Scientists have developed a new method that can help them probe inside atom\u2019s nucleus. Developed by researchers at MIT, the method uses the atom\u2019s own electrons as \u201cmessengers\u201d within a molecule to help probe inside the nucleus.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur results lay the groundwork for subsequent studies aiming to measure violations of fundamental symmetries at the nuclear level,\u201d said study co-author Ronald Fernando Garcia Ruiz, who is the Thomas A. Franck Associate Professor of Physics at MIT.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis could provide answers to some of the most pressing questions in modern physics.\u201d<\/p>\n
Probe the inside of atomic nuclei <\/p>\n
The research team also pointed out that typically, experiments to probe the inside of atomic<\/a> nuclei involve massive, kilometers-long facilities that accelerate beams of electrons to speeds fast enough to collide with and break apart nuclei. <\/p>\n The team\u2019s new molecule-based method offers a table-top alternative to probe the inside of an atom\u2019s nucleus<\/a> directly. With this new method, physicists precisely measured the energy of electrons whizzing around a radium atom that had been paired with a fluoride atom to make a molecule of radium monofluoride.<\/p>\n The research team used the environments within molecules as a sort of microscopic particle collider, which contained the radium atom\u2019s electrons and encouraged them to briefly penetrate the atom\u2019s nucleus. <\/p>\n Within molecules of radium monofluoride, the team measured the energies of a radium atom\u2019s electrons as they pinged around inside the molecule.<\/p>\n New way to measure the nuclear magnetic distribution<\/p>\n The research team discerned a slight energy shift and determined that electrons must have briefly penetrated the radium atom\u2019s nucleus and interacted with its contents. As the electrons winged back out, they retained this energy shift, providing a nuclear \u201cmessage\u201d that could be analyzed to sense the internal structure of the atom\u2019s nucleus, according to<\/a> the MIT research.<\/p>\n The new method offers a new way to measure the nuclear \u201cmagnetic distribution.\u201d In a nucleus, each proton and neutron acts like a small magnet, and they align differently depending on how\u00a0the nucleus\u2019 protons and neutrons are spread out. The team plans to apply their method to precisely map this property of the radium nucleus for the first time, according to a press release<\/a>.<\/p>\n What they find could help to answer one of the biggest mysteries in cosmology: Why do we see much more matter than antimatter in the universe?<\/p>\n Precision laser spectroscopy measurements<\/p>\n Published in the journal Science, the study<\/a> reveals precision laser spectroscopy measurements and theoretical calculations of the structure of the radioactive radium monofluoride molecule, 225Ra19F.<\/p>\n The research team highlighted that the study\u2019s results allow fine details of the short-range electron-nucleus interaction to be revealed, indicating the high sensitivity of this molecule to the distribution of magnetization, currently a poorly constrained nuclear property, within the radium nucleus.<\/p>\n \u201cThese results provide a direct and stringent test of the description of the electronic wavefunction inside the nuclear volume, highlighting the suitability of these molecules to investigate subatomic phenomena,\u201d said researchers<\/a> in the study.<\/p>\n