Nuclear physics experiments can be high-energy, in which particles such as protons or ions collide at very high speeds, or low-energy in which nuclei and nuclear reactions are studied.
To study how elementary constituents of matter aggregate, current experiments exploit collisions between high-energy particles. Among them, the Alice experiment at CERN studies proton-proton collisions to investigate the properties and behaviour of quarks and gluons. In the U.S., at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, the Electron-Ion Collider (EIC), a unique high-energy particle collider that will seek answers to some of the most important questions in nuclear physics, such as how quarks and gluons interact through the strong force to create protons, is under construction. INFN joined the project in 2024. On the other hand, at the Jefferson Lab, in Virginia, nuclei and electrons are made to collide at low energy with the scientific objective of photographing and studying the interior of nuclei.
The mechanisms of the formation of stars, which appeared in the Universe only when it had expanded and cooled sufficiently, are being studied at INFN National Laboratories. At the Gran Sasso National Laboratory, for example, the small Luna accelerator is able to study the formation of nuclei at energies comparable to those found in a star, much lower than those obtained in ordinary particle accelerators. Accelerators and detectors that are among the most sophisticated in the world, on the other hand, are installed at the Legnaro National Laboratories and the National Laboratories of the South for the production and study of the characteristics of unstable nuclei. One of the primary objectives of these experiments is to understand the mechanisms of formation of heavy nuclei, with masses greater than iron, in large stars. In addition, nuclear physics is being used for biomedical applications such as the study of radionuclides and the production of isotopes for medicine with the commissioning of the Spes project.
