New Opportunites Connecting Nuclear Physics Across Subfields

The study of the strongest force in nature that confines quarks and gluons within hadrons and binds together nucleons within a nucleus has splintered off into a variety of sub-fields over the years. Low energy nuclear physics has focused on the properties of the nuclear landscape. High-energy nuclear physics has focused on the study of quarks and gluons, their dynamics and interactions. Nuclear astrophysics has focused on effective models of either nuclei, hadrons, or quarks at extreme densities. However, in recent years advances across different areas in nuclear physics have led to surprising collaborations and new insights that were not possible in isolation.

Here I will highlight a few exciting connections across subfields in nuclear physics. Heavy-ion collisions has reached the level of precision to extract information about nuclear structure, with the potential to search for alpha-clustering in upcoming experiments. The interplay between nuclear astrophysics, low-energy nuclear physics, and high-energy physics have been used to map out the phase diagram of the strong force. Finally, I will discuss future opportunities of collaboration across sub-fields with upcoming nuclear experiments at the Electron-Ion Collider and the FAIR particle accelerator at GSI.