Dr. Andrew Denniston

Andrew Denniston combined his love of science and mathematics to study nuclear physics, specifically, relativity and quantum mechanics. He believes that understanding the complexity of the nucleus is tantamount to understanding the observable universe.

He began his career at the Experimental Nuclear Physics department at MIT, where he studied Short‑Range Correlations (SRCs), when a proton and a neutron get very close to each other inside the nucleus and become isolated from it. Nuclear particles like protons and neutrons are referred to as “nucleons,” and Dr. Denniston’s PhD thesis examined SRCs with two nucleons, or 2N-SRCs.

Much of his research relied on work he did in Run Group M (RGM) at the Jefferson Lab, the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science national laboratory in Newport News, VA. RGM used CLAS12, the large acceptance spectrometer connected with the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility at the Jefferson Lab, to measure 2N-SRCs with greater precision.

Dr. Denniston’s goal for his postdoctoral work at the School of Physics and Astronomy at Tel Aviv University is to expand his SRC work to determine if 3N-SRCs (SRCs with 3 nucleons) exist in significant abundance. If he discovers them, he believes they will change the subfield of nuclear physics entirely. He will again conduct research at the Jefferson Lab, using its electron beam to scatter electrons off nuclear targets, then using CLAS12 to detect the outgoing particles.

Dr. Denniston’s group will also participate in the global collaboration to create the Electron-Ion Collider at the Brookhaven Lab in New York State, which could provide a closer look into the nucleus.

Andrew Denniston combined his love of science and mathematics to study nuclear physics, specifically, relativity and quantum mechanics. He believes that understanding the complexity of the nucleus is tantamount to understanding the observable universe.

He began his career at the Experimental Nuclear Physics department at MIT, where he studied Short‑Range Correlations (SRCs), when a proton and a neutron get very close to each other inside the nucleus and become isolated from it. Nuclear particles like protons and neutrons are referred to as “nucleons,” and Dr. Denniston’s PhD thesis examined SRCs with two nucleons, or 2N-SRCs.

Much of his research relied on work he did in Run Group M (RGM) at the Jefferson Lab, the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science national laboratory in Newport News, VA. RGM used CLAS12, the large acceptance spectrometer connected with the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility at the Jefferson Lab, to measure 2N-SRCs with greater precision.

Dr. Denniston’s goal for his postdoctoral work at the School of Physics and Astronomy at Tel Aviv University is to expand his SRC work to determine if 3N-SRCs (SRCs with 3 nucleons) exist in significant abundance. If he discovers them, he believes they will change the subfield of nuclear physics entirely. He will again conduct research at the Jefferson Lab, using its electron beam to scatter electrons off nuclear targets, then using CLAS12 to detect the outgoing particles.

Dr. Denniston’s group will also participate in the global collaboration to create the Electron-Ion Collider at the Brookhaven Lab in New York State, which could provide a closer look into the nucleus.