nuclear physics

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun The scientific study of the forces, reactions, and internal structures of atomic nuclei.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun That branch of physics which studies the structure of and phenomena observed in atomic nuclei.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun The branch of physics that studies the nucleus of the atom, its internal structure and components.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun the branch of physics that studies the internal structure of atomic nuclei