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[PAST EVENT] Physics Colloquium - Dr. Holly Szumila-Vance
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Dr. Holly Szumila-Vance, Florida International University
Title: Nucleons in nuclei as the roadmap across scales.
Abstract: Physicists seek to answer the fundamental question: How is the nucleus of an atom held together to build the matter we see?
In the lower energy picture, we describe the nucleus in terms of its protons and neutrons and their exchange of mesons. In the higher energy picture, composite protons and neutrons (composed of quarks and gluons) interact through quantum chromodynamics (QCD). This residual interaction is the strong nuclear force. Through QCD we can describe the proton as a superposition of quark-gluon states that can include states of different sizes. This description naturally implies that bound protons can be different from free protons and allows for color transparency phenomena (whereby the constituent quarks are in a smaller-sized configuration). Using the high intensity electron beam at Jefferson Lab, we study the connection between these descriptions in order to understand how the strong force binds the nucleus together.
In this talk, I will present insights from recent electron scattering results as well as future experiments that directly search for evidence of color transparency and that explore the interactions and modifications that occur for bound nucleons in nuclei as complementary approaches to understanding the strong force across scales.
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Sponsored by: Physics