Physics & Engineering Physics

Phiala Shanahan, Ph.D., assistant professor, Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will present “From Quarks to Nuclei: The Building Blocks of the Universe.”

More than 99% of the visible matter in the universe is built from protons and neutrons and the nuclei that they form. This rich structure emerges dynamically from the complex interactions of quarks and gluons, the most elementary particles that have been discovered. Understanding how nuclear physics arises from the underlying quark and gluon dynamics is a computational challenge that pushes the capabilities of the world’s largest supercomputers.

In this colloquium, we will discuss the subatomic realm and what supercomputer calculations of quarks and gluons can reveal about the origins of mass, the primordial nuclear reactions that power the sun, and the nature of the elusive dark matter that permeates the universe.