Welcome

Welcome to the web pages of the UNH Nuclear and Particle Physics Group, which is part of the Physics Department. The group is located in our new building, the rebuilt DeMeritt Hall. The Nuclear Physics Group’s (NPG) research is aimed at two primary areas of study:

1. Searches for physics beyond the Standard Model;
2. Understanding the structure of the nucleon and light nuclei, and how this can be described in terms of the strong interaction and spin degrees of freedom.

These mission goals map to two of the top science questions for the 21st century: “What is Dark Matter?”  and “What is the missing spin of the nucleon?” 

We lead several multi-national collaborations at Jefferson Lab, and are preparing for several additional experiments at this facility. Jefferson Lab is presently completing a $314M upgrade, which was highlighted as the top priority of the last NSAC (National Science Advisory Committee) report. There are four full time faculty (Maurik Holtrop, Elena Long, Nathaly Karl Slifer). Two postdoctoral research scientists and six graduate students  work in the NPG on Jefferson Lab projects. Over the past decade we have mentored nine PhDs, and more than twenty undergraduates. These students make significant contributions to our efforts both at UNH and at Jefferson Lab, where they work side by side with some of the top scientists in the field. Our main experimental efforts are:

• The Heavy Photon Search (spokesperson: Holtrop) searches for a new gauge boson –the heavy photon– as a potential particle in a hidden sector that could also contain the Dark Matter.
• The g2p experiment (spokesperson: Slifer) investigates the spin structure of the proton and how this affects the energy levels of hydrogen like systems.
• The Isospin SRC experiment (spokesperson: Solvignon, Slifer) used a tritium target to probe how short-range correlations between nucleons affect the structure of nuclei.
• The Tensor Spin Observables program at Jefferson Lab uses a novel tensor polarized solid target to measure observables that are impossible to measure without tensor polarization. The b1 experiment (spokespersons: Slifer, Long, Santiesteban) recently recieved full approval from Jefferson Lab PAC51, as did the Azz experiment (spokespersons: Long, Santiesteban, Slifer) to measure the tensor asymmetry in the x>1 region.

The NPG has a major research initiatives in DeMeritt Hall. The group is establishing a cryogenically cooled solid polarized target lab in DeMeritt Hall 103 in support of the Tensor Spin Observables program. We recently installed our new 7 Tesla superconducting solenoid which provides the target holding field. This project is a collaboration with the University of Virginia and Jefferson Lab polarized target groups.