Greetings from Director

RCNP is the largest Joint Usage/Research Center in the field of nuclear physics in Japan. RCNP operates several large experimental facilities such as the ring cyclotron facility and the laser electron photon facility, as well as a supercomputer for theoretical research.

We have two goals. The first goal is to promote and perform world-class research in nuclear and particle physics using advanced accelerators and related facilities to answer basic questions such as “Why are quarks permanently confined in a nucleon?” “How neutrons and protons constitute a nucleus?” and “How was the universe born and formed?” The second goal is to nurture young researchers by training and exposing graduate students as well as postdoctoral researchers to top-level international collaborations.

The current major experimental activities are: (1) studies of static and dynamic properties of nuclei by using a high resolution proton and heavy-ion beams from the ring cyclotron, (2) studies of the quark and gluon properties in a nucleon by using a high-energy polarized photon beam at the Laser-Electron Photon facilities (LEPS and LEPS2) at SPring-8, and (3) studies on neutrinos and the dark matter of the universe at the Kamioka Double Beta Decay Laboratory.

Director of RCNP
Osaka University

Takashi Nakano