The Nuclear Physics Theory and Experiment groups at Iowa State are focused on the study of fundamental Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD). There is a great deal of synergy between both efforts, and an active exchange between both groups provides a vibrant research atmosphere.
The Nuclear Physics Theory group focuses its research efforts on the QCD analysis of hard scattering, production and suppression of quarkonia, spin physics in QCD, non-perturbative approaches to QCD, and low and intermediate energy nuclear structure and reactions.
The Nuclear Physics Experiment group is actively involved in the PHENIX experiment at Brookhaven National Laboratory and the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. Areas of research include quarkonia production and suppression, bulk properties of the Quark Gluon Plasma, hard scattering probes of strongly interacting matter, and the spin structure of hadrons.
Both groups have excellent opportunities for new graduate students in physics, undergraduates who want to gain research experience, and post-docs who want to take a leadership role in nuclear physics.