Gamow-Teller resonances and nuclear structure

By means of numerical calculations in the framework of the continuum shell model, it is shown that a resonance state with simple nuclear structure can be localized in energy despite strong fragmentation of the discrete state because of its short lifetime. Such a reduction in the degree of mixing is not taken into account in the traditional nuclear structure investigations of discrete states. The results obtained are applied to an interpretation of both the isobaric analogue and the Gamow-Teller resonances. The role of internal and external mixing is discussed.     

Evolution of nuclear spectroscopy at Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics

Experimental studies of nuclear excitations have been an important subject from the earliest days when the institute was established. The construction of 4 MeV proton cyclotron was mainly aimed to achieve this goal. Early experiments in nuclear spectroscopy were done with radioactive nuclei with the help of beta and gamma ray spectrometers. Small NaI(Tl) detectors were used for gamma-gamma coincidence, angular correlation and life time measurements. The excited states nuclear magnetic moments were measured in perturbed gamma-gamma angular correlation experiments. A high transmission magnetic beta ray spectrometer was used to measure internal conversion coefficients and beta-gamma coincidence studies. A large number of significant contributions were made during 1950–59 using these facilities. Proton beam in the cyclotron was made available in the late 1950’s and together with 14 MeV neutrons obtained from a C-W generator a large number of short-lived nuclei were investigated during 1960’s and 1970’s. The introduction of high resolution Ge gamma detectors and the improved electronics helped to extend the spectroscopic work which include on-line (p ₇ p′γ) and (p ₇ nγ) reaction studies. Nuclear spectroscopic studies entered a new phase in the 1980’s with the availability of 40–80 MeV alpha beam from the variable energy cyclotron at VECC, Calcutta. A number of experimental groups were formed in the institute to study nuclear level schemes with (α ₇ xnγ) reactions. Initially only two unsuppressed Ge detectors were used for coincidence studies. Later in 1989 five Ge detectors with a large six segmented NaI(Tl) multiplicitysum detector system were successfully used to select various channels in (α ₇ xnγ) reactions. From 1990 to date a variety of medium energy heavy ions were made available from the BARC-TIFR Pelletron and the Nuclear Science Centre Pelletron. The state of the art gamma detector arrays in these centres enabled the Saha Institute groups to undertake more sophisticated experiments. Front line nuclear spectroscopy works are now being done and new informations are obtained for a large number of nuclei over a wide mass range. Currently Saha Institute is building a multi-element gamma heavy ion neutron array detector (MEGHNAD), which will have six high efficiency clover Ge detector together with charged particle ball and other accessories. The system is expected to be usable in 2002 and will be used in experiments using high energy heavy ions from VECC.     

From low-momentum interactions to nuclear structure

We present an overview of low-momentum two-nucleon and many-body interactions and their use in calculations of nuclei and infinite matter. The softening of phenomenological and effective field theory (EFT) potentials by renormalization group (RG) transformations that decouple low and high momenta leads to greatly enhanced convergence in few- and many-body systems, while maintaining a decreasing hierarchy of many-body forces. This review surveys the RG-based technology and results, discusses the connections to chiral EFT, and clarifies various misconceptions.     

Hartree-Fock theory of nuclear deformations and high spin states

A brief review of the Hartree-Fock approximation to nuclear shapes and nuclear spectra is presented. Various aspects of rotation-alignment effect and high spin states are illustrated in the Hartree-Fock model.     

An endohedral fullerene-based nuclear spin quantum computer

We propose a new scalable quantum computer architecture based on endohedral fullerene molecules. Qubits are encoded in the nuclear spins of the endohedral atoms, which posses even longer coherence times than the electron spins which are used as the qubits in previous proposals. To address the individual qubits, we use the hyperfine interaction, which distinguishes two modes (active and passive) of the nuclear spin. Two-qubit quantum gates are effectively implemented by employing the electronic dipolar interaction between adjacent molecules. The electron spins also assist in the qubit initialization and readout. Our architecture should be significantly easier to implement than earlier proposals for spin-based quantum computers, such as the concept of Kane [B.E. Kane, Nature 393 (1998) 133].     

Signature dependence of 1/2+ bands in rare-earth nuclei: Rotation-alignment of g7/2 protons

The origin of the signature splitting of theK=1/2⁺ bands in odd Z rare-earth nuclei Ho, Tm and Lu, unexplained in previous models, is studied by angular momentum projection from deformed Hartree-Fock configurations. Energy spectra,E2 matrix elements and the rotation-aligned angular momenta of nucleons in i_{1 3/2}, h_{1 1/2} and g_7/2 orbits are calculated. Staggering in the rotation-alignment of protons in the g_7/2 orbit causes signature dependent effects in the 1/2⁺ bands.     

Nuclear structure at the proton drip line: Advances with nuclear decay studies

The study of nuclear decay modes reveals a large panel of nuclear structure phenomena and allows us to investigate the behaviour of the atomic nucleus with an extreme imbalance of the number of neutrons and protons with respect to stable nuclei. In the present paper, we review certain aspects of β-delayed decay modes, of one- and two-proton radioactivity, and of the experimental techniques which allowed us to get deep insights into the organisation of the atomic nucleus. In most cases, the study of these decay modes is the only means to obtain the information searched for. The investigation of nuclear decay modes is shown to be a powerful tool to study the most proton-rich nuclei and their nuclear structure.     

Signature effects in odd mass ytterbium nuclei in an angular momentum projected Hartree-Fock analysis

We explain the signature effects in the spectrum of odd mass Yb nuclei in a projected Hartree-Fock calculation without assuming gamma asymmetry. Rotation-alignment of nucleons in largej orbits is responsible for the signature dependence in energy and transition rates.     

Landau parameters and pairing-on the shores of the nuclear Fermi sea

We present a systematic scheme for calculating the ground-state energy, single-particle energies and the effective mass, Fermi-liquid parameters, and pairing matrix elements for nuclear and neutron matter with realistic state-dependent interactions. The method retains much of the clarity of more conventional treatments while permitting reliable numerical calculations. Deficiencies in the central Jastrow correlation operator ansatz are largely overcome by low-order perturbation theory in the correlated basis generated by the Jastrow operator. Calculations of these quantities are presented for the Reid and Bethe-Johnson interactions. An analysis of the results emphasizes the importance of state-dependent correlations arising directly from the interaction or indirectly through many-body effects. The numerical results provide insight into the actual structure of the self-energy operator in nuclear and neutron matter and into the usefulness of sum rules for the quasiparticle interaction and the Landau parameters.     

Three-dimensional structure of low-density nuclear matter

We numerically explore the pasta structures and properties of low-density nuclear matter without any assumption on the geometry. We observe conventional pasta structures, while a mixture of the pasta structures appears as a metastable state at some transient densities. We also discuss the lattice structure of droplets.     

Development of co-located 129Xe and 131Xe nuclear spin masers with external feedback scheme

We report on the operation of co-located ¹²⁹Xe and ¹³¹Xe nuclear spin masers with an external feedback scheme, and discuss the use of ¹³¹Xe as a comagnetometer in measurements of the ¹²⁹Xe spin precession frequency. By applying a correction based on the observed change in the ¹³¹Xe frequency, the frequency instability due to magnetic field and cell temperature drifts are eliminated by two orders of magnitude. The frequency precision of 6.2 μHz is obtained for a 10⁴ s averaging time, suggesting the possibility of future improvement to ≈ 1 nHz by improving the signal-to-noise ratio of the observation.     

The nuclear structure of 225Ra

The level structure of ²²⁵Ra has been studied using the (d, t) reaction with both unpolarised and polarised deuterons and the β^? decay of ²²⁵Fr. Cross sections and excitation energies have been measured for 41 levels below 1800 keV in the (d, t) reaction, and levels up to 724 keV have been established from the β^? decay measurements. The level structure is interpreted in terms of the Nilsson model.     

Advantages of the use of solid-state nuclear track detectors in high-temperature plasma experiments

This paper reports on measurements performed with the use of SSNTDs at the PF-1000 Plasma-Focus facility in Warsaw and TEXTOR tokamak in Juelich. Fusion reaction protons were measured within the PF-1000 facility and TEXTOR tokamak.     

Correlation between muonic levels and nuclear structure in muonic atoms

A method that deals with the nucleons and the muon unitedly is employed to investigate the muonic lead, with which the correlation between the muon and nucleus can be studied distinctly. A “kink” appears in the muonic isotope shift at a neutron magic number where the nuclear shell structure plays a key role. This behavior may have very important implications for the experimentally probing the shell structure of the nuclei far away from the β-stable line. We investigate the variations of the nuclear structure due to the interaction with the muon in the muonic atom and find that the nuclear structure remains basically unaltered. Therefore, the muon is a clean and reliable probe for studying the nuclear structure. In addition, a correction that the muon-induced slight change in the proton density distribution in turn shifts the muonic levels is investigated. This correction to muonic level is as important as the Lamb shift and high order vacuum polarization correction, but is larger than anomalous magnetic moment and electron shielding correction.     

香港大学在束伽玛谱学研究与新一代伽玛探测器阵列(英文)

探索原子核的壳层演化,验证奇特核的幻数结构是香港大学核物理研究的重要方向。目前,科研团队利用在束伽玛谱学技术已经研究了30Ne的N=20幻数消失和78Ni（Z=28,N=50）附近原子核的双幻数结构,而即将开展的53,56Ca在束伽玛谱学实验会对新幻数N=34的定量研究,以及到N=40核的壳层演化提供重要的数据。下一步的研究目标是探索100Sn（N=Z=50）的奇特结构,特别是研究它的第一个2+激发态与其邻近原子核的低激发态性质。100Sn处于质子滴线以及核天体快质子俘获路径上,因此,它的幻数结构及其临近原子核单粒子性能研究将会极大增强对核力和核合成机制的认识。为了进一步提高物理实验统计,香港大学在数量上增加了30% NaI（Tl）晶体从而全面升级了DALI2伽玛探测阵列。此外,为了探索远离稳定线核区的新物理,开展更高精度在束伽玛谱学实验,香港大学与中国科学院近代物理研究所、中国原子能科学研究院计划合作研制基于溴化镧晶体的新一代伽玛探测器阵列。这套阵列主要在兰州重离子加速器（HIRFL）和将来建成的强流重离子加速器（HIAF）等大科学装置上开展实验,从而在奇特核研究方面取得大量重要的成果,促进科研人员全面认识、理解核力以及天体核合成过程。Exploring the evolution of shell closures and examining the magicity of extremely exotic nuclei are the main research interests of HKU (University of Hong Kong) experimental nuclear physics group. The group has employed in-beam gamma-ray spectroscopy technique to investigate the vanishing of N=20 magicity in 30Ne (N=20) and the strong magicity in nuclei around 78Ni (Z=28, N=50). The approved future's experiment on spectroscopy of 53,56Ca, proposed by HKU, will give quantitative information for the "magic index" of N=34 and shell evolution toward N=40. The next goal is to investigate the structure of 100Sn (N=Z=50), particularly the energy of the first 2+ state, and the low-lying states in the neighboring nuclei. 100Sn lies on the proton drip-line and on the astrophysical rp-process path. Characterizing the magicity of 100Sn and the nature of single-particle states in its neighboring nuclei is therefore essential to the fundamental understanding of nuclear forces and nucleo-synthesis. To significantly increase the data statistics for our physics goals, HKU group has prepared the upgrade of gamma-ray spectrometer DALI2 with 30% more NaI(Tl) detectors integrated into a new array configuration. On the other hand, next significant insights into the structure of nuclei would require new gamma-ray detection array capable for higher precision gamma-ray spectroscopy. HKU group in collaboration with IMP and CIAE therefore proposes to construct a new-generation gamma-ray detection array based on the novel scintillator LaBr₃(Ce) to explore the new physics in nuclei far from the valley of stability. Utilizing the radioactive beams at the Chinese large-scale facilities such as the Heavy Ion Research Facility in Lanzhou (HIRFL) in IMP and the future's High Intensity heavy-ion Accelerator Facility (HIAF), this novel LaBr₃(Ce) array would lead to a significant boost to the frontiers of exotic-nuclei research, which will guide scientists towards the comprehensive and even beyond-traditional understanding of nuclear forces and nucleosynthesis.     

从自旋冰到自旋液态的渡越——结构与磁性质的演化

使用固相反应法得到了Ho_2-xTb_xTi₂O₇（x=0,05,1,15,2）系列多晶样品.X射线衍射（XRD）实验与2K到300K温度区间的直流磁化率测量结果显示,随着Tb即是x的增加,体系由自旋冰Ho₂Ti₂O₇向自旋液Tb₂Ti₂O_{7关键词： 自旋冰 自旋液体 自旋阻挫 晶格结构}     

The Lamb-dip spectrum of phosphine: The nuclear hyperfine structure due to hydrogen and phosphorus

For the first time, the hyperfine structure of the rotational J = 1 ← 0 (K = 0) and J = 2 ← 1 (K = 0, 1) transitions of phosphine has been resolved by using microwave spectroscopy. To this purpose, the Lamb-dip technique has been employed. In addition, the J = 3 ← 2 (K = 0, 1, 2) transition has been recorded at Doppler resolution. The present investigation allowed us to provide accurate values for most of the hyperfine constants as well as ground state rotational parameters.