WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced $8 million for theoretical research in nuclear interactions, nucleon structure, and properties of nuclei and nuclear matter via collaborations that bring together leading nuclear scientists to address well-defined topical areas.
“Advances in nuclear theory will lay a foundation for us to better understand how nuclei and nuclear matter behave and enable us to predict their behavior in new settings,” said Timothy Hallman, DOE Associate Director of Science for Nuclear Physics. “Improvement of our knowledge on nuclear interactions and nuclear matter will also enable us to explore new opportunities and applications in clean energy and cancer treatments.”
This is the third round of Nuclear Theory Topical Collaborations, which focuses on the theory for describing the properties and interactions of nuclei and nuclear matter, the structure of nucleons, and nuclear reactions. The topics include theoretical interpretations and predictions for existing experimental measurements as well as informing future experiments at nuclear physics facilities such as the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF), the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), the Argonne Tandem Linac Accelerator System (ATLAS), the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB), and the planned Electron-Ion Collider (EIC). With RHIC experiments and the newly upgraded CEBAF, the nuclear physics community is exploring deeper into the structure of nucleons and the nuclear matter. The new capabilities of the upgraded ATLAS and recently completed FRIB opened a new era of exploring properties and structures of nuclei, nuclear reactions, and new applications for society. Nuclear Theory Topical Collaborations will enable long-term sustained effort in advancing theoretical framework for answering these challenges, at existing facilities and the EIC that is under development.
Applications are open to all accredited U.S. colleges and universities, national laboratories, non-profits, and for-profits organizations for multi-institutional consortium proposal. The collaborating institutions are encouraged to share DOE SC goals for diversity, equity, and inclusion. Total planned funding is up to $8 million, with $1.6 million in Fiscal Year 2022 dollars and outyear funding contingent on congressional appropriations.
The Funding Opportunity Announcement, sponsored by the Nuclear Physics program office within the Department’s Office of Science, can be found here.