Unbound excited states in C

The neutron-rich carbon isotopes ^19,17C have been investigated via proton inelastic scattering on a liquid hydrogen target at 70 MeV/nucleon. The invariant mass method in inverse kinematics was employed to reconstruct the energy spectrum, in which fast neutrons and charged fragments were detected in coincidence using a neutron hodoscope and a dipole magnet system. A peak has been observed with an excitation energy of 1.46(10) MeV in ¹⁹C, while three peaks with energies of 2.20(3), 3.05(3), and 6.13(9) MeV have been observed in ¹⁷C. Deduced cross sections are compared with microscopic DWBA calculations based on p-sd   shell model wave functions and modern nucleon–nucleus optical potentials. Jπ$J^{\pi }$ assignments are made for the four observed states as well as the ground states of both nuclei.     

EMC and polarized EMC effects in nuclei

We determine nuclear structure functions and quark distributions for ⁷Li, ¹¹B, ¹⁵N and ²⁷Al. For the nucleon bound state we solve the covariant quark–diquark equations in a confining Nambu–Jona-Lasinio model, which yields excellent results for the free nucleon structure functions. The nucleus is described using a relativistic shell model, including mean scalar and vector fields that couple to the quarks in the nucleon. The nuclear structure functions are then obtained as a convolution of the structure function of the bound nucleon with the light-cone nucleon distributions. We find that we are readily able to reproduce the EMC effect in finite nuclei and confirm earlier nuclear matter studies that found a large polarized EMC effect.     

A study of the ground-state energy of He with nucleon–nucleon potentials

Ground-state properties are evaluated for the finite nucleus ⁴He starting from realistic nucleon–nucleon interactions within the framework of the Green’s function approach. For the sake of comparison, the same calculations are performed using the Brueckner–Hartree–Fock approximation. For that purpose four high-quality modern nucleon–nucleon interactions represented in momentum space are employed: the Argonne V18, CD-Bonn, Bonn A and N³LO potentials. In these potentials, the effects of charge dependence are taken into account. Additional binding energy is obtained from the inclusion of the hole–hole scattering term within the framework of the Green function approach. It has been shown that the Green function results agree well with the results obtained by accurate methods for few-nucleon systems such as the Faddeev–Yakubovsky calculation. In this study, a comparison of the calculated ground-state energies, obtained by using the Green function approach and different nucleon–nucleon potentials, with experimental values is carried out. The results show good agreement between the calculated values and the experimental ones.     

Microscopic approach to nucleon spectra in hypernuclear non-mesonic weak decay

A consistent microscopic diagrammatic approach is applied for the first time to the calculation of the nucleon emission spectra in the non-mesonic weak decay of Λ-hypernuclei. We adopt a nuclear matter formalism extended to finite nuclei via the local density approximation, a one-meson exchange weak transition potential and a Bonn nucleon–nucleon strong potential. Ground state correlations and final state interactions, at second order in the nucleon–nucleon interaction, are introduced on the same footing for all the isospin channels of one- and two-nucleon induced decays. Single and double-coincidence nucleon spectra are predicted for ¹²_ΛC and compared with recent KEK and FINUDA data. The key role played by quantum interference terms allows us to improve the predictions obtained with intranuclear cascade codes. Discrepancies with data remain for proton emission.     

Kohn–Sham density functional inspired approach to nuclear binding

A non-relativistic nuclear density functional theory is constructed, not as done most of the time, from an effective density dependent nucleon–nucleon force but directly introducing in the functional results from microscopic nuclear and neutron matter Bruckner G-matrix calculations at various densities. A purely phenomenological finite range part to account for surface properties is added. The striking result is that only four to five adjustable parameters, spin–orbit included, suffice to reproduce nuclear binding energies and radii with the same quality as obtained with the most performant effective forces. In this pilot work, for the pairing correlations, simply a density dependent zero range force is adopted from the literature. Possible future extensions of this approach are pointed out.     

Fine structure of the isoscalar giant quadrupole resonance in Ca due to Landau damping?

The fragmentation of the Isoscalar Giant Quadrupole Resonance (ISGQR) in ⁴⁰Ca has been investigated in high energy-resolution experiments using proton inelastic scattering at Ep=200 MeV$E_{\mathrm{p}}=200\text{MeV}$. Fine structure is observed in the region of the ISGQR and its characteristic energy scales are extracted from the experimental data by means of a wavelet analysis. The experimental scales are well described by Random Phase Approximation (RPA) and second-RPA calculations with an effective interaction derived from a realistic nucleon–nucleon interaction by the Unitary Correlation Operator Method (UCOM). In these results characteristic scales are already present at the mean-field level pointing to their origination in Landau damping, in contrast to the findings in heavier nuclei and also to SRPA calculations for ⁴⁰Ca based on phenomenological effective interactions, where fine structure is explained by the coupling to two-particle–two-hole (2p–2h) states.     

Shallow folding potential for O + C elastic scattering

The ¹⁶O + ¹²C elastic scattering data have been well described, for the first time, with a shallow folded potential obtained from a single folding method. The constituent parameters of the potential, excepting one, for its real part are generated from the nucleon–¹⁶O and α–¹⁶O potentials, and the cluster structure of ¹²C. Only the repulsive part of the α–¹⁶O potential needs some adjustment to fit the data, reflecting the need to include the Pauli exclusion effects among the unclustered nucleons.     

Neutron–proton elliptic flow difference as a probe for the high density dependence of the symmetry energy

We employ an isospin dependent version of the QMD transport model to study the influence of the isospin dependent part of the nuclear matter equation of state and in-medium nucleon–nucleon cross-sections on the dynamics of heavy-ion collisions at intermediate energies. We find that the extraction of useful information on the isospin-dependent part of the equation of state of nuclear matter from proton or neutron elliptic flows is obstructed by their sensitivity to model parameters and in-medium values of nucleon–nucleon cross-sections. Opposite to that, neutron–proton elliptic flow difference shows little dependence on those variables while its dependence on the isospin asymmetric EoS is enhanced, making it more suitable for a model independent constraining of the high-density behaviour of asy-EoS. Comparison with existing experimental FOPI-LAND neutron–hydrogen data can be used to set an upper limit to the softness of asy-EoS. Successful constraining of the asy-EoS via neutron–proton elliptic flow difference will require experimental data of higher accuracy than presently available.     

Virtual coupling potential for elastic scattering of Be on proton and carbon targets

The ^10,11Be(p, p) and (¹²C, ¹²C) reactions were analyzed to determine the influence of the weak binding energies of exotic nuclei on their interaction potential. The elastic cross sections were measured at GANIL in inverse kinematics using radioactive ^10,11Be beams produced at energies of 39.1A   and 38.4A MeV$38.4A\text{ MeV}$. The elastic proton scattering data were analyzed within the framework of the microscopic Jeukenne–Lejeune–Mahaux (JLM) nucleon–nucleus potential. The angular distributions are found to be best reproduced by reducing the real part of the microscopic optical potential, as a consequence of the coupling to the continuum. These effects modify deeply the elastic potential. Including the Virtual Coupling Potential (VCP), we show the ability of the general optical potentials to reproduce the data for scattering of unstable nuclei, using realistic densities. Finally, the concepts needed to develop a more general and microscopic approach of the VCP are discussed.     

Implication of proton-nucleus scattering for density distributions of unstable nuclei

The use of elastic proton scattering at intermediate and high energies to obtain information about the density distributions of unstable nuclei is investigated. A comparison between the relativistic impulse approximation (RIA) and Glauber model for proton scattering from ¹⁶O, ⁴⁰Ca, ⁴⁴Ca and ⁴⁸Ca at medium energies is performed. We used density distributions derived from the relativistic mean-field theory, employing the recent relativistic force NL-RA1, as well as experimental and phenomenological densities. It is found that the eikonal approximation can describe the cross-section only at small scattering angles and is weakly sensitive to the density distributions, while the RIA nicely produced the experimental cross-sections, even at medium and larger angles, and was very sensitive to the nuclear densities. Furthermore, the RIA better describes the isospin dependence of the cross-section. We used the RIA to investigate the density distribution of ⁵⁸Ca for proton scattering at different energies. It is found that the cross-section strongly depends on the parameters of the density distribution even at a small scattering angle. These results are important in extracting information about the structure of unstable nuclei. We also investigated the RIA and its sensitivity in describing halo nuclei such as ⁶He. We used for ⁶He a no-halo Gaussian density and a realistic-halo density that derived in the cluster orbital shell model approximation and contains the extended distribution of the valence nucleons. Comparison with the recent experimental data at GSI at 717 MeV/nucleon shows that the RIA successfully described the data at all considered range of the momentum transfer and on the other hand favor the halo structure of ⁶He. Received: 1 December 2001 / Accepted: 31 July 2002 / Published online: 11 February 2003 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: mrashdan@hotmail.com Communicated by P. Schuck     

Mechanism of elastic and inelastic proton scattering on a 15C nucleus in diffraction theory

The amplitudes for elastic and inelastic proton scattering on the neutron-rich nucleus ¹⁵C (to its J ^?? = 5/2⁺ level in the latter case) in inverse kinematics were calculated within Glauber diffraction theory. First- and second-order terms were taken into account in the multiple-scattering operator. The ¹⁵C wave function in the multiparticle shell model was used. This made it possible to calculate not only respective differential cross sections but also the contribution of proton scattering on nucleons occurring in different shells. The differential cross sections for elastic and inelastic scattering were calculated at the energies of 0.2, 0.6, and 1 GeV per nucleon.     

Nuclear binding energy and symmetry energy of nuclear matter with modern nucleon–nucleon potentials

The binding energy of nuclear matter at zero temperature in the Brueckner–Hartree–Fock approximation with modern nucleon–nucleon potentials is studied. Both the standard and continuous choices of single particle energies are used. These modern nucleon–nucleon potentials fit the deuteron properties and are phase shifts equivalent. Comparison with other calculations is made. In addition we present results for the symmetry energy obtained with different potentials, which is of great importance in astrophysical calculation.     

DWBA approach to inelastic scattering at medium energies

Medium energy proton elastic and inelastic scattering to states of ⁵⁸Ni and ²⁰⁸Pb, and ⁴He elastic and inelastic scattering to states of ⁴⁰Ca, are analyzed using the partial wave approach, by solving the Schrödinger equation with relativistic kinematics and using the distorted wave Born approximation. Our results can be compared with results of several previous analyses of the nucleon inelastic data using the Glauber approximation. Our calculations are absolute, using nuclear collective parameters obtained from a survey of a large number of low-energy analyses of inelastic scattering of electrons, nucleons and nuclei from ⁴⁰Ca, ⁵⁸Ni and ²⁰⁸Pb.     

Neutron–proton analyzing power at 12 MeV and inconsistencies in parametrizations of nucleon–nucleon data

We present the most accurate and complete data set for the analyzing power Ay(θ)$A_y(\theta )$ in neutron–proton scattering. The experimental data were corrected for the effects of multiple scattering, both in the center detector and in the neutron detectors. The final data at En=12.0 MeV$E_n=12.0\text{MeV}$ deviate considerably from the predictions of nucleon–nucleon phase-shift analyses and potential models. The impact of the new data on the value of the charged pion–nucleon coupling constant is discussed in a model study.     

Inelastic scattering of heavy ions at intermediate energies with excitations of nuclear collective states

Excitation of low-lying nuclear collective states upon scattering of heavy ions with energies of several tens of MeV/nucleon has been studied. The interaction potential leading to excitation is chosen in the form of a derivative of the microscopic (or semimicroscopic) nucleus-nucleus double-folding optical potential. Elastic and inelastic scattering cross sections have been calculated within the high-energy approximation; the inelastic scattering amplitude was obtained in the first order in the deformation parameter. The cross sections are compared with the experimental data on scattering of ¹⁷O from a series of nuclei with excitation of the 2⁺ level.     

The Nambu–Jona–Lasinio model of light nuclei

The Nambu–Jona–Lasinio model of the deuteron suggested by Nambu and Jona–Lasinio (Phys. Rev. 124 (1961) 246) is formulated from the first principles of QCD. The deuteron appears as a neutron–proton collective excitation, i.e. a Cooper np–pair, induced by a phenomenological local four–nucleon interaction in the nuclear phase of QCD. The model describes the deuteron coupled to itself, nucleons and other particles through one–nucleon loop exchanges providing a minimal transfer of nucleon flavours from initial to final nuclear states and accounting for contributions of nucleon–loop anomalies which are completely determined by one–nucleon loop diagrams. The dominance of contributions of nucleon–loop anomalies to effective Lagrangians of low–energy nuclear interactions is justified in the large N _C expansion, where N _C is the number of quark colours. Received: 10 March 2000     

Effects of orbital occupancies on the neutrinoless ββ matrix element of Ge

In this work we use the recently measured neutron occupancies in the ⁷⁶Ge and ⁷⁶Se nuclei as a guideline to define the neutron quasiparticle states in the 1p0f0g shell. We define the proton quasiparticles by inspecting the odd-mass nuclei adjacent to ⁷⁶Ge and ⁷⁶Se. We insert the resulting quasiparticles in a proton–neutron quasiparticle random-phase approximation (pnQRPA) calculation of the nuclear matrix element of the neutrinoless double beta (0νββ$0\nu \beta \beta$) decay of ⁷⁶Ge. A realistic model space and effective microscopic two-nucleon interactions are used. We include the nucleon–nucleon short-range correlations and other relevant corrections at the nucleon level. It is found that the resulting 0νββ$0\nu \beta \beta$ matrix element is smaller than in the previous pnQRPA calculations, and closer to the recently reported shell-model results.     

Neutron skin effect of some Mo isotopes in pre-equilibrium reactions

The neutron skin effect has been investigated for even isotopes of molybdenum at 25.6 MeV ^{94 − 100}Mo(p, xn) reaction using the geometry-dependent hybrid model of pre-equilibrium nuclear reactions. Here the initial neutron/proton exciton numbers were calculated from the neutron/ proton densities obtained from an effective nucleon–nucleon interaction of the Skyrme type. Initial exciton numbers from different radii of even Mo isotopes were used to obtain the corresponding neutron emission spectra. In this investigation the calculated results are compared with the experimental data as also with each other. The results using central densities in the geometry-dependent hybrid model are in better agreement with the experimental data.     

Towards a new Gogny force parameterization: Impact of the neutron matter equation of state

A new parameterization of the effective nucleon–nucleon Gogny interaction is proposed. It reproduces the neutron matter equation of state much better than the commonly used D1S Gogny interaction and furthermore reduces the binding energies' drift for the major part of the isotopic chains. Other important nuclear properties related both to nuclear matter and finite nuclei are studied and shown to be of similar quality as with D1S.