A research team from the Institute of Modern Physics (IMP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has directly measured the masses of two highly unstable atomic nuclei, phosphorus-26 and sulfur-27.

The time is nigh for nuclear clocks. In a first, scientists have used a tabletop laser to bump an atomic nucleus into a higher energy state. It’s a feat that sets scientists on a path toward creating ...

UT researchers have made rare measurements of exotic nuclear decay that reshape how scientists think heavy elements form in extreme cosmic events. You can’t have gold without the decay of an atomic ...

Quantum computers, systems that process information leveraging quantum mechanical effects, have the potential of ...

The nucleus of an atom is now the modern version of sand flowing through an hourglass. Researchers have spent 15 years trying to increase accuracy in timekeeping. The U.S. standard currently relies on ...

Physicists probed why lead's nucleus reacts unlike others when hit by electrons and found that instead of clarity, the puzzle ...

Atomic clocks are the most accurate timekeepers we have, losing only seconds across billions of years. But apparently that’s not accurate enough – nuclear clocks could steal their thunder, speeding up ...

Our account of the strong nuclear force is full of imaginative terms. Six flavors of quarks have color charges of red, green and blue, which dictate how they bind to form particles like protons and ...

The experiment involved infinitesimal particles of matter so slight and evanescent that they survived only a billionth of a billionth of a second. In their place they left still lighter particles that ...