian, associate professor of biochemistry in the College of Agriculture ...
2023-08-02
About The Editorial: In this editorial, JAMA and JAMA Network journals join journals worldwide to call on health professionals to warn the public about the major danger to health and essential life support systems posed by the threat of nuclear war and urge action to prevent use of nuclear weapons.
Authors: Chris Zielinski, of the University of Winchester, U.K., and World Association of Medical Editors, is the corresponding author.
To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this ...
2023-08-02
ATLANTA, August 1, 2023 – A new study from researchers at the American Cancer Society (ACS) found monthly adult cancer diagnoses decreased by half in April 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. The largest decrease was for stage I cancers, resulting in a higher proportion of late-stage diagnoses. The study is the most comprehensive research to date about the effects of the first year of the pandemic on cancer diagnoses and stage in the nation. The paper was published today in the ...
2023-08-02
Findings from the first-ever prospective trial including a randomized pathway comparing surgery to non-surgical treatment of malignant bowel obstruction (MBO) provide important evidence to help inform clinical decision-making in managing this frequent complication in patients with advanced cancer.
Results include data on clinical outcomes and patient quality of life and are being reported in The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology.
The S1316 study, a hybrid design trial that included a randomized component, was led by the SWOG Cancer Research Network, a clinical trials group funded by the National Cancer Institute ...
2023-08-02
Peer-reviewed / Randomised trial / People
Planned interim safety analysis of the first randomised trial investigating the use of AI in a national breast cancer screening programme underscores the potential of AI to make mammography screening more accurate and efficient.
Interim findings from a cohort of over 80,000 women in Sweden reveal AI-supported screening detected 20% more cancers compared with the routine double reading of mammograms by two breast radiologists.
The use of AI did not increase false positives (when a mammogram ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
[Press-News.org] Correlation between neutron pairs observed in helium-8 nuclei
