Nucleus Picture made with SciAn

This picture was constructed by an undergraduate physics student, Melissa Kupper, with the use of the SciAn visualization package developed by SCRI at the Florida State University.

The data fed to SciAn was a file containing a 3-dimensional scalar field that represents the probability density for finding a nucleon at each point in space near the center of the nucleus. SciAn provides a simple mechanism for rendering the surface corresponding to any chosen contour of constant probability density, including lighting and shading, on a Silicon Graphics workstation. (This picture was made on an Indigo.)

The surface shown in the picture of Lithium-7 was drawn at a probability density that encloses the volume where there is more than a 90% chance of finding a proton or neutron. Although the nucleus is more like a fuzzy ball than a shiny object with a sharp surface, this density contour is roughly where most nuclear probes start to feel a significant influence from the nucleus.

My recollection is that the density distribution was generated in a simple deformed model rather than making use of the high quality microscopic densities that have been developed over the past decade or so. [See Nucl. Phys. A563, 387 (1993) for the latest incarnation.] I am pretty sure it was based on a good g.s. spherical density and a deformation length that gives the known quadrupole moment.


SciAn can also be used to artistically modify images, as Melissa Kupper demonstrated starting with a different input file.