What’s on : Lectures

It’s all done with mirrors: simple patterns in physics

Lectures
Date
15 Mar 2016
Start time
7:30 PM
Venue
Tempest Anderson Hall
Speaker
Prof Mike Bentley
It’s all done with mirrors: simple patterns in physics

Event Information

A lecture by Professor Mike Bentley, University of York

Since the earliest known scientific studies, human beings have looked for patterns in behaviour of the cosmos, and tried to make sense of those patterns in terms of simple mathematical ideas. The search for simplicity and mathematical elegance in a sometimes bewilderingly complex universe has continued to be common theme throughout all of modern physics. Prof Mike Bentley, from the University of York, performs experiments at accelerator facilities around the world, studying one of the most complex physical systems known – the nucleus at the heart of the atom. This strongly-interacting system of neutrons and protons is currently impossible to model exactly, yet is the testing ground for some of the fundamental forces in nature. Prof Bentley will discuss how he searches for simple and beautiful patterns in complex nuclei, and describe the experiments that the nuclear physicists at York perform to create the exotic nuclei they study.

Member’s report

Prof Bentley began by explaining that much of the study of physics throughout history has involved searching for patterns.

His own research involves the ‘fingerprints’ of atomic nuclei. These complex diagrams illustrate the energy levels of the different states the nucleus can take. As the forces between pairs of protons are very close to those between pairs of neutrons, there is significant symmetry between the fingerprints of nuclei of certain pairs of atoms. One such pair is a common isotope of chromium, 52Cr, and an artificially obtained isotope of nickel, 52Ni. 52Cr has 24 protons and 28 neutrons, and 52Ni has 28 protons and 24 neutrons. Professor Bentley has been using very sophisticated apparatus to obtain 52Ni and measure its nuclear forces, in order to compare the symmetry of its fingerprint with that of 52Cr. Unexpected small differences suggest further areas of investigation.

Margaret Leonard