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STARKVILLE, Miss.鈥擜 research letter co-authored by a faculty member in Mississippi State鈥檚 Department of Physics and Astronomy and High Performance Computing Collaboratory鈥檚 Center for Computational Sciences has been selected for inclusion in Nature, the world鈥檚 most highly cited interdisciplinary science journal.

鈥淎b initio alpha 鈥� alpha scattering鈥� by associate professor Gautam Rupak and colleagues from North Carolina State University and Germany鈥檚 Universit盲t Bonn, Ruhr-Universit盲t Bochum and Forschungszentrum J眉lich is featured in the December 2015 issue and may be viewed at .

According to Nature鈥檚 website, the 146-year-old international weekly journal is renowned for publishing the 鈥渇inest peer-reviewed research in all fields of science and technology on the basis of its originality, importance, interdisciplinary interest, timeliness, accessibility, elegance and surprising conclusions.鈥�

鈥淧roviding rapid, authoritative, insightful and arresting news and interpretation of topical and coming trends affecting science, scientists and the wider public鈥� also is among its primary missions.

In the letter, the team of researchers present the first ab initio calculation of the scattering of two alpha particles.

鈥淎lpha particles, or helium nuclei, play a key role in the synthesis of elements within stars,鈥� the authors explain. 鈥淔or example, carbon is produced by the triple-alpha reaction, and oxygen is generated by the capture of an alpha particle on carbon. An accurate description of alpha particles and their interactions is key to understanding how nature produces elements.鈥�

Rupak holds doctoral and master鈥檚 degrees in physics from the University of Washington. A member of the American Physical Society, he also is a summa cum laude physics and mathematics graduate of Boston University.

Visit to discover more about 海角社区鈥檚 physics and astronomy department; Center for Computational Sciences at .

海角社区 is Mississippi鈥檚 leading university, available online at .