“Speeding Nuclei: exploring the
nucleus and the natural environment”
Dr
Mahananda Dasgupta
12 noon, Wednesday
11 August 2004
Physics
Lecture Theatre 1
University
of Tasmania, Sandy Bay
Abstract:
Atomic nuclei accelerated to speeds of 100
million km/hour (10% of the speed of light) are being used to investigate
nuclear properties and interactions, including quantum tunnelling. The question
is - how do we do this, when the nuclei are completely invisible (10,000 times
smaller than atoms, which are themselves a millionth of the thickness of a human
hair!), and interact in unimaginably short times of a few zeptoseconds? And how
can we use speeding nuclei to learn about things as diverse as climate change,
electronic devices, archeology and the global environment? I will discuss some
of these questions and describe the latest research on fusion and fission being
done by the Reaction Dynamics Group at the Australian National University.
The Speaker
Nanda completed her PhD at the prestigious Tata Institute of Fundamental
Research in Bombay in 1992. She then joined the Department of Nuclear Physics
within the Research School of Physical Sciences and Engineering at the
Australian National University initially as a Post-doctoral Fellow, and then as
a Research Fellow. From 1998 – 2003 she held a Queen Elizabeth II Fellowship
offered by the Australian Research Council. She now has a continuing position at
the ANU.
Nanda’s research interests are in the fundamental nuclear process of fusion of heavy nuclei, which involves quantum tunnelling of complex, composite objects. She is one of the leading experimentalist worldwide in this field, whose work has led to a much clearer picture of the physics of fusion of heavy nuclei. Nanda has over 60 publications in major journals including Nature, Physical Review Letters, Physics Letters and Annual Review of Nuclear and Particle Science. She has recently designed and developed innovative, highly efficient experimental equipment for precision fusion measurements. Her current work on break-up of colliding nuclei has broad implications for the emerging field of physics with accelerated radioactive beams.
In the broader context Nanda has made an important contribution to the discipline, being an active participant in programs designed to raise the profile of Physics amongst the high school students and in the general community.