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Publisher: MPI fr Kernphysik, Public Relations, 2009 Editors: Dr. Gertrud Hnes, PD Dr. Bernold Feuerstein
Overview
The Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics (MPIK) is one of 80 institutes and research establishments of the Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science. The MPG was founded in 1948 as successor to the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesell schaft (established 1911) and is committed to basic research. The MPIK was founded in 1958 under the leadership of Wolfgang Gentner. Its precursor was the institute for physics, a part of the MPI for Medical research led by Walther Bothe from 1934 to 1957. The initial scientific goals were basic research in nuclear physics and application of nuclear-physics methods concerning questions in the physics and chemistry of the cosmos. Since 1966 the MPIK has been led by a board of directors. Today, the activities concentrate on the two interdisciplinary research fields astroparticle physics (crossroads of particle physics and astrophysics) and quantum dynamics (many-body dynamics of atoms and molecules). Presently, the institute consists of five divisions with the directors: Prof. Dr. Klaus Blaum (stored and cooled ions), Prof. Dr. Werner Hofmann (particle physics and high-energy astrophysics), Prof. Dr. Christoph H. Keitel (theoretical quantum dynamics and quantum electrodynamics), Prof. Dr. Manfred Lindner (particle and astroparticle physics), Prof. Dr. Joachim H. Ullrich (experimental few-particle quantum dynamics).
Additionally, there are several further research groups and, predominantly funded by third parties, junior research groups. Scientifically, the junior research groups are mostly affiliated to one of the divisions and thus broaden its research focus. Scientists at the MPIK collaborate with other research groups in Europe, Israel, USA, Canada, Japan, and numerous other countries from all over the world. They are involved in a large number of international collaborations, partly in a leading role. Max Planck partner groups at the Fudan University Shanghai and the Tata Institute for Fundamental Science emphasize the connections to scientists in China and India. Particularly close connections to some large-scale facilities like GSI with EMMI (Darmstadt), DESY with CFEL (Hamburg), CERN (Geneva) and INFN-LNGS (Assergi LAquila) exist. In the local region, the institute cooperates closely with the University of Heidelberg, where the directors and further members of the institute hold teaching positions. To foster young scientists, two International Max Planck Research Schools (IMPRS) have been established together with other institutes: Quantum Dynamics in Physics, Chemistry and Biology and Astronomy and Cosmic Physics. All MPIK directors are involved in the graduate school Fundamental Physics of the University of Heidelberg. The support departments at the MPIK contribute considerably to the successful Organizational Structure scientific work: precision machine and electronics Scientific Advisory Board Board of Directors Board of Trustees shops, engineering design and media offices, network Managing Director and central computing, raRepresentative of the Board of Directors diation protection, safety Safety & Environment and environment, library, Scientific Divisions Administration public relations, as well as Independent and Junior Groups Service Groups administration and facility management. Apprentices training shops are affiliated to the precision machine and electronics shops, where every year three or four new apprentices can be trained as Feinwerkmechaniker Fachrichtung Feinmechanik or Elektroniker fr Gerte und Systeme. As at the beginning of 2009, the MPIK staff totals 392, including 88 scientists and 122 PhD students; additionally 43 diploma students and 86 scientific guests from all over the world, most of them from Russia, are working at the institute. 3
Christoph H. Keitel, Klaus Blaum, Werner Hofmann, Manfred Lindner, Joachim H. Ullrich.
astroparticle physics, and experiments at accelerators are combined and used to search for direct and indirect hints on a new physics beyond the standard model of particle physics. The overall aim is a more deep understanding of the fundamental laws of nature.
Astroparticle Physics
Astroparticle Physics
An exemplary topic of theoretical particle and astroparticle physics is the asymmetry of matter and antimatter in the universe (the Universe consists of matter and not of antimatter). This in fact cannot be explained by the standard model of particle physics. Several mechanisms are being discussed for it, e.g., leptogenesis. The as yet mostly unknown nature of dark matter and dark energy (of which about 95% of the universe is composed) and their cosmological implications (e.g. directly after the big bang) is a further subject. Overall, results from neutrino physics, 4
Side view of the ca. 20 m long and 10 m high LHCb detector at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) of CERN in Geneva. The interaction zone within the storage ring is located at the right-hand side of the hall. The rate of proton-proton collisions is up to 40 MHz forming up to 70 charged particles and a similar number of high-energy gamma quanta per interaction which are registered by the detector. Charged particles are detected by a magnetic spectrometer and gamma quanta by calorimeters. Further detector components (Cherenkov detectors and the muon system) help to identify the particles. An elaborate trigger system extracts the rare events out of the bulk of interactions, which contain information about the physical questions investigated with the LHCb experiment. The MPIK group has contributed read-out chips for the ca. 450000 channels of all the silicon-strip counters, the read-out electronics for 270000 channels, as well as a part of the sensors.
est (interfering) signals, as well as on the photomultipliers for registration of the scintillation light through which neutrinos are detected. As neutrinos penetrate matter almost freely and interact with it very rarely, large and sensitive detectors are required in order to detect them. The Borexino experiment in the Gran Sasso underground laboratory in Italy for the measurement of low-energy neutrinos started taking data in May 2007 after a long period of construction work. After only two months of measurements, the Borexino collaboration for the first time succeeded to unambiguously identify in real time neutrinos which are released in the electron capture of 7Be in the core of the Sun and thereby to verify independently neutrino oscillations.
The structure of Borexino resembling onion-peels. The inner nylon balloon with a diameter of 8.5 m contains 300 tons of a highly pure organic liquid, in which penetrating neutrinos are scattered at electrons. Thereby electrons are excited which relay their energy to an organic dye (scintillator) which in turn emits the energy as flashlight that is detected by 2200 photomultiplier tubes mounted at the steel sphere with a diameter of 14 m. The volume between the inner nylon balloon and the steel sphere, split to two compartments by the outer nylon balloon, is filled with 1000 m3 shielding organic liquid. The outer shielding consists of 2400 m3 purest water in the steel tank with a diameter of 18 m.
Astroparticle Physics
Astroparticle Physics
From 2009, the neutrino-oscillation experiment Double Chooz, currently under construction, will use antineutrinos from a nuclear power plant in France to investigate in detail the periodic changeover between the three neutrino types electron, muon, and tauon neutrino (neutrino oscillations). In the Gran Sasso underground laboratory, the GERDA experiment for the search of the neutrinoless double beta decay in germanium crystals is under construction. If neutrinoless double beta decay is found, it would mean that neutrinos are so-called Majorana particles, i.e., they are their own antiparticles. The neutrino observatory IceCube is already operational while under construction at the South Pole using 1 km3 ice at depths between 1450 and 2450 m in its final state, into which strings of photomultiplier tubes are inserted to detect neutrinos from high-energy cosmic sources. 6
Two of the four identical telescopes of each 107 m2 mirror area of the High-Energy Stereoscopic System H.E.S.S. in the Khomas region of Namibia, operating since 2004. The location on the southern hemisphere provides optimum optical observation conditions and enables a direct view into the centre of our galaxy, where many interesting objects are found. The four telescopes form the corners of a square of side 120 m. In the centre of the array, a fifth, much larger telescope with 600 m2 mirror area is under construction, for completion in 2010. This will strongly enhance the sensitivity of the system and extend the observable energy range to lower energies.
Observations of the interstellar and intergalactic dust in the far infrared light by satellite instruments aboard ISO (Infrared Space Observatory, ESA) and its successor Spitzer Space Observatory (NASA) are being evaluated using theoretical models, e.g. of the dust distribution in galaxies. This is done with respect to the formation and development of gas-rich galaxies and the star formation rates in dependence on the dust distribution.
Cosmic Dust
With instruments on board spacecraft, in-situ measurements of the interplanetary and interstellar dust present in the Solar system are performed. The dust detectors, which were developed at the MPIK, are tested and calibrated with the dust accelerator. The sensors determine the velocity, size, and chemical composition of micrometeoroids impacting at velocities between 5000 and 1 million km/h. The sensitivity of the detectors is higher by a factor of 1000 compared to optical instruments due to the analysis of single dust grains. The most important current mission is Cassini/Huygens (NASA/ESA) in the Saturnian system where spectacular discoveries succeeded. For example, there is the detection of ice volcanism on the moon Enceladus, which ejects ice particles with enclosed silicates, organic compounds or salts and thus feeds the big outer dust ring of Saturn. A dust detector aboard the spacecraft Ulysses orbiting around the Sun on an ellipse almost perpendicular to the planetary plane investigated until mid 2008 the interstellar dust entering the Solar system.
The dust detector on board of the Cassini spacecraft at Saturn. The gold-plated impact detector with a diameter of 40 cm and an aperture of 45 registers high-velocity impacts of micrometeoroids with velocities between 1 and 300 km/s and sizes of about 0.001 mm. An integrated time-offlight mass spectrometer determines the elementary composition of individual dust grains. A foil sensor determining high rates is visible for its two circular detector foils. A turntable allows aligning the instrument axis along the direction of the dust stream.
Astroparticle Physics
Astroparticle Physics
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The research at the MPIK addresses the acceleration and radiative processes in extreme astrophysical environments, the propagation of the nonthermal radiation in space, and its interaction with matter and magnetic or radiation fields. Another topic is the effect of the considerable energy densities of cosmic radiation on the evolution of structures in the universe, in particular shock waves.
ences also make it possible in optical lithography to produce structures that are much smaller than the laser wavelength. In larger ensembles of nearby atoms in strong laser fields, collective effects become important, when, e.g., during the recollision with a C60 fullerene its whole electron shell is excited entirely to perform vibrations. Collective effects may lead to the intensity of fluorescence light becoming proportional to the square of the number (instead of the number itself) of atoms, or that metal clusters absorb infrared laser light very efficiently.
Quantum Dynamics
Quantum Dynamics
y a.u.
The optical properties of an ensemble of atoms can be strongly altered by exposing them to moderately intense laser fields which provoke quantum interference effects by resonant couplings. Among them there are electromagnetically induced transparency, lasing without inversion, or control of the refractive index. Interfer10
In addition, initial theoretical studies show that a direct interaction of X-rays with pre-accelerated atomic nuclei may be induced by super-intense X-ray laser radiation like that of the future XFEL at DESY, and so the completely new field of nu11
clear quantum optics may be opened in the future. Moreover, the energy stored in a so-called metastable (i.e., energy-rich, but long-lived) atomic nucleus of a highly charged ion can be released like from an extremely energy-rich battery. Last but not least, it is possible to think of particle physics requiring relatively little space by means of high-intensity laser pulses.
low producing tailored laser pulses showing a desired temporal course. Higher harmonics of the laser frequency with photon energies up to 70 eV are produced using this technique and characterized in order to generate even shorter pulses with a duration in the region of attoseconds (1 as = 10 18 s). In such an order of magnitude, even the motion of electrons in atoms and molecules can be studied in a time-resolved manner. The investigation of these processes forms the basis for new techniques that may come to be applied in the future: For example, novel time and frequency standards or manipulating chemical reactions specifically with laser pulses seem possible.
Quantum Dynamics
Quantum Dynamics
In the laser laboratory, pulses of a few femtoseconds duration and intensities up to 1016 W/cm are readily available. Extremely fast processes can thus be started in pump-probe experiments and traced in time this is how the vibration of a hydrogen molecule, one of the tiniest and fastest pendulums at all, was filmed for the first time. Additionally, phase-control techniques are employed that al12
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For cooling molecular ions down to temperatures of a few Kelvin, at which all molecular vibrations are frozen and only the lowest rotational levels are excited, innovative techniques using low-temperature technology and cold electron beams are being developed. Furthermore, by laser cooling in specially designed atom traps also ultracold superfluid phases, so-called quantum gases (Fermi gases or Bose-Einstein condensates), millimetre-sized atomic clouds representing one macroscopic quantum state, can be produced and investigated. Laser-cooled negative ions will be used to pre-cool antiprotons in order to produce and to study antihydrogen at low temperatures.
and excitation energy are measured with extreme precision. The results also serve to review fundamental theories like quantum electrodynamics. Laser spectroscopy of Li+ ions circulating in the test storage ring TSR with ~5% of the speed of light made it possible to perform a precise test of the theory of special relativity. Using single ions of light elements with only one electron (called hydrogen-like ions) trapped and cooled in a Penning trap, it is possible to determine the magnetic moment of the bound electron very accurately. This allows to precisely check the predictions of quantum electrodynamics for bound states, but vice versa, also a precise determination of the electron mass is possible.
Quantum Dynamics
Quantum Dynamics
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short-lived isotopes with a relative accuracy of up to 10 8 are possible by determining the cyclotron frequency of single ions stored in Penning traps. In 2008, a new radon isotope, 229Rn, has been discovered and its mass and lifetime determined at the ISOLTRAP facility of CERN. Also in storage rings mass spectrometry is possible. The precise determination of nuclear masses before and after a radioactive decay provides important information about the nature of the electroweak interaction, and thus enables also a test of the standard model of particle physics.
Quantum Dynamics
In addition, scientists of the institute are participating in the new FLAIR and NUSTAR facilities of GSIs future facility FAIR in Darmstadt, where antimatter and exotic nuclei in quantities not yet reachable shall be produced, stored and investigated in detail. 16