JINR and Kamchatka University: educational and scientific cooperation

News, 05 April 2022

In 2022, JINR and Kamchatka State University named after Vitus Bering have started active joint work through the JINR Information Centre established and opened at the University in October 2021.

As part of the cooperation, the JINR University Centre organizes online lectures and virtual excursions to the Institute’s laboratories. In March, two students of Kamchatka University had a training at JINR. They took part in the BM@N experiment of the NICA megascience project.

In the photo: FLNP engineer Natalia Glombotskaya

Thus, on 20 January, an online lecture by Head of the Sector of Methodical Research at the Laboratory of Nuclear Problems Nikolay Anfimov was given in the Information Centre at Kamchatka University. Having shown a film about the JINR history, the lecturer told students about flagship projects of the Institute and key scientific achievements of its seven laboratories.

An online tour of the Laboratory of Neutron Physics guided by engineers Natalia Glombitskaya and Valeria Lobacheva took place on 24 February. Natalia provided an introductory lecture about JINR, told listeners why the laboratory deals with neutrons , as well as explained the principle of the neutron activation analysis using which FLNP studies the atomic structure of matter. Employees showed the room where specialists work with radioactive samples, as well as the pneumatic transport system that transports samples to the irradiation zone of the IREN facility. At the end of the excursion, Natalia and Valeria showed the automated samples changing system aimed for their transportation for further determination of elemental contents in them.

During a teleconference between Dubna and the JINR Information Center at KamSU on 17 March, Scientific Secretary of the Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions Alexander Karpov gave a lecture “In search of the limits of the Periodic Table”. The audience learned how, what, and where in the Universe chemical elements have been emerging from the moment of the Big Band to the present day. Listeners also learned about the history of the discovery of radioactive and artificial transuranium elements, as well as were acquainted with the prospects for the development of this scientific field. At the end of the lecture, the FLNR Scientific Secretary spoke about large-scale plans of JINR scientists for the Superheavy Element Factory.

On 24 March, an FLNR senior researcher Vratislav Chudoba introduced the audience to the studies on the properties of exotic nuclei at the complex “ACCULINNA-2 fragment separator – U-400M heavy ion accelerator” at an online tour of the Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions.

Moreover, in March, students of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Kamchatka University were sent to the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research for training. They did not only learned to work in a new for them field of nuclear physics, but also solved practical tasks of the BM@N facility, one of the experiments of the NICA megascience project.

Active cooperation between the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research and the JINR Information Centre at Kamchatka State University named after Vitus Bering is enhancing.

Ilya Zavodevkin and Andrey Degodiev in BM@N experimental hall