Area of investigations:

• Application of machine learning to nuclear data
• GEANT4 studies of proton therapy
• Neutrino oscillations
• Underground radon gas
• Heavy ion reactions
• Nuclear matter
• Nuclear pasta
• Neutron star crusts
• Neutron-rich matter
• Isoscaling
• Nuclear equation of state
• Nuclear symmetry energy

Present group members:

• Adrian Gaytan, M.S., 2017 - date
• Vanessa Meraz, B.S., 2019-date

Current and recent collaborators

• Dr. Jorge A. Muñoz, UTEP, 2018 - date
• Dr. Mike Youngs, TAMU/Blinn C., 2019 - date
• Dr. Jason Holmes, Arizona State Univ., 2017 - date
• Dr. Sergio Terrazas, U. Autónoma de Cd. Juárez, 2015-date
• Dr. Jesús Escamilla, U. Autónoma de Hidalgo, 2015-date
• Dr. Claudio Dorso, U. Buenos Aires, since 1988

Past group members:

• Andrew Lowrance, BS, U Penn, summer 2019
• Gicela Saucedo Gómez, BS, 2017-present
• Omar Hernández Rodríguez, MS 2016-2018
• Selim Sabag Romero Gonzalez, MS 2016-2018
• Gicela Saucedo Gómez, BS, 2017-present
• Victor Lizarraga, BS, sumer 2017, U A. Sinaloa, México
• Alan Salcedo, BS, 2016-2017
• Israel Chavarría, BS, 2016-2017
• Karla Rosita Tellez Girón, MS, 2015-2017
• Germán Rodríguez, MS.2015-2017
• Enrique Ramírez-Homs, BS, 2011-2014, MS 2015-2017
• Rodolfo I. González, BS, 2012-2014
• Alejandra Robles, High School student, 2013

• Demetrio Corralez, BS, 2012

• Juan García, BS, 2009 to 2010 

• Jorge Muñoz, BS, 2006 to 2008

• Rodrigo Gamboa Goñi, MS, 2006-2007

• Alán Dávila, BS, 2002 to 2006

• Armando Barrañon, MS, 2003-2005

• Christian Escudero, BS, MS, 2000 to 2005

• Manuel A. Ramos, BS, 2002-2003

• Jesús Escamilla Roa, MS, 2001-2003
  

• Mario F. Borunda, BS, 1997 to 2003

• Rafael Cárdenas, MS, 2000-2002
  

• Martha Navarro, BS, 1998 to 2001

• Xiaofang Mu, MS, 1996-1998

• Jaime Morales, BS, 1995 to 1998

• Xiaoyu Wang, MS, 1994-1996

• Tim Robinson, MS, 1994-1996

• Raul Medellin, BS, 1994 to 1996

• Alfredo Aranda, BS, 1993 to 1996

• Ganesh Thondikulam, MS, 1993-1995

• Mario Borunda Escobedo, (Ph.D.) 1992 to 1994

Recent Publications

• “Isospin-dependent phase diagram of nuclear matter”, J.A. López, A. Gaytán Terrazas, S. Terrazas Porras, Nucl. Phys. A994, 121664 (2020)
  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nuclphysa.2019.121664. See article here.
• "Phase diagrams of nuclear pasta phases in neutron star matter", 25th Joint UTEP/NMSU Workshop on Mathematics, Computer Science, and Computational Sciences, J.A. Muñoz and J.A. López, UTEP, El Paso, Texas, Nov. 2, 2019. See abstract here.
• "The pasta structure of neutron star matter", Jorge A. Lopez, International Physics Conference 2019, Glasgow, UK, Aug. 1, 2019. See abstract here, Abstract book here (p. 367) and presentation here.
• “Phase Transition and Bulk Properties in Nuclear Matter” A. Gaytán Terrazas and J.A. Lopez, APS April Meeting, Denver, CO, Apr. 15, 2019. See abstract and presentation here.
• "Analytical expression and neural network study of the symmetry energy", Jorge A. López and Jorge A. Muñoz, CERN-Proceedings-2019-001, ISBN 978-92-9083-519-6 (paperback), ISBN 978-92-9083-520-2 (PDF), DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.23727/CERN-Proceedings-2019-001, (2019). See article here.
• "Symmetry Energy in Neutron Star Matter", C. Dorso, Frank, G., and J.A. López, Nuclear Physics A, 984, 77-98, (2019). See article here.
• "Phase transitions and symmetry energy in nuclear pasta", C. Dorso, Frank, G., and Jorge López, Nuclear Physics A, 978, 35-61, (2018). See article here.
• "Symmetry energy in the liquid-gas mixture", J.A. López and S. Terrazas Porras, Nuc. Phys. A  (2017); see article here.
• "Correlation Between Underground Radon Gas and Dormant Geological Faults", J.A. López, O. Dena Ornelas , L. Sajo-Bohus, G. Rodríguez, I. Chavarría, J. Nuc. Phys., Mat.Sci., Rad. and Applications, Vol-4, No-1, 265–275 (2016); see article here.
• “Isospin-dependent phase diagram of nuclear matter”, J. A. Lopez. APS April Meeting, Salt Lake City, UT, Apr. 16, 2016.  See abstract and presentation here, 
• "Thermodynamics of neutron-rich nuclear matter", J.A. López, S. Terrazas Porras and Araceli Rodríguez Gutiérrez, AIP Conf. Proc. 1753, 050001 (2016); see article here.

• "Effect of an electron gas on a neutron-rich nuclear pasta", with Enrique Ramírez-Homs, in Nuclear Science and Techniques, V. 26, P. S20502, 2015; see article here.

• "Isospin-asymmetric nuclear matter", J.A. López, E. Ramírez-Homs, R. González and R. Ravelo, Phys. Rev. C 89, 024611, 2014; see preprint here.

• "Simulations of cold matter at subsaturation densities", P.A. Giménez-Molinelli, J.I. Nichols, J.A. López and C.O. Dorso, Nuc. Phys. A, 923, Pp. 31-50, 2014.

• "Topological characterization of neutron star crusts", C.O. Dorso, P. Giménez-Molinelli and J.A. López, The Physical Review C86 055805 (2012). Downloadpreprint in the Arxivs.
• "From nuclei to nuclear pasta", C.O. Dorso, P.A. Gíménez-Molinelli and J.A. López, in "Neutron Star Crust", Eds. C.A. Bertulani and J. Piekarewicz, 2012 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.See preprint here.
• "Isoscaling and the nuclear EOS",  C.A. Dorso, P.A. Giménez-Molinelli and J.A. López, J. Phys. G: Nucl. Part. Phys. 38 (2011) 115101.
• "Searching for the origin of isoscaling: confinement and expansion", C.A. Dorso, P.A. Giménez-Molinelli and J.A. López, Rev. Mex. Fis. S57 (1) 14–17, 2011.
• "Probabilistic aspects of isoscaling", J.A. López, J.A. Muñoz and C.O. Dorso, Rev. Mex. Fis. S56, 85-88, 2010.

Funding

• FY17 High School Apprenticeship Program (HSAP) and Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship Program (URAP) through the Army Research Office for $6,000, for period 5/2017 - 8/2017. 

• DOD HBCU Instrumentation grant for $404 k, for period 9/2016-2/2018. See notification here.
• BUILDing Summer Sabbatical, for period May 31 - Aug. 5, 2016, Arizona State University with Ricardo Alarcón.
• "Isospin Diffusion", PI: J. López, DOE Visiting Faculty Program. Approx. $20,000, Pending, for the period 6/3/2014 to 8/9/2014 for J. Lopez and BS student Rodolfo I. Gonzalez.

• Travel Grant from the American Physical Society for Rodolfo I. Gonzalez to present a poster at the 2013 Conference Experience for Undergraduates in Newport News, Va in conjunction with the fall meeting of the Division of Nuclear Physics of the American Physical Society, 23-26 October 2013.

• "Classical aspects of the symmetry energy", PI: J. López, DOE Visiting Faculty Program. Approx. $20,000, awarded for the period 6/3/2013 to 8/9/2013 for J. Lopez and BS student Rodolfo I. Gonzalez.
• "Nuclear matter at low temperatures", PI: J. López, DOE Visiting Faculty Program. Approx. $15,000, awarded for the period 6/2/2012 to 8/10/2012.
• Travel Grant for Enrique Ramirez-Homs to attend the International Neutron Scattering Instrumentation School (INSIS), Rome Italy, Jul. 15-27, 2012. http://neutrons.ornl.gov/conf/insis2012/.
• "Isospin dependence of the nuclear equation of state", PI: J. López, National Science Foundation, $186,000, Awarded for period 8/1/2011-7/30/2014.

Nuclear Physics Group Activities 

2020

• Mar. 3, Phase diagrams of nuclear pasta phases in neutron star matter, J.A. Muñoz and J.A. López, APS March Meeting 2020, Abstract: J45.00013, March 3, 2020; Denver, Colorado, See abstract here.
• Jan. 20, Isospin dependent phase diagram of nuclear matter, J.A. López, XIII Latin American Symposium of Nuclear Physics and Applications, San José, Costa Rica. See abstract here. 

2019

• Nov. 2, Phase diagrams of nuclear pasta phases in neutron star matter, 25th Joint UTEP/NMSU Workshop on Mathematics, Computer Science, and Computational Sciences, J.A. Muñoz and J.A. López, UTEP, El Paso, Texas, Nov. 2, 2019. See abstract here.
• Nov. 22: Thesis Defense, Adrián Gaytán Terrazas; "Phase diagram of nuclear matter".
• July 29-Aug 2: Talk "The pasta structure of neutron star matter" at the International Nuclear Physics Conference 2019, Glasgow UK. See program here and abstract here, and the PPT presentation here. 
• June 24 - 29, MS student Adrian Gaytán attended the 2019 Exotic Beam Summer School at Oak Ridge National Lab.
• June 10-21, Guest Claudio Dorso, Universidad de Buenos Aires. On June 18 Claudio gave the Physics Seminar "Diffusion of fear in crowds".
• May 20-24: Participant of the Workshop Machine Learning Applied to Nuclear Physics at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams at Michigan State University.
• Poster "Phase Transition and Bulk Properties in Nuclear Matter” presented by A. Gaytán Terrazas,  APS April Meeting, Denver, CO, Apr. 15, 2019. See abstract and presentation here.

2018

• June 4 - Aug 12, Alan Salcedo Gomez attended the MIT Summer Research Program, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. See UTEP's news report here, and Juarez El Diario Newspaper report here.
• Sep. 27: Physics Colloquium, "Symmetry energy and phase transitions in the nuclear pasta", at Texas A&M-Commerce.
• 25 Jun–14 Jul. 2018, Guest Claudio Dorso, Universidad de Buenos Aires. On July 13 Claudio gave the Physics Seminar "Measles Outbreaks. Is the World Health Organization wrong?"
• June 11-15: Talk "Phase transitions and symmetry energy in nuclear pasta", delivered at the 15th Varenna Conference on Nuclear Reaction Mechanisms, Varenna, Italy. Supported by the Bouchet Award of the American Physical Society. See program here.

• May. 9: Thesis Defense, of my M.S. student Selim Romero; "Geant4 study of a gamma ray collimator for proton therapy".

• May. 8: Thesis Defense, of my M.S. student Omar Hernández; "Geant4 study of proton-tissue interactions".
• 3 - 8 Apr. 2018, Guest Alfredo Aranda, Universidad de Colima, Research guest and seminar speaker: “A hidden interaction with flipped generations”, 5/Apr/2018.

2017

• Dec. 12: Received the 2017 Best Thesis Research Mentoring Award. at the UTEP College of Science winter Pre-Commencement Ceremony, for work with Karla Rosita Tellez-Giron Flores.  See diploma here.

• Nov. 18-25: Visiting Claudio Dorso at the University of Buenos Aires.

• Nov. 9-11: Guest Carlos Bertulani, Texas A&M Commerce. See about Carlos's research here. On Nov. 9 Carlos delivered a lecture in my Astronomy class "Nucleosynthesis", and on Nov. 10 he presented the Physics Seminar "Non-extensive statistics solution of the cosmological lithium problem". He was also interviewed by Science Studio.

• Sep. 20: Physics Colloquium, "Italian delicacies served up in a neutron star crust", at Notre Dame University. See announcement here. Supported by the Bouchet Award of the American Physical Society. See pictures from Notre Dame University here.

• Sep. 6-9: Guest Jason Holmes, Arizona State University. See about Jason's research here. On Sep. 8 Jason gave the Physics Seminar "Next Generation detectors for proton therapy quality assurance". 

• Aug. 4: Thesis Defense, of my M.S. student Germán Rodríguez; "Using underground radon to detect inactive geological faults".

• Aug. 3: Thesis Defense, of my M.S. student Enrique Ramírez-Homs; "Electron gas and neutron star crusts".
• Aug. 2: Thesis Defense, of my M.S. student Karla Rosita Téllez-Girón Flores; "Neutrino oscillations and the RENO experiment".
• 23- Jun. – 8 Jul. 2017, Guest Claudio Dorso, Universidad de Buenos Aires. On July 7 Claudio gave the Physics Seminar "Italian Delicacies Served Up in a Neutron Star Crust".
• June. 5 - Aug. 4: Summer guest Víctor Manuel Lizárraga Rubio, from Universidad de Sinaloa, working on project "Neutron diffusion".

• May 9: Best MS student and Summa Cum laude, Karla Rosita Téllez-Girón Flores, see pictures here and here.

• May 8: Thesis Defense, of my UACJ B.S. student Adrián Gaytán Terrazas; see thesis here, and see picture here.

• May 5: Thesis Defense, of my B.S. student Israel Chavarria; see thesis here, and see picture here.

• June 4 - Aug 12, Alan Salcedo Gomez attended the MIT Summer Research Program, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. See UTEP's news report here, and Juarez El Diario Newspaper report here.
• May 14-20, Alan Salcedo Gomez attended the Nuclear Science Summer School NS3, at the Michigan State University. See UTEP's news report here, and Juarez El Diario Newspaper report here. 

• May 9: Best MS student, Karla Rosita Téllez-Girón Flores, graduating Summa Cum Laude, see pictures here and here.

• May 8: Thesis Defense, of my UACJ B.S. student Adrián Gaytán Terrazas; he passed, see thesis here, and see picture here.

• May 5: Thesis Defense, of my B.S. student Israel Chavarria; he passed, see thesis here, and see picture here.

2016

• Dec. 12-17: Karla Rosita Téllez Girón Flores attended the Winter School on Nuclear Astrophysics in Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China, and delivered a Talk “Neutrino Oscillations and the Reactor Experiment of Neutrino Oscillations experiment.”
• Aug. 16-17:  Talk "Materials Characterization at UTEP" at " 4° Taller de Espectrometría de Masas con Aceleradores (LEMA)" at the Instituto de Fí­sica of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. See pictures of the visit here.
• Summer: Israel Chavarria attended the Fermi Lab REU, see final report here.
• May 31 - Aug. 5, Visiting Arizona State University with Ricardo Alarcón under a BUILDing Summer Sabbatical Grant.
• April 16-18, Talk and chair of session, APS April Meeting, Salt Lake City.  See abstract and presentation here, and see details of the session chaired here.
• April 7, Talk "The Physics of CSI", Facultad de Física, Benemérita Universidad de Puebla, Puebla, México. See "CONSTANCIA" here.
• April 6 - 8, XII International Symposium on Radiation Physics, BUAP, Puebla, México.  See web page here.
• Feb. 15,  Talk "Física nuclear, el Chapo, Osama Bin Laden, y el Papa" at the Tercera Semana de Física y Matemáticas in Universidad de Colima; see news report here.

2015 

• Nov. 30 - Dec. 4, Talks "Isospin-dependent phase diagram of nuclear matter" and "Summary Talk", at the XI Latin American Symposium on Nuclear Physics and Applications, Medellin Colombia; see pictures here.
• Apr. 11-13: Talk at the APS April Meeting in Baltimore, to receive the 2015 Bouchet Award of the American Physical Society.  See APS news release "Bridge-builder to Hispanic Community wins Bouchet Award" here, see pictures of the Awards Ceremony and Reception as well as of Baltimore here.  

2014 

• Oct. 24: Talk "Estrellas de neutrones" at the 21st Science and technology Week in La Rodadora in Cd. Juárez, Mexico; see announcement here.
• Oct. 7-11: Talk at the IV Joint Japan-USA Nuclear Physics Conference in Kona, Hawaii to receive the 2014 Mentoring Award of the Division of Nuclear Physics of the American Physical Society; see pictures here.

• Aug. 15 - 18: Attending conference 4th International workshop on nuclear dynamics in heavy ion reactions in Lanzhou, China.

• Aug. 10 - 14: Attending conference CUSTIPEN  at the Peking University  in Beijing, China. See program and talks here.

• July 24 - 25: Attending conference Nuclear Structure 2014 at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, BC Canada,

• July 16: "Neutron-Rich nuclear matter" colloquium talk at Nuclear Theory Group of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Click here to see abstract.

• June 9 - 12: Attending conference Collective Dynamics in High Energy Collisions at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab in Berkeley, CA,

• June 2 - Aug. 8: Visiting the Nuclear Theory Group of the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab in Berkeley, CA, with Enrique Ramirez-Homs.

Contact information 

• jorgelopez@utep.edu, 915-747-7528
• Recent Activities, Curriculum vitae

Summer 2017 students Gicela Saucedo (UTEP) and Víctor Lizarraga (Culiacán, México), investigators of the nuclear pasta and neutron difussion.

2013

• Dec. 9-12: Talk by J.A. López at JUSTIPEN-JUSEIPEN Workshop in RIKEN in Tokyo, Japan. JUSTIPEN is The Japan-U.S. Theory Institute for Physics with Exotic Nuclei.
• Oct. 23-26: Poster presentation by B.S. student Rodolfo I. Gonzalez at the 2013 Conference Experience for Undergraduates in Newport News, Va in conjunction with the fall meeting of the Division of Nuclear Physics of the American Physical Society.
• Sep. 27: Invited Talk by J.A. López "Cold nuclear matter" in Symposium on Low Temperature Physics at UACJ, in Cd. Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico.

2012

• Nov. 29, Article Spotlight, the article "Topological characterization of neutron star crusts was selected to appear in Physics-Spotlighting Exceptional research: Italian Delicacies Served Up in a Neutron Star Crust, Physics, Nov. 29, 2012.
• Aug. 7: Invited Talk by J.A. López "Nuclear matter at low temperatures and densities: the pasta revisited" in Nuclear Physics Forum at the Lawrence Berkeley Lab's 88-inch Cyclotron.
• Aug. 5: J.A. López, Member of Organizing Committee of Latin American Symposium of Nuclear Physics and Applications, held in Dec. 2013 in Montevideo, Uruguay.

• Jul. 15-27, Enrique Ramirez-Homs participated in the International Neutron Scattering Instrumentation School (INSIS), Rome Italy, Jul. 15-27, 2012. http://neutrons.ornl.gov/conf/insis2012/.

• Jun. 3 - Aug. 9: Visiting the Nuclear Theory group of the Nuclear Science Division of The Lawrence Berkeley Lab,  J.A. López with UG students Enrique Ramirez Homs and Rodolfo Gonzalez. See here for article about our participation in the LBL-NSD newsletter (p.4).
• May 24: Colloquium by J.A. López "Nuclear matter cooked Italian style", Institute of Nuclear Sciences, UNAM, Mexico City, Mexico.

• Jan. 26: Most Outstanding Award earned by High School student Alejandra Robles, member of the research group in the El Paso Independent School District Science Fair.

• Jun. 4 - Aug. 10: Visiting the Nuclear Theory group of the Nuclear Science Division of The Lawrence Berkeley Lab, J.A. López with student Enrique Ramirez-Homs and collaborator Dr. Claudio Dorso (U Buenos Aires).

• May 12-26: J.A. López Visiting the University of Buenos Aires with Claudio Dorso, delivering a Colloquium Talk: "From nuclei to nuclear pasta" (17/5/2012).

• Apr. 12: J.A. López inducted as a Corresponding Member of the Mexican Academy of Sciences, delivered an Invited Talk "Nuclear liquid-gas phase change, what have we learned?" at IFUNAM in Mexico City.
• Mar. 22-24: J.A. López delivered a Seminar Talk "From nuclei to Nuclear Pasta in ... Stars!" at the Physics Department of Bradley University in Peoria Illinois, visiting Jose Lozano.

2011

• Dec. 1-6: J.A. López Visiting Universidad de Colima, seminar talk "Nuclear Pasta".
• Oct. 28: J.A. López selected as Educator of the Year and delivered an Invited Talk, 2011 Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers National Conference, Anaheim, CA. See SHPE Award information here, UTEP Press release here, and Channel 9 report here.
• Oct. 27-28: Invited Talk by J.A. López "Neutron-rich nuclear physics", 2011 Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans National Conference, San Jose, CA, see program here.
• Oct. 3-30: Guest Dr. Claudio Dorso, Universidad de Buenos Aires.
• Sep. 21-24: Invited Talk by J.A. López "Neutron-rich nuclear physics", 2011 National Society of Hispanic Physicists National Conference, Austin, TX.
• Sep. 19: Interview of J.A. López about nuclear waste repository in Carlsbad NM, "Estudiarán alemanes basurero nuclear...", El Diario de El Paso, El Paso, TX.

2010

• Nov. 2: Guest Dr. Carlos Bertulani, Texas A&M University - Commerce.
• Oct. 1: Award:Bravo Outstanding MAEStro Award, at MAES National Conference in Anaheim, CA.
• Aug. 1-13: Talk and participation in PASI 2010 on Rare Isotopes, Joao Pessoa, Brazil.  See PASI wiki page here, my personal page here, and the Neutron Stars page here, to see how hard we worked see the photos here, to see my talk see the high quality video here, or thelow quality video here. 

2009 

• Oct. 23: Hyer Award to J.A. Muñoz and J.A. López from the Texas Section of the American Physical Society in San Marcos, TX. for Research with undergraduate student "Probabilistic aspects of isoscaling".  See information here.