nuclear physics (redirected from nuclear physicist)

nuclear physics, study of the components, structure, and behavior of the nucleus of the atom. It is especially concerned with the nature of matter and with nuclear energy.

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nuclear physics

Branch of physics dealing with the structure of the atomic nucleus and radiation from unstable nuclei. A principal research tool of nuclear physics is a high-energy beam of particles, such as protons or electrons, directed as projectiles against nuclear targets. By analyzing the directions and energies of the recoiling particles and any resulting nuclear fragments, nuclear physicists can obtain details of nuclear structure, the strong force that binds nuclear components together, and the release of energy from the nucleus.

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nuclear physics

the branch of physics concerned with the structure and behaviour of the nucleus and the particles of which it consists
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nuclear physics [′nü·klē·ər ′fiz·iks]

(physics)

The study of the characteristics, behavior, and internal structures of the atomic nucleus.

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Nuclear physics

The discipline involving the structure of atomic nuclei and their interactions with each other, with their constituent particles, and with the whole spectrum of elementary particles that is provided by very large accelerators. The nuclear domain occupies a central position between the atomic range of forces and sizes and those of elementary-particle physics, characteristically within the nucleons themselves. As the only system in which all the known natural forces can be studied simultaneously, it provides a natural laboratory for the testing and extending of many fundamental symmetries and laws of nature. Containing a reasonably large, yet manageable number of strongly interacting components, the nucleus also occupies a central position in the universal many-body problem of physics. See Atomic nucleus, Atomic structure and spectra, Elementary particle, Symmetry laws (physics)

Nuclear physics is unique in the extent to which it merges the most fundamental and the most applied topics. Its instrumentation has found broad applicability throughout science, technology, and medicine; nuclear engineering and nuclear medicine are two very important areas of applied specialization.

Nuclear chemistry, certain aspects of condensed matter and materials science, and nuclear physics together constitute the broad field of nuclear science; outside the United States and Canada elementary particle physics is frequently included in this more general classification. See Analog states, Fundamental interactions, Isotope, Nuclear fission, Nuclear fusion, Nuclear isomerism, Nuclear moments, Nuclear reaction, Nuclear spectra, Nuclear structure, Particle accelerator, Particle detector, Radioactivity, Scattering experiments (nuclei), Weak nuclear interactions