Ben is an experimental nuclear-structure physicist. His main areas of interest are the single-particle structure of nuclei and its connection to the rate of decay of neutrinoless double-beta decay candidates, the evolution of trends in nuclear excitations with neutron excess, and weak-binding phenomena in nuclei. He carries out experiments at various laboratories around the world, leading several research programs. Ben has a keen interest in nuclear instrumentation, including novel charged-particle spectrometers of which he is currently leading an initiative to build one at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams at Michigan State University. Ben joined the Physics Division in 2013.

Education

• Alder Grange High School, 1993 – 1998
• Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School, A levels, 1998 – 2000
• The University of Manchester, MPhys (Hons), Physics, 2000 – 2004
• The University of Manchester, PhD, Experimental nuclear physics, 2004 – 2007

Memberships

• Member of the American Physical Society, USA 

Selected Publications (from last 10 years)

• Direct Determination of Fission-Barrier Heights Using Light-Ion Transfer in Inverse Kinematics
  S. A. Bennett, …, B. P. Kay, … et al., 
Phys. Rev. Lett. 130, 202501 (2023) [arXiv]
• Optical potentials for the rare-isotope beam era 
  C. Hebborn, …, B. P. Kay, … et al., J. Phys. G: Nucl. Part. Phys. 50, 060501 (2023) [arXiv] [Review article]
• Probing the quadrupole transition strength in ¹⁵C via deuteron inelastic scattering 
  J. Chen, B. P. Kay, T. L. Tang et al., 
Phys. Rev. C 106, 064312 (2022)
• Quenching of Single-Particle Strength in A =15 Nuclei 
  B. P. Kay, T. L. Tang, I. A. Tolstukhin et al., 
Phys. Rev. Lett. 129, 152501 (2022) [arXiv]
• Heavy-ion fusion cross section formula and barrier height distribution 
  C. L. Jiang and B. P. Kay, 
Phys. Rev. C 105, 064601 (2022)
• Single-Nucleon Energies Changing with Nucleon Number 
  J. P. Schiffer, B. P. Kay, and Jie Chen, 
Phys. Rev. C 105, L041302 (2022) [arXiv]
• Neutron occupancies and single-particle energies across the stable tin isotopes 
  S. V. Szwec, D. K. Sharp, B. P. Kay et al., 
Phys. Rev. C 104, 054308 (2021) [arXiv]
• Consistency of nucleon-transfer sum rules in well-deformed nuclei 
  B. P. Kay, J. P. Schiffer, S. J. Freeman, T. L. Tang et al., 
Phys. Rev. C 103, 024319 (2021) [arXiv]
• Quenching of single-particle strength from direct reactions with stable and rare-isotope beams 
  T. Aumann, …, B. P. Kay, … et al., 
Prog. Part. Nucl. Phys. 118, 103847 (2021) [arXiv] [Review article]
• First Exploration of Neutron Shell Structure below Lead and beyond N=126 
  T. L. Tang, B. P. Kay, C. R. Hoffman et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 124, 062502 (2020) [arXiv]
• The SOLARIS White Paper (2018)
• Effect of finite binding on the apparent spin-orbit splitting in nuclei 
  B. P. Kay, C. R. Hoffman, and A. O. Macchiavelli. Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 182502 (2017) [arXiv]
• High-j neutron excitations outside ¹³⁶Xe 
  R. Talwar, B. P. Kay, S. Adachi et al., Phys. Rev. C 96, 024310 (2017) [arXiv]
• Rearrangement of valence neutrons in the neutrinoless double-β decay of ¹³⁶Xe 
  S. V. Szwec, B. P. Kay, T. E. Cocolios et al., Phys. Rev. C 94, 054314 (2016) [arXiv]
• Change of nuclear configurations in the neutrinoless double-β decay of ¹³⁰Te → ¹³⁰Xe and ¹³⁶Xe → ¹³⁶Ba. 
  J. P. Entwisle, B. P. Kay, A. Tamii et al., Phys. ReV. C 93, 064312 (2016) [arXiv]
• Neutron s states in loosely bound nuclei
  
C. R. Hoffman, B. P. Kay, and J. P. Schiffer. Phys. Rev. C. 89, 061305(R) (2014) [arXiv]
• Quenching of Cross Sections in Nucleon Transfer Reactions 
  B. P. Kay, J. P. Schiffer, and S. J. Freeman.
 Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 042502 (2013) [arXiv]