Brasília, April 13, 2004 (Agência Brasil) - Nuclear research in Brazil made a big leap at the beginning of this year. Since February the Nuclear Physics Laboratory of the University of São Paulo (USP) has been creating and studying beams of exotic nuclei, that is, atoms with unstable nuclei, containing a quantity of neutrons greater or smaller than the quantity existing in nuclei that are found in nature, and with a useful life lasting, at most, a few seconds.

"This is an important area of nuclear physics that is on the knowledge frontier," Professor Alinka Lepine-Szily points out. According to her, the studies developed at the USP Physics Institute have direct applications both in Nuclear Physics and Astrophysics.

The beams of exotic nuclei project is the first in the southern hemisphere and one of the few being developed in the world. Only some European countries, the United States, Canada, China, and Japan are doing research in this area.

The undertaking has an initial budget of US$ 400 thousand, divided among the Ministry of Science and Technology (MCT), the Program of Support for Centers of Excellence (Pronex), and the São Paulo Research Support Foundation (Fapesp).

According to the professor, the most advanced research with exotic atoms can revolutionize energy generation around the world.

Translator: David Silberstein