This award is for support of a cooperative project by Professor F. Bary Malik, Department of Physics at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Illinois, Dr. Arun Basak, Physics Department at Rajshahi University, Rajshahi, Bangladesh and Dr. Susanta Das, Physics Department, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet, Bangladesh. They plan to study the global alpha-nucleus potential for light and medium light nuclei by extending the investigations carried out by the PI and his collaborators, under the sponsorship of NSF, to other reactions and nuclei. In particular, the study will be extended to reactions with polarized projectiles, proton and deuteron, and with carbon, oxygen, sulfur, calcium and nickel targets. In addition, the investigation will be extended to a-silicon case at lower energies. The relations of the alpha-nucleus potential, determined herein, to two nucleon potentials will be investigated within the context of an energy-density functional theory and folding model. The study will be extended to alpha-transfer reactions involving lithium projectile. Finally, the phase equivalencies for a shallow and deep complex potential with the context of the super symmetric transformation will be investigated.
Scope: The US and Bangladesh collaborators have complementary qualifications. They have access to the necessary computer codes for the research. The project deals with an important point in theoretical physics that may have applications for shielding space vehicles. The collaboration will also benefit the educational and research capabilities of two universities in Bangladesh. Dr. Das, who completed his doctorate research in this area through past collaboration between Dr. Malik and Dr. Basak, has coauthored a series of papers. The project is funded by the Office of International Science and Engineering and the Division of Physics.
