Dr. Nathan Harrison has been part of collaborative physics research at the Jefferson National Lab in Virginia since his days as an undergraduate at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 2008. He has continued that work since.
The University of North Georgia (UNG) assistant professor of physics and his colleagues at the lab recently published their research on matter in the journal Nature.
The group at the lab in Virginia has been looking at protons and neutrons, as well as the smaller, "mysterious" quarks and gluons that make up those particles. Harrison said a nucleus is more than the sum of its parts. When those parts are combined they exhibit new, unexpected properties.
"We're still working to understand that," Harrison said.
Dr. Richard Prior, department head of physics at UNG, was impressed with Harrison's research being published in Nature.
"This is a very prestigious science journal that publishes papers from all sciences, but very few physics papers are accepted," Prior said.
