Massachusetts Institute of Technology: A New Window into the Atom-MIT’s Molecule-Based Method to Explore the Nucleus

Physicists have achieved a major breakthrough in exploring the inner structure of atomic nuclei using a new molecule-based method. According to Wilkins, when scientists measured electron energies with great precision, the results did not match predictions based on interactions occurring only outside the nucleus. This discrepancy revealed that electrons were also interacting inside the nucleus — providing direct evidence that the technique allows researchers to probe its interior.

Garcia Ruiz compared the achievement to measuring a battery’s electric field not just from the outside, but from within — an extremely difficult task that has now become possible in atomic physics. With this method, scientists can effectively “see” inside the nucleus, offering new insights into the fundamental forces that govern matter.

Looking ahead, the research team plans to use this approach to map the internal distribution of forces within the nucleus. Their current experiments involve molecules containing radium nuclei, which are randomly oriented at high temperatures. The next goal is to cool these molecules and control their orientations, enabling highly precise measurements of nuclear properties. This will also help them search for potential violations of fundamental symmetries — laws that describe how physical processes behave under transformations like reflection or time reversal.

Garcia Ruiz emphasized that radium-containing molecules are uniquely sensitive systems for detecting such symmetry violations, making them powerful tools for testing the foundations of physics. This groundbreaking technique, he explained, opens up new possibilities for understanding the building blocks of the universe and the forces that shaped it.

The research was conducted by an MIT-led team and supported in part by the U.S. Department of Energy.