The strong interaction is responsible for holding neutrons and protons together in atomic nuclei and for the particle interactions in neutron stars, where matter has been crushed to extremes in density. The ERC-funded EUSTRONG project is shedding light on these dense matter interactions both from microscopic calculations and directly from astrophysics, including from new NASA NICER observations. The same strong interactions will be tested in key heavy nuclei including full uncertainty quantification. This will be realized by developing many-body calculations with new emulation and tensor network methods. Another objective is to derive the response of heavy nuclei in dark matter direct detection and coherent neutrino scattering, where a reliable understanding of strong interaction effects is crucial.

In 2023 Achim Schwenk received a prestigious LOEWE Top Professorship from the state of Hesse. Under the LOEWE research funding program, Achim Schwenk has been granted approximately 1.9 million euros over the course of five years to support his groundbreaking research into the forces at play within atomic nuclei and neutron stars. The LOEWE funding will facilitate the development of innovative calculations for neutron-rich nuclei, which play a crucial role in the formation of heavy elements in the universe.

The CRC 1245 “Nuclei: From Fundamental Interactions to Structure and Stars” investigates the strong and electroweak interaction physics from nuclei to stars.

The strong interaction described by quantum chromodynamics (QCD) is responsible for binding neutrons and protons into nuclei and for the many facets of nuclear structure physics. Combined with the electroweak interaction, it determines the structure of all nuclei in the nuclear chart in a similar way as quantum electrodynamics shapes the periodic table of elements. While the latter is well understood, it is still unclear how the nuclear chart emerges from the underlying forces.