Umesh Garg
Professor, Department of Physics & Astronomy
- Office
- 211 Nieuwland Science Hall
Notre Dame, IN 46556 - Phone
- +1 574-631-7352
- garg@nd.edu
Fellow, Institute for Asia & Asian Studies
Research Interests
Prof. Garg's research interests include experimental investigation of compressional-mode giant resonances and exotic quantal rotation in nuclei.
Giant resonances are highly collective states of nuclear vibration. The compressional-mode giant resonances provide the only direct experimental measurement of the nuclear incompressibility, a fundamental property of nuclear matter that is crucial to understanding of a number of nuclear and astrophysical phenomena, including strength of collapse in supernovae explosions, collective-flow in high-energy heavy ion collisions, and properties of neutron stars—the “largest nuclei” that exist in nature. Prof. Garg’s group has been investigating the Isoscalar Giant Monopole Resonance (the "breathing mode") and the Isoscalar Giant Dipole Resonance (the “squeezing mode”), both compressional oscillations for experimental measurements of the nuclear incompressibility.
The atomic nuclei exhibit a number of interesting and exciting phenomena at large angular momenta viz. shape transitions, quenching of superfluid behavior, order-to-chaos transitions, etc. In recent years, Prof. Garg’s group has investigated the exotic processes of chiral rotation (yes, the nuclei can be left- or right-handed!) and wobbling motion (akin to rotation of an asymmetric top) in nuclei. Both these phenomena are characteristic of triaxial nuclei, a rare and exotic shape--an ellipsoid with all three axes unequal.
Honors and Activities
Fellow, American Association for Advancement of Science
Fellow of the American Physical Society
Recipient of "The Faculty Award", 2018
Fulbright Specialist Award, 2015-2019
Distinguished Adjunct Professor, BITS-Pilani, India, 2020-
Guest Professor, Xi’an Jiaotong University 2019-
Guest Professor, Peking University, China, 2015-
Adjunct Professor, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, India, 2014-
JSPS Fellow, RIKEN, Japan, 2012
PKU Fellow, Peking University, China, 2012
EMMI Visiting Professor, GSI, Germany, 2011
Guest scientist at the Argonne National Laboratory (since 1983)
Recipient of the 2006 Kaneb Award for Excellence in Teaching
Recipient of the inaugural Terrence Akai Award for Service to International Students
Director of the Department of Physics Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program (since 2000)
Education
B.Sc., B.I.T.S., Pilani, India, 1972
M.Sc., ibid., 1974
M.A., S.U.N.Y. at Stony Brook, 1975
Ph.D., ibid., 1978
Publications
“Compressional-mode resonances in the molybdenum isotopes: Emergence of softness in open-shell nuclei near A = 90” K.B. Howard, U. Garg et al., Phys. Lett. B 807, 135608 (2020).
“Longitudinal Wobbling Motion in 187Au,” N. Sensharma, U. Garg et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 124, 052501 (2020).
“Compression-mode resonances in the calcium isotopes and implications for the asymmetry term in nuclear incompressibility,” K.B. Howard, U. Garg et al., Phys. Lett. B 801,135185 (2020).
"Two-phonon wobbling in 135Pr," N. Sensharma, U. Garg et al., Phys. Lett. B 792, 170 (2019).