In a new experiment, physicists at Michigan State University have captured the first images of how the atomic nucleus of cadmium-111 changes shape as it absorbs energy. The results, published in the journal Nature Physics, challenge our current understanding of how atomic nuclei move and interact.

The nucleus is the central core of an atom, containing most of its mass. It is made up of protons and neutrons, which are held together by the strong nuclear force. The strong nuclear force is very strong, but it also has a very short range, so it only works over very tiny distances. This means that the nucleus is a very dense object, with all of its protons and neutrons packed very tightly together.

When an atom absorbs energy, the nucleus can become excited and change shape. This is because the energy can cause the protons and neutrons to move around inside the nucleus, changing the way that they interact with each other.

The Michigan State physicists used a technique called "Coulomb excitation" to excite the cadmium-111 nucleus. Coulomb excitation involves firing a beam of high-energy electrons at a target made of cadmium-111. The electrons interact with the protons in the cadmium-111 nucleus, causing them to move around and change the shape of the nucleus.

The physicists then used a special camera to take pictures of the cadmium-111 nucleus as it changed shape. The pictures showed that the nucleus changed from a spherical shape to a more oblong shape. This is the first time that scientists have been able to capture such detailed images of a nucleus changing shape.

The results of the experiment challenge our current understanding of how atomic nuclei move and interact. The researchers believe that the shape-shifting properties of the cadmium-111 nucleus may be due to the fact that the nucleus is not a rigid object, but rather a more fluid-like structure. This could have important implications for our understanding of how atomic nuclei behave in nuclear reactions and other nuclear processes.

The Michigan State physicists are now planning to perform further experiments to study the shape-shifting properties of other atomic nuclei. They believe that these experiments could lead to a new understanding of how atomic nuclei work and how they interact with each other.