Peking University, Mar. 2, 2013: Lately, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has approved the establishment of China-U.S. Theory Institute for Physics with Exotic Nuclei (CUSTIPEN) and provided funding for it. The institute is aimed at facilitating collaborations between China and the U.S. in the field of radioactive nuclear physics.

There are fewer than 300 stable atomic nuclei in nature, but scientists predict that the total number of atomic nuclei is more than 8,000. In other words, unstable atomic nuclei with exotic characteristics take up 95% of the total number. They dominated in the early formation of the universe and will have a profound impact on the development of nuclear energy and nuclear technology in the future. Therefore, many countries have invested large amounts of funds in exotic nuclear physics research.

On this occasion, China and the U.S. have decided to establish CUSTIPEN after two years’ negotiation and preparation in order to promote the research on exotic nuclei both theoretically and experimentally.

CUSTIPEN is affiliated to Peking University in China while to Texas A&M University in the U.S. It is the third cooperative research institute of its kind funded by DOE (the other two are JUSTIPEN and FUSTIPEN). Currently, 24 U.S. institutions and 21 Chinese institutions are participating in the research plan.

Written by: Xu Xinyi

Edited by: Zhang Jiang

Source: PKU News (Chinese)