Nuclear Incompressibility, the Asymmetry Term, and the MEM Effect

The Nuclear Incompressibility parameter is one of three important components characterizing the nuclear equation of state. It has crucial bearing on diverse nuclear and astrophysical phenomena, including radii of neutron stars, strength of supernova collapse, emission of neutrinos in supernova explosions, and collective flow in medium-and high-energy nuclear collisions.  In this talk I will review current status of the research on direct experimental determination of nuclear incompressibility via the compressional-mode giant resonances. In particular, recent measurements on a series of Sn and Cd isotopes have provided an "experimental" value for the asymmetry term of nuclear incompressibility. This term directly relates to properties of neutron stars. We also find that the GMR centroid energies of the in both Sn and Cd isotopes are significantly lower than the theoretical predictions, pointing to the role of superfluidity and the MEM (Mutual Enhancement of Magicity) Effect.

About the Speaker: 
Umesh Garg, a Professor of Physics at the University of Notre Dame, graduated from Birla Institute of Technology and Science in Pilani, India, and obtained a Ph.D. in experimental nuclear physics from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. After postdoctoral work at the Cyclotron Institute, Texas A & M University, he joined the Notre Dame faculty in 1982. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and has been Director of the Notre Dame Physics REU (Research experience for Undergraduates) program since 2000. He has nearly 200 scientific publications in reputed international journals and has delivered some 250 talks on his research on fundamental excitation modes of nuclei