The Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik ("MPI for Nuclear Physics" or MPIK for short) is a research institute in

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. The institute is one of the 80 institutes of the

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft The Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science (german: Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften e. V.; abbreviated MPG) is a formally independent non-governmental and non-profit association of German research institutes. ...

(Max Planck Society), an independent, non-profit research organization. The Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics was founded in 1958 under the leadership of Wolfgang Gentner. Its precursor was the Institute for Physics at the MPI for Medical Research. Today, the institute's research areas are: crossroads of particle physics and astrophysics (astroparticle physics) and many-body dynamics of atoms and molecules (quantum dynamics). The research field of Astroparticle Physics, represented by the divisions of Jim Hinton, Werner Hofmann and

Manfred Lindner Manfred Lindner (born 22 February 1957) is a German physicist and director at the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg, Germany. He conducts basic research in particle and astro-particle physics. Life and Scientific Work Man ...

, combines questions related to macrocosm and microcosm. Unconventional methods of observation for gamma rays and neutrinos open new windows to the universe. What lies behind “dark matter” and “dark energy” is theoretically investigated. The research field of Quantum Dynamics is represented by the divisions of

Klaus Blaum Klaus Blaum (born 27 December 1971 in Sobernheim, now Bad Sobernheim, Germany) is a German physicist and director at the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg, Germany. Life and scientific work Blaum studied physics at the Johanne ...

, Christoph Keitel and Thomas Pfeifer. Using reaction microscopes, simple chemical reactions can be “filmed”. Storage rings and traps allow precision experiments almost under space conditions. The interaction of intense laser light with matter is investigated using quantum-theoretical methods. Further research fields are

cosmic dust Cosmic dust, also called extraterrestrial dust, star dust or space dust, is dust which exists in outer space, or has fallen on Earth. Most cosmic dust particles measure between a few molecules and 0.1 mm (100 micrometers). Larger particles are c ...

, atmospheric physics as well as fullerenes and other carbon molecules. Scientists at the MPIK collaborate with other research groups in Europe and all over the world and are involved in numerous international collaborations, partly in a leading role. Particularly close connections to some large-scale facilities like GSI (Darmstadt),

DESY The Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (English ''German Electron Synchrotron''), commonly referred to by the abbreviation DESY, is a national research center in Germany. It operates particle accelerators used to investigate the structure of matt ...

(Hamburg),

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 ...

(Geneva),

TRIUMF TRIUMF is Canada's national particle accelerator centre. It is considered Canada's premier physics laboratory, and consistently regarded as one of the world's leading subatomic physics research centers. Owned and operated by a consortium of uni ...

(Canada), and

INFN The Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN; "National Institute for Nuclear Physics") is the coordinating institution for nuclear, particle, theoretical and astroparticle physics in Italy. History INFN was founded on 8 August 1951, to furth ...

LNGS Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS) is the largest underground research center in the world. Situated below Gran Sasso mountain in Italy, it is well known for particle physics research by the INFN. In addition to a surface portion of the ...

(Assergi L‘Aquila) exist. The institute has about 390 employees, as well as many diploma students and scientific guests. In the local region, the Institute cooperates closely with the University of Heidelberg, where the directors and further members of the Institute are teaching. Three International Max Planck Research Schools (IMPRS) and a graduate school serve to foster young scientists. The institute operates a cryogenic ion storage ring (CSR) dedicated to the study of molecular ions under interstellar space conditions. Several Penning ion traps are used to measure fundamental constants of nature, such as the atomic mass of the electron and of nuclei. A facility containing several electron beam ion traps (EBIT) that produce and store highly charged ions is dedicated to fundamental atomic structure as well as astrophysical investigations. Large cameras for gamma-ray telescopes (HESS, CTA), Dark Matter (XENON1t, DARWIN), and neutrino detectors are developed and tested on-site.

Structure

There are five scientific divisions and several further research groups and junior groups. Scientific and technical departments as well as the administration support the researchers.

Departments

* Stored and cooled ions (

) *Non-thermal astrophysics (Jim Hinton) *Theoretical quantum dynamics and quantum electrodynamics ( Christoph H. Keitel) *Particle and astroparticle physics (

) *Quantum dynamics and control (Thomas Pfeifer)

Independent research groups

*Cold Collisions and the Pathways toward Life in Interstellar Space (ASTROLAB)(Holger Kreckel) *Astrophysical Plasma Theory (APT) (Brian Reville) *Massive Neutrinos: Investigating their Theoretical Origin and Phenomenology (MANITOP) (Werner Rodejohann) *Strong Interaction and Exotic Nuclei (Achim Schwenk) *Theoretical Neutrino and Astroparticle Physics (Alexei Smirnov) *High-energy astrophysics with

H.E.S.S. High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) is a system of imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes (IACTs) for the investigation of cosmic gamma rays in the photon energy range of 0.03 to 100 TeV. The acronym was chosen in honour of Victor ...

and CTA ( Werner Hofmann; emeritus) *Plasma astrophysics (Heinrich J. Völk; emeritus) *Random matrices, chaos and disorder in many-body quantum systems (Hans A. Weidenmüller; emeritus)

External links

MPI for Nuclear Physics - Homepage
{{Authority control Heidelberg Institutes associated with CERN

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 ...

Nuclear physics Nuclear research institutes Physics institutes