Department of Atomic Nucleus Theory - Overview

Full text: This department consists of 16 scientists working on aspects of low energy, high energy and plasma physics. Most of the effort is phenomenologically oriented. Specific topics are: - Studies of strangeness in nuclei that stem from a long Warsaw tradition of hypernuclear physics. These include attempts to understand the elusive Σ-hypernuclei, studies of nuclear bound states of η - mesons that introduce hidden strangeness into nuclei, and work on interactions of strangelets - the hypothetical large quasi-nuclear objects. Systematic studies have been devoted to understanding the structure of heavy deformed-nuclei. These were successful in predicting properties of superheavy elements. Now we continue calculations of collective motion, neutron haloes and energy dissipation in heavy ion collisions. An increasing effort is devoted to the research of nuclear collisions at high energies. Studies in high energy physics are devoted to - investigating and modelling multiparticle production processes especially correlations, productions of strange matter, and their universality properties, understanding of deep inelastic lepton scattering, and also of formal properties of contour gauge theories. Theoretical studies of soliton solutions in several branches of physics are performed. Methods testing instabilities of the soliton solutions have been developed. Soliton metamorphosis from 2D to 3D has been followed. Work on protein dynamics is in process. Collaboration with several universities has been maintained. Joint publications involve the Universities of: Warsaw, Bucharest, Kielce, T.U. Muenich, Oxford, Siegen, Helsinki, Sao Paulo, Matsumoto, Lipsk, Berkeley, Brussels, St.Petersburg, I.C.London, Warwick, U.C.London. (author)