The Nuclear Incompressibility parameter is one of three important components characterizing the nuclear equation of state. It has crucial bearing on diverse nuclear and astrophysical phenomena, including radii of neutron stars, strength of supernova collapse, emission of neutrinos in supernova explosions, and collective flow in medium- and high-energy nuclear collisions. The only direct experimental measurement of this parameter comes from the compressional-mode giant resonances—the isoscalar giant monopole resonance (ISGMR) or the “breathing mode”, and the isoscalar giant dipole resonance (ISGDR) or the “squeezing mode”. In this talk I will review current status of the research on direct experimental determination of nuclear incompressibility. In particular, recent measurements on a series of Sn and Cd isotopes have provided an "experimental" value for the asymmetry term of nuclear incompressibility which is critical to our understanding of neutron stars.

个人简介: Umesh Garg, a Professor of Physics at the University of Notre Dame, graduated from Birla Institute of Technology and Science in Pilani, India, and obtained a Ph.D. in experimental nuclear physics from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. After postdoctoral work at the Cyclotron Institute, Texas A & M University, he joined the Notre Dame faculty in 1982. He has held visiting professorships at Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, the Bhabha Atomic Research Center, Mumbai, GSI, the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, RIKEN, and PKU.  He is a APS Fellow and served on the Program Committee of the APS Division of Nuclear Physics during 1995-1997. He has been Director of the Notre Dame Physics REU program since 2000. He was recently appointed a Fulbright Expert on Physics Education to work worldwide on implementing research work in undergraduate physics curriculums. The current focus of his research work is low-energy nuclear structure, with special emphasis on experimental determination of the nuclear incompressibility, and investigation of exotic quantal rotation in nuclei.