Project B04: Electric dipole response and neutron equation of state

In project B04, we will perform key measurements of the electric dipole polarizability in the vicinity of closed-shell nuclei to test and develop ab initio calculations of the electric dipole response. The experiments use relativistic Coulomb excitation and total photoabsorption to determine the electric dipole strength distributions. The results will provide important constraints on the nuclear symmetry energy and its density dependence, which will lead to an improved understanding of the neutron matter equation of state and its applications to supernovae and neutron stars.