The nucleus ⁸Be has been conjectured to resemble a molecule of two interacting 𝛼-particles. A crucial test of this conjecture is the electromagnetic transition between the molecular resonances. This paper discusses the earlier indirect bremsstrahlung measurements and describes a recent experiment on the direct measurement of 𝛾-transition between the 4⁺ and 2⁺ resonances. Experimental results are compared with various theories. The outlook on the measurement of $2^+ \to 0^+$ transition will be presented.

The nucleus ¹²C has a rather significant role in modern nuclear physics, but whose influence can be traced to the work of Hoyle in the 1950s, when it was concluded that there should be a state close to 7.68 MeV responsible for the synthesis of carbon in stellar nucleosynthesis. Although a state at 7.65 MeV was subsequently discovered, its properties have remained something of a mystery until rather recently. This paper explores our current understanding of the structure of ¹²C, in particular the nature of the Hoyle state.

We review the calculation of the Hoyle state of ¹²C in nuclear lattice effective field theory (NLEFT) and its anthropic implications in the nucleosynthesis of ¹²C and ¹⁶O in red giant stars. We also analyse the extension of NLEFT to the regime of medium-mass nuclei, with emphasis on the determination of the ground-state energies of the 𝛼 nuclei ¹⁶O, ²⁰Ne, ²⁴Mg, and ²⁸Si by Euclidean time projection. Finally, we discuss recent NLEFT results for the spectrum, electromagnetic properties, and α-cluster structure of ¹⁶O.

In this paper, the recent work our group has undertaken on effective field theory (EFT) analyses of experimental data pertaining to one- and two-neutron halo nuclei is discussed. The cases of ¹⁹C and ⁸Li (one-neutron halos) and ²²C (two-neutron halo) are considered. For ¹⁹C and ⁸Li electromagnetic processes, such as Coulomb dissociation and radiative capture are considered. In the ²²C system the way in which the measured matter radius can be used to derive constraints on the two-neutron separation energy of this very neutron-rich system is shown. In each case the Halo EFT’s ability to correlate different experimental observables with one another, in a modelindependent manner, and up to an accuracy that is determined by the separation of scales in the halo system is shown.

The prediction of Hoyle state was necessitated to explain the abundance of carbon, which is crucial for the existence of life on Earth and is the stepping stone for understanding the abundance of other heavier elements. After the experimental confirmation of its existence, soon it was realized that the Hoyle state was `different’ from other excited states of carbon, which led to intense theoretical and experimental activities over the past few decades to understand its structure. In recent times, precision, high statistics experiments on the decay of Hoyle state have been performed at the Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre, to determine the quantitative contributions of various direct $3\alpha$ decay mechanisms of the Hoyle state. The present results have been critically compared with those obtained in other recent experiments and their implications have been discussed.

After a brief review of the history of viscosity from classical to quantal fluids, a discussion of how the shear viscosity 𝜂 of a finite hot nucleus is calculated directly from the width and energy of the giant dipole resonance (GDR) of the nucleus is given in this paper. The ratio $\eta/s$ with s being the entropy volume density, is extracted from the experimental systematic of GDR in copper, tin and lead isotopes at finite temperature 𝑇. These empirical results are compared with the results predicted by several independent models, as well as with almost model-independent estimations. Based on these results, it is concluded that the ratio $\eta/s$ in medium and heavy nuclei decreases with increasing 𝑇 to reach (1.3−4)$\times\hbar/(4\pi k_B)$ at $T = 5$ MeV, which is almost the same as that obtained for quark-gluon plasma at $T > 170$ MeV.

The nuclear symmetry energy at a given density measures the energy transferred in converting symmetric nuclear matter into the pure neutron matter. The density content of nuclear symmetry energy remains poorly constrained. Our recent results for the density content of the nuclear symmetry energy, around the saturation density, extracted using experimental data for accurately known nuclear masses, giant resonances and neutron-skin thickness in heavy nuclei are summarized.

Two measurements related to the proton and antiproton production near midrapidity in $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 7.7, 11.5, 19.6, 27, 39, 62.4 and 200 GeV Au+Au collisions using the STAR detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) are discussed. At intermediate impact parameters, the net-proton midrapidity d$v_1$/d𝑦, where $v_1$ and 𝑦 are directed flow and rapidity, respectively, shows non-monotonic variation as a function of beam energy. This non-monotonic variation is characterized by the presence of a minimum in d$v_1$/d𝑦 between $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 11.5 and 19.6 GeV and a change in the sign of d$v_1$/d𝑦 twice between $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 7.7 and 39 GeV. At small impact parameters the product of the moments of net-proton distribution, kurtosis × variance ($\kappa \sigma^2$) and skewness × standard deviation ($S\sigma$) are observed to be significantly below the corresponding measurements at large impact parameter collisions for $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 19.6 and 27 GeV. The $\kappa \sigma^2$ and $S\sigma$ values at these beam energies deviate from the expectations from Poisson statistics and that from a hadron resonance gas model. Both these measurements have implications towards understanding the quantum chromodynamics (QCD) phase structures, the first-order phase transition and the critical point in the high baryonic chemical potential region of the phase diagram.

The Extreme Light Infrastructure Nuclear Physics (ELI-NP) Facility in Magurele is a European research centre for ultrahigh intensity lasers, laser–matter interaction, nuclear science and material science using laser-driven radiation beams. It is the first project within the European Strategic Forum for Research Infrastructure (ESFRI) agenda financed by the European Regional Development Fund. The nuclear physics research programme of the facility is focussed on studies with brilliant narrow-width 𝛾-beams and experiments in extreme laser fields.

An experimental campaign aimed at studying various high spin phenomena using the Indian National Gamma Array (INGA) at the BARC–TIFR Pelletron Linac Facility has been successfully completed. The array consisting of a large number of Compton-suppressed clover detectors was coupled to a digital data acquisition system with 96 channels. The present system provides higher throughput, better energy resolution and better stability of gain for the multidetector Compton-suppressed clover array compared to its previous conventional system with analog shaping. Selected results from this array are discussed which highlight the exotic shapes, novel excitation modes and interesting isomers of the nuclei. The preliminary results from the experimental efforts to improve the sensitivity and capability of the array by adding ancillary detectors are also described briefly.

Research in nuclear triaxial deformation has revealed many exciting facts and figures over the last one and a half-decades. Although wobbling motion of nuclei was experimentally discovered at the beginning of the last decade, after almost 25 years of its prediction by Bohr and Mottelson, efforts are still being put to understand this rare nuclear phenomenon in greater detail. The concept of transverse wobbling is one such recent attempt which successfully explains the evolution of experimentally observed wobbling frequency with spin. The population of triaxial strongly deformed (TSD) bands in the $A \tilde$160–170 region is favoured for which neutron number ($N = 92$ or 94) is a topic of current debate. Experimental efforts are being put following Bengtsson’s calculations which indicate that the elevated yrast lines for $N = 92$ isotones favour TSD population. In $A\tilde$170 mass region, the ambiguity over the real character of certain strongly deformed bands has recently been removed by extensive experimental and theoretical efforts, and the bands have now been firmly established as either enhanced deformed (ED) or superdeformed (SD).

A brand-new electron scattering facility, the SCRIT Electron Scattering Facility, will soon start its operation at RIKEN RI Beam Factory, Japan. This is the world’s first electron scattering facility dedicated to the structure studies of short-lived nuclei. The goal of this facility is to determine the charge density distributions of short-lived exotic nuclei by elastic electron scattering. The first collision between electrons and exotic nuclei will be observed in the year 2014.

The presence of a resonance close to the threshold strongly effects the dynamics of the interacting particles at low energies. Production of ¹²C, the element for life, in ⁴He burning in Sun is a classic example of such a situation. In intermediate energy nuclear physics, this situation arises in the interactions of an 𝜂-meson with a nucleon and that of a $K^−$-meson with a proton at low energies, where both these systems have a resonance or a bound state near their thresholds, resulting in a strong attractive interaction. If putting these mesons in nuclear environment produces a strong attraction, it is possible that, in nature there may exist 𝜂- and $K^−$-nuclear bound states. Such a tantalizing possibility has led to experimental and theoretical programmes to search for them. These efforts have produced positive results. This paper gives a brief critical overview of these studies, emphasizing especially the efforts led by Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC).

We briefly review the so-called `proton puzzle’, i.e., the disagreement of the newly extracted value of the proton charge radius $r_p$ from muonic hydrogen spectroscopy with other extractions, its possible significance and related problems. After describing the conventional theory to extract the proton radius from atomic spectroscopy we focus on a novel consistent approach based on the Breit equation. With this new tool, we confirm that the radius has indeed become smaller compared to the value extracted from scattering experiments, but the existence of different theoretical approaches casts some doubt on the accuracy of the new value. Precision measurements in atomic physics do provide the opportunity to extract light nuclear radii but the accuracy is limited by the methods of incorporating the nuclear structure effects.

A comprehensive overview and some of the theoretical attempts towards understanding heavy flavour hadron spectroscopy are presented. Apart from the conventional quark structure (quark, antiquarks structure for the mesons and three-quarks structure of baryons) of hadrons, multiquark hadrons the hadron molecular states etc., also will be reviewed. Various issues and challenges in understanding the physics and dynamics of the quarks at the hadronic dimensions are highlighted. Looking into the present and future experimental prospects at different heavy flavour laboratories like BES-III, CLEO-c, BaBar, Belle, LHC etc., the scope for theoretical extensions of the present knowledge of heavy flavour physics would be very demanding. In this context, many relevant contributions from the forthcoming PANDA Facility are expected. Scopes and outlook of the hadron physics at the heavy flavour sector in view of the future experimental facilities are highlighted.

We review the recent progress of the theoretical understanding of spin polarizabilities of the hyperon in the framework of $SU$(3) heavy baryon chiral perturbation theory (HBChPT). We present the results of a systematic leading-order calculation of hyperon Compton scattering and extract the forward spin polarizability (𝛾0) of hyperons. The results obtained for $\gamma_0$ in the case of nucleons agree with the known results of $SU$(2) HBChPT when kaon loops are not considered.

Heavy ion reaction studies around Coulomb barrier energies have been generally used to investigate the effect of the structure of projectile/target on reaction dynamics. Other than providing an understanding of basic physics of the reaction dynamics, some of these reactions have been used as tools to serve as surrogates of neutron-induced compound nuclear fission cross-sections involving unstable targets. In this paper, we report some of the recent results on the determination of neutron-induced fission cross-sections of unstable actinides present in Th–U and U–Pu fuel cycles by surrogate reaction method by employing transfer-induced fission studies with ${}^{6,7}$Li beams.

The characteristics and performance of the newly commissioned neutron detector array at IUAC are described. The array consists of 100 BC501 liquid scintillators mounted in a semispherical geometry and are kept at a distance of 175 cm from the reaction point. Each detector is a $5''\times 5''$ cylindrical cell coupled to $5''$ diameter photomultiplier tube (PMT). Signal processing is realized using custom-designed home-made integrated electronic modules which perform neutron–gamma discrimination using zero cross timing and time-of-flight (TOF) technique. Compact custom-built high voltage power supply developed using DC–DC converters are used to bias the detector. The neutrons are recorded in coincidence with fission fragments which are detected using multi-wire proportional counters mounted inside a 1m diameter SS target chamber. The detectors and electronics have been tested off-line using radioactive sources and the results are presented.

A probabilistic approach has been presented in six recent papers (R Kshetri, J. Instrum. 2012 7 P04008; ibid., P07006; ibid., P07008; ibid., P08015; ibid., P12007; Appl. Radiat. Isotopes 2013 75 30) for modelling a general composite detector. In this paper, a simplistic view has been presented on the application of our formalism to composite detectors consisting of hexagonal closely packed encapsulated HPGe detector modules.We have presented modified calculations for the peak-to-total (PT) and peak-to-background (PB) ratios of the cluster and spectrometer for integral satellite (SPI) for the first time considering up to four-fold events. Instead of using an empirical method or simulation, we present a novel approach for calculating the peak-to-total ratio of the SPI spectrometer for high 𝛾 energies. Our work can provide guidance for designing new composite detectors and for performing experimental studies with the SPI spectrometer for high-energy 𝛾-rays.

Germanium detectors with sub-keV sensitivities open a window to study neutrino physics to search for light weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) dark matter. We summarize the recent results on spin-independent couplings of light WIMPs from the TEXONO experiment at the Kuo-Sheng Reactor Neutrino Laboratory. Highlights of the physics motivation, our R&D programme, as well as the status and plans are presented.