Fusion suppression and sub-barrier breakup of weakly bound nuclei

The mechanism for the large suppression of complete fusion in the 9Be+208Pb reaction has been investigated through measurement of sub-barrier breakup of 9Be. Excluding breakup through the 8Be ground state, whose lifetime is too long, a prompt breakup component remains, having sufficient probability to explain the observed suppression of complete fusion. This appears to be associated with interactions at the nuclear surface. The fusion suppression is predicted to be almost proportional to the charge of the target nucleus, making it most significant in reactions with heavy nuclei.     

Reaction mechanisms in collisions induced by halo and/or weakly bound radioactive nuclei around the barrier

In this paper a brief review of the status of theory and experiments concerning the study of reaction mechanisms, in particular fusion, with halo and loosely bound nuclei at energies around the Coulomb barrier is made. The data of the reactions ^4,6He+⁶⁴Zn and ¹³N+⁹Be are discussed in more detail.     

Radiative capture reactions with the participation of weakly bound light nuclei

Reactions of radiative capture of weakly bound light nuclei are investigated in the scope of the potential model. The applicability of the approach is demonstrated with an analysis of the cross section for the ⁶Li(p, ??)⁷Be reaction. Good agreement with the available experimental data is shown. The radiative capture cross section for the ⁶He(p, ??)⁷Li reaction in the region of low sub-barrier energies is evaluated. It is concluded that reactions involving ⁶He could also play a noteworthy part in stellar nucleosynthesis processes.     

Elastic scattering of intermediate-energy weakly bound particles on 12C nuclei

The differential cross-section for elastic scattering of deuterons at 700 MeV, ⁶Li and ⁶He at 2.07 GeV nuclei on ¹²C nucleus is calculated under the assumption of two-cluster (for deuterons and ⁶Li) and three-cluster (for ⁶He) structure of incident particle. For ⁶Li-¹²C and ⁶He-¹²C elastic scattering it is shown that there are quantitative distinctions in the behaviour of the observables calculated in the above approaches. Received: 13 October 1999 / Accepted: 3 January 2001     

Electromagnetic response and breakup of light weakly bound nuclei in a dicluster model

The light weakly bound nucleus ⁷Li is studied within a dicluster α + t picture. Different observables obtained within our simple model are compared with previous calculations and experiments showing good agreement. In particular, we calculate dipole and quadrupole electromagnetic response to the continuum. The energy distribution of B(Eλ) values are consistent with the energy-weighted molecular sum rule and display a sizable contribution of non-resonant character arising from the weak binding property. The corresponding form factors for excitations to the continuum are used in a semiclassical coupled-channel scheme to get estimates for the breakup cross-section in a heavy-ion reaction. The nuclear contribution is found to play an important role in the process for bombarding energies around the Coulomb barrier. The masses and charges ratios of the two clusters are shown to lead to features of the cluster halo that may significantly differ from the one usually associated with one-nucleon haloes.     

The process of coulomb dissociation of weakly bound relativistic nuclei and hypernuclei within the two-cluster model

Using the analogy with the problem of ionization and excitation of atoms in the propagation of relativistic charged particles through a bulk of matter, the process of Coulomb dissociation of weakly bound relativistic nuclei and hypernuclei is theoretically investigated in the framework of the two-cluster deuteron-like model. Explicit expressions for the total cross section of Coulomb disintegration of weakly bound systems are derived taking into account the corrections due to the finite size of a target nucleus. Numerical estimations for the Coulomb dissociation of relativistic hypernuclei ³H_Λ and ⁶He_Λ are performed. It is shown that, owing to a sharp dependence of the Coulomb dissociation cross section on the binding energy, experimental measurements of the cross section allow one to determine the values of binding energy for these systems. The text was submitted by the authors in English.     

Photodesorption of weakly bound molecules

A recently reported lineshape function which specifically applies to the problem of one-photon photodesorption is used to perform model calculations. The expected efficiency and timescale for such a process is obtained. Molecules physisorbed on solid surfaces may desorb when vibrational energy from laser excitation leaks into the surface-adsorbate bond. Using phenomenological rate constants for desorption, quenching and dephasing mechanisms, a simple expression for surface coverage as a function of laser and molecular parameters is obtained. Analogy is drawn to the vibrational predissociation of Van der Waals molecules, to which this model has been previously applied. Sample experimental sytems are examined and calculations are made to explore the feasibility and range of the photodesorption technique. Observable effects are calculated, even for low-power laser parameters and fast quenching rates. Conversely, the lineshape formula provides a method for extracting desorption and quenching rates from experimental data. Extension of the model to other systems is discussed.     

Effect of neutron transfer channels in fusion reactions with weakly bound nuclei at subbarrier energies

The role of neutron transfer in fusion reactions of weakly-bound nuclei at subbarrier energies is studied within the empirical model of channel coupling. The results from calculating the fusion cross sections for the ⁷Li + ²⁰⁹Bi, ^{9, 11}Li + ^{208, 206}Pb, ^{6, 7, 9, 11}Li + ¹⁵²Sm reactions are presented. Good agreement with the available experimental data is shown. Several combinations of colliding nuclei for which the strong enhancement of subbarrier fusion due to the effect of neutron transfer processes are predicted.     

Quantum electrodynamics of weakly bound systems

An overview of quantum electrodynamic effects in two-body systems is presented. Recent advances in the calculation of the hydrogen Lamb shift, muonium hyperfine structure, and positronium energy levels are described in detail. The comparison of experimental results to current theoretical predictions gives agreement in most cases. However, a few significant discrepancies remain, which indicates the necessity for further refined calculations and measurements. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Relating breakup and incomplete fusion of weakly bound nuclei through a classical trajectory model with stochastic breakup

A classical dynamical model that treats breakup stochastically is presented for low energy reactions of weakly bound nuclei. The three-dimensional model allows a consistent calculation of breakup, incomplete, and complete fusion cross sections. The model is assessed by comparing the breakup observables with continuum discretized coupled-channel quantum mechanical predictions, which are found to be in reasonable agreement. Through the model, it is demonstrated that the breakup probability of the projectile as a function of its distance from the target is of primary importance for understanding complete and incomplete fusion at energies near the Coulomb barrier.     

Radio-frequency spectroscopy of weakly bound molecules in ultracold Fermi gasRadio-frequency spectroscopy of weakly bound molecules in ultracold Fermi gasRadio-frequency spectroscopy of weakly bound molecules in ultracold Fermi gas

We create weakly bound Feshbach molecules in ultracold Fermi gas 4~K by sweeping a magnetic field across a broad Feshbach resonance point 202.2 G with a rate of 20 ms/G and perform the dissociation process using radio-frequency （RF） technology. From RF spectroscopy, we obtain the binding energy of the weakly bound molecules in the vicinity of Feshbach resonance. Our measurement also shows that the number of atoms generated from the dissociation process is different at various magnetic fields with the same RF amplitude, which gives us a deeper understanding of weakly bound Feshbach molecules.     

Reaction functions for weakly bound systems

We propose a new technique to analyze total reaction cross sections. In this technique, which has been previously applied to fusion reactions, the experimental data are used to build a dimensionless reaction function, which does not depend on the system size or details of the optical potential. In this way, total reaction cross sections for different systems can be directly compared. We employ this technique to perform a systematic study of reaction cross sections of weakly bound systems in different mass ranges, and compare their reaction functions with the ones of tightly bound systems with similar masses. We show that breakup reactions and neutron transfers in halo systems lead to large reaction functions, well above the ones of typical tightly or weakly bound stable systems.     

Angular momentum and cross sections for fusion with weakly bound nuclei: breakup,a coherent effect

Results for the cross section and average angular momentum for complete fusion at energies around the Coulomb barrier are presented for 7Li with 165Ho. Comparison of the cross sections with a one-dimensional barrier penetration model, using a potential consistent with the measured elastic scattering, showed a reduction above the barrier and an enhancement below it. An increase in the measured average angular momentum, , above the barrier and its consistency with that obtained from the fusion excitation function for weakly bound nuclei, is reported. These results together with a reanalysis of existing data conclusively demonstrate that the effect of breakup on fusion is coherent, like coupling to any nonelastic channel.     

Fusion of weakly bound projectiles around the Coulomb barrier

The effect of breakup of weakly bound projectiles on fusion is studied using two approaches. The first approach based on the coupled discretised continuum channel (CDCC) formalism is used for ¹¹Be+²⁰⁸Pb, while the second one based on the two-centre shell model (TCSM) is used for ⁹Be+²⁰⁹Bi, ⁶⁴Zn. The CDCC approach describes the breakup in terms of inelastic excitations of the projectile to the continuum, while the breakup is described by molecular single-particle effects in the TCSM approach.     

A systematic study of the fission and evaporation residue excitation functions in complete fusion reactions with weakly bound stable nuclei

We carry out a systematic study on the fusion-fission and evaporation residue excitation functions for the reactions of ^6,7Li, ⁹Be, ^10,11B + ²⁰⁹Bi and ^6,9Li, ⁹Be + ²⁰⁸Pb, in which the projectiles are loosely bound and have low threshold energies against breakup. The fusion cross sections are calculated by the coupled-channel model. The compound nuclei decay are analyzed with the standard statistical model. The fission and evaporation residue excitation functions are well reproduced by our calculations, proving the validity of the standard statistical model in describing the compound nuclei decay in these characteristic reactions. For the compound nuclei with A=215-220 and Z=86-88, the liquid drop fission barriers need to be scaled by 0.80-1.02 to reproduce the experimental data. And a decreasing trend of the scaling factor with increasing fissionability parameter Z²/(50A) is found.     

Approaching universality in weakly bound three-body systems

Atom-dimer scattering below the three-body breakup threshold is studied for a system of three identical bosons. The atom-dimer scattering length and the energy of the most weakly bound three-body state are shown to be strongly correlated. An appropriate rescaling of the observables reveals the subtlety of the correlation and serves to identify universal trends in the unitary limit of divergent two-body scattering length. The correlation provides a new quantitative measure of the degree of universality in three-body systems with short-ranged interactions, as well as a consistency check of effective field theories and other theoretical models.     

Pion bound states in nuclei

Bound π-nuclear states can appear under certain realistic conditions in finite nuclei. The best prospects are certain medium-weight nuclei with dense central regions and large neutron excess. Numerical illustrations are given for ¹⁶O, ²⁸Si, ³²Na and ²⁰⁸Pb with realistic parameters for the interaction. Further, we show that the usual low-energy π nuclear potential develops pathological features like an infinity of bound states beyond a certain critical strength. The natural remedies are indicated.