Boris Castel

Research Areas

Theoretical Investigations in Nuclear Structure (B. Castel, M. Rogers; Queen's University and L. Zamick; Rutgers University)

One of the major endeavours of nuclear structure has been to describe nuclear properties in terms of an effective nucleon-nucleon interaction. Yet fifty years after parameterizing that interaction in terms of the central, spin-orbit and tensor components, the role of the latter remains elusive. Our work consists in analyzing spin-dependent and tensor related observables to shed light on the relative contributions of the nuclear force components starting from first principles.

Recently we have concentrated our studies on nuclear polarizability as a response to spin-dependent probes. This becomes a particularly promising window on nuclear properties which is still poorly understood but becomes increasingly recognized as a major component influencing the high-energy nuclear reaction data produced at several electron and proton beam facilities currently coming on line.

References

M. S. Fayache, L. Zamick and B. Castel "The Nuclear Tensor Interaction" Physics Reports 290 (1997) 201-282.