Nuclear structure physics in limbo

Lecture Notes in Nuclear Structure Physics

Self-consistent Methods in Nuclear Structure Physics

Self-consistent methods have been used in the low-energy nuclear structure studies over many years, and represent a mature field with numerous successful applications. A number of computer codes solving the nuclear Hartree-Fock (HF) problem have already been developed. Two types of effective nucleon-nucleon interactions have been mainly employed. Starting with the work of Vautherin and Brink 6 ...

Nuclear Structure, Random Interactions and Mesoscopic Physics

Standard concepts of nuclear physics explaining the systematics of ground state spins in nuclei by the presence of specific coherent terms in the nucleon-nucleon interaction were put in doubt by the observation that these systematics can be reproduced with high probability by randomly chosen rotationally invariant interactions. We review the recent development in this area, along with new origi...

The Nuclear Physics of Hyperfine Structure in Hydrogenic Atoms

The theory of QED corrections to hyperfine structure in light hydrogenic atoms and ions has recently advanced to the point that the uncertainty of these corrections is much smaller than 1 part per million (ppm), while the experiments are even more accurate. The difference of the experimental results and the corresponding QED theory is due to nuclear effects, which are primarily the result of th...

EGFR in Limbo

The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is normally activated by ligand-induced dimerization. Oncogenic mutations in EGFR promote activation in a largely ligand-independent manner. Shan et al. uncover a partially disordered state of EGFR kinase, providing evidence that oncogenic mutations counteract this intrinsic structural instability to promote dimerization and aberrant activation.