Marielle Chartier is a Professor of Particle Physics at the

University of Liverpool , mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning , established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 – affiliated to the federal Victoria Universityhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2004/4 University of Manchester Act 200 ...

in England. Her research investigates the

phase diagram A phase diagram in physical chemistry, engineering, mineralogy, and materials science is a type of chart used to show conditions (pressure, temperature, volume, etc.) at which thermodynamically distinct phases (such as solid, liquid or gaseous ...

nuclear matter Nuclear matter is an idealized system of interacting nucleons ( protons and neutrons) that exists in several phases of exotic matter that, as of yet, are not fully established. It is ''not'' matter in an atomic nucleus, but a hypothetical s ...

using the

ALICE experiment ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment) is one of eight detector experiments at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. The other seven are: ATLAS, CMS, TOTEM, LHCb, LHCf, MoEDAL and FASER. Introduction ALICE is optimized to study heavy-ion ( ...

at the

Large Hadron Collider The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world's largest and highest-energy particle collider. It was built by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) between 1998 and 2008 in collaboration with over 10,000 scientists and hundred ...

(LHC) at

CERN The European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN (; ; ), is an intergovernmental organization that operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world. Established in 1954, it is based in a northwestern suburb of Gene ...

Her past work includes

nuclear structure Understanding the structure of the atomic nucleus is one of the central challenges in nuclear physics. Models The liquid drop model The liquid drop model is one of the first models of nuclear structure, proposed by Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcke ...

at the frontiers of the

valley of stability In nuclear physics, the valley of stability (also called the belt of stability, nuclear valley, energy valley, or beta stability valley) is a characterization of the stability of nuclides to radioactivity based on their binding energy. Nuclide ...

Education

Chartier studied physics at the

University of Paris-Sud Paris-Sud University (French: ''Université Paris-Sud''), also known as University of Paris — XI (or as Université d'Orsay before 1971), was a French research university distributed among several campuses in the southern suburbs of Paris, in ...

and completed a third-year project at the French Atomic Energy Commission ('' Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique)'' in

condensed matter physics Condensed matter physics is the field of physics that deals with the macroscopic and microscopic physical properties of matter, especially the solid and liquid phases which arise from electromagnetic forces between atoms. More generally, the sub ...

. She completed her fourth year project at the

National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory The National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory (NSCL), located on the campus of Michigan State University was a isotope, rare isotope research facility in the United States.Bruns, Adam (January 2009How Are You Helping Companies Grow?''Site Sel ...

(NSCL) in the USA. She was awarded her PhD from the

University of Caen Normandy The University of Caen Normandy (French: ''Université de Caen Normandie''), also known as Unicaen, is a public university in Caen, France. History The institution was founded in 1432 by John of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Bedford, the first rector ...

in 1996 for research completed at the

Grand Accélérateur National d'Ions Lourds The Grand Accélérateur National d’Ions Lourds (GANIL), or Large Heavy Ion National Accelerator, is a French national nuclear physics research center in Caen. The facility has been in operation since 1983, and consists primarily of two seriali ...

. During her PhD, she spoke at the International Conference on Exotic Nuclei.

Career and research

After her PhD, Chartier was a

postdoctoral researcher A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). The ultimate goal of a postdoctoral research position is to p ...

for two years at the

(NSCL) at

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...

. In 1999 Chartier was appointed lecturer at the

University of Bordeaux The University of Bordeaux (French: ''Université de Bordeaux'') is a public university based in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. It has several campuses in the cities and towns of Bordeaux, Dax, Gradignan, Périgueux, Pessac, and Ta ...

. She worked at the Centre d'Etudes Nucléaires de Bordeaux-Gradignan on exotic nuclei. She wanted to focus more on research, successfully applied for an

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is a British Research Council that provides government funding for grants to undertake research and postgraduate degrees in engineering and the physical sciences, mainly to universi ...

(EPSRC) Advanced Fellowship and joined the

Nuclear Physics Nuclear physics is the field of physics that studies atomic nuclei and their constituents and interactions, in addition to the study of other forms of nuclear matter. Nuclear physics should not be confused with atomic physics, which studies the ...

group at the

in 2001. This allowed her to establish an entirely new research area, exploring exotic nuclear physics and the valley of stability. At the

Chartier teaches Nuclear Physics. She is interested in ways to measure the masses of exotic nuclei. To do this, she uses a

cyclotron A cyclotron is a type of particle accelerator invented by Ernest O. Lawrence in 1929–1930 at the University of California, Berkeley, and patented in 1932. Lawrence, Ernest O. ''Method and apparatus for the acceleration of ions'', filed: Janu ...

as a

mass spectrometer Mass spectrometry (MS) is an analytical technique that is used to measure the mass-to-charge ratio of ions. The results are presented as a ''mass spectrum'', a plot of intensity as a function of the mass-to-charge ratio. Mass spectrometry is used ...

. She also worked on light, neutron rich nuclei using knock out reactions. In 2010 Chartier was part of a multi-million pound grant to work on the

Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research The Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research (FAIR) is an international accelerator facility under construction which will use antiprotons and ions to perform research in the fields of: nuclear, hadron and particle physics, atomic and anti-matte ...

(FAIR) in

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it th ...

. She is interested in the

. She led the UK involvement with the Nuclear Structure, Astrophysics and Reactions (NuSTAR) experiments, studying the

nuclear drip line The nuclear drip line is the boundary beyond which atomic nuclei decay by the emission of a proton or neutron. An arbitrary combination of protons and neutrons does not necessarily yield a stable nucleus. One can think of moving up and/or to ...

, the ordering of

quantum state In quantum physics, a quantum state is a mathematical entity that provides a probability distribution for the outcomes of each possible measurement on a system. Knowledge of the quantum state together with the rules for the system's evolution in ...

s and symmetry of near-stable nuclei. In 2013 she led the UK collaboration with the nuclear physics laboratory FAIR. She was the leader of the international R3B spectrometer project, which included the development of a silicon detector that could information about the extreme structure of matter inside stars. Today, Chartier works on Hadronic matter. She led the

joining the

in 2013 and became interested in

Charm quark The charm quark, charmed quark or c quark (from its symbol, c) is the third-most massive of all quarks, a type of elementary particle. Charm quarks are found in hadrons, which are subatomic particles made of quarks. Examples of hadrons containin ...

s. Despite spending her early research career working on nuclear physics, Chartier had considerable experience working on

heavy-ion collisions High-energy nuclear physics studies the behavior of nuclear matter in energy regimes typical of high-energy physics. The primary focus of this field is the study of heavy-ion collisions, as compared to lighter atoms in other particle accelerato ...

with fixed targets at low energies. In 2015 Chartier was awarded a £1.05 million grant from the

Science and Technology Facilities Council The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) is a United Kingdom government agency that carries out research in science and engineering, and funds UK research in areas including particle physics, nuclear physics, space science and astro ...

(STFC) for the upgrade of the

. She works on the

strong force The strong interaction or strong force is a fundamental interaction that confines quarks into proton, neutron, and other hadron particles. The strong interaction also binds neutrons and protons to create atomic nuclei, where it is called the n ...

, using ultra-relativistic heavy

ion An ion () is an atom or molecule with a net electrical charge. The charge of an electron is considered to be negative by convention and this charge is equal and opposite to the charge of a proton, which is considered to be positive by conve ...

interactions to study

Quantum chromodynamics In theoretical physics, quantum chromodynamics (QCD) is the theory of the strong interaction between quarks mediated by gluons. Quarks are fundamental particles that make up composite hadrons such as the proton, neutron and pion. QCD is a type ...

(QCD).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chartier, Marielle Living people French women scientists French women physicists Academics of the University of Liverpool Academic staff of the University of Bordeaux Women nuclear physicists Year of birth missing (living people)