When nuclei collide, protons and neutrons zip back and forth between them, even if they stay a significant distance apart and don’t touch. Physicists measured nuclei bouncing off one another, without sufficient energy to overcome the electrostatic...

This episode of Megavolts finds the accelerator warming up after maintenance. Dr Ed Simpson takes us through how exactly you turn on a 15 megavolt machine and get ready for new experiments without causing any megasparks. For more info on the accelerator...

An innovative interactive chart of nuclear data is attracting thousands of users from around the globe to the Research School of Physics’ website. The chart, which displays information about all known isotopes, is a modernised version of a standard...

For National Science Week 2022 large science collaborations around Australia are making one-minute-long videos showing off their facilities. Here’s ours, for the 15 megavolt “souped-up” Van der Graaf generator that we proudly house at ANU for the Heavy...

In Episode 2 of Megavolts series of videos from the Accelerator Control Room we speak with PhD student Lauren Bezzina about her research into fusion. In Lauren’s experiments, she bombards targets made of heavy elements, like lead and tungsten, and turns...

New measurements of the incredibly fast movement of protons and neutrons whizzing back and forth in nuclear reactions have revealed surprisingly irregular behaviour.  The findings, published in Physical Review Letters, may change the way physicists...

This recent School Seminar provides a perfect summary of the research that’s currently happening at the Heavy Ion Accelerator Facility (HIAF) – that big white tower by Lake Burley Griffin. Director of HIAF Professor Mahananda Dasgupta’s...

As work on a new beamline for the Heavy Ion Accelerator Facility (HIAF) blasts off, the project’s lead scientist Dr Ian Carter says its space testing capabilities will be a vital springboard for the growth of Australia’s space industry. “It...

New theoretical results about how nuclei break apart could help us to understand how elements on earth were created - for example when neutron stars collide - and could boost efforts to add new elements to the periodic table. Professor Cedric Simenel...

Australia’s spacecraft and satellites will better survive damaging radiation and extreme conditions thanks to a $2.5 million grant, for space science to be led by the Australian National University (ANU).  The grant creates a national network...

Scientists have for the first time calculated the speed of the most complex nuclear reactions and found they’re really fast: mere zeptoseconds. Being this fast – a zeptosecond is a billionth of a trillionth of a second (10-21 seconds) –...

A passion for helping fellow students has earned RSPE's Lauren Bezzina a college-wide award, the Janet Elspeth Crawford award for postgraduate leadership. Lauren, a PhD student in Nuclear Physics at the Research School of Physics, has been recognised...

The Australian National University (ANU) has launched an online virtual tour of its Heavy Ion Accelerator Facility, which is searching for traces of exploded stars, known as supernovae, in the ocean. ANU physicist Dr Ed Simpson said the tour included...

The Heavy Ion Accelerator Facility Endowment Fund, created to give new opportunities to accelerator staff and students, will be launched by the VC Professor Ian Young on Wednesday 7 May at the Department of Nuclear Physics, Research School of Physics...