What the nucleus can tell us: From Parkinson disease to physics beyond the Standard Model

by Dr Magdalena Kowalska (CERN)

Tuesday 29 Apr 2014, 17:00 → 18:00 Europe/Berlin

Auditorium (MPI fuer Physik)

This talk is devoted to the physics and techniques of the ISOLDE facility [1], which is the CERN laboratory for research with radioactive nuclei and that celebrates its 50th anniversary. From the known 3000 atomic nuclei, more than 1000 isotopes of over 70 chemical elements have been produced at ISOLDE in reactions induced by 1-GeV protons in thick targets made of materials such as uranium or tantalum. Some of the nuclei have been even discovered here. The ISOLDE experiments are as versatile as the available beams. They address questions ranging from nuclear and atomic physics, passing via and astrophysics and fundamental studies, up to applications in material science, biology and medicine. Recent results in nuclear physics include the precise determination of masses of calcium-53 and 54 which served as a testing ground for ab-initio nuclear models and which revealed a new neutron shell closure at N=32 [2]. Fundamental studies were addressed with Coulomb excitation, which gave direct evidence of a very rare pear-shape in radium-224 and which identified good candidates for large atomic electric dipole moments [3]. In atomic physics, astatine – the rarest element on earth – has seen its ionization potential determined, providing the last missing value for naturally-occurring elements [4]. In biology, a new ultra-sensitive NMR technique has been employed for the first time to liquid samples, opening the way for new studies of metal-ion interaction with proteins and nucleic acids [5]. Finally, several terbium isotopes have been successfully used to diagnose and cure tumour in mice, adding to the toolbox of radioactive isotopes used in medicine [6]. In summary, ISOLDE shows what the nucleus can tell us: from Parkinson disease to physics beyond the Standard model. 1. www.cern.ch/isolde 2. F. Wienholtz et al, Nature 498 (2013), 346 3. L.P. Gaffney et al, Nature 497 (2013) 199 4. S. Rothe et al., Nature Communications 4, 1835 (2013) 5. http://cds.cern.ch/journal/CERNBulletin/2012/37/News%20Articles/1475670 6. C. Müller et al., Journal of Nuclear Medicine 53, 1951 (2012)