On the coexistence of deformed and spherical states in Odd-Mass Nuclei

The problem of coexisting deformed and spherical states in Odd-Mass Nuclei is discussed within the framework of the Unified Model. The emphasis is made on the coupling between such states. Numerical calculations were performed for¹¹⁵In. The basic spherical states are either¹¹⁶Sn plus a (proton) hole or¹¹⁴Cd plus a (proton) particle. The agreement between calculated and experimental quantities is rather good.     

Shell structure of new magic nuclei: Systematics of features

Investigation of the structure of the upper shells of new magic nuclei revealed an empirical regularity with the following characteristic feature: closed proton and neutron subshells, with identically large total angular momenta (j = j coupling), are located near the Fermi energy and there is a closed subshell with j = 1/2 above one of them. The properties of the nuclei exhibiting this feature of closed upper proton and neutron subshells have been investigated in detail. Quantitative manifestation of the new magicity effects, depending on the occupancy of the corresponding subshells with nucleons, has been analyzed. Several nuclei have been found, which, obviously, also have magic properties, and all classical, new magic, and nonmagic oxygen isotopes ^14–48O have been considered from the new point of view.     

Role of the quasiparticle structure in α-decays of superheavy nuclei

The one-quasiparticle structures of nuclei in the α-decay chains of ²⁸⁷114 and ²⁹³116 are studied using a modified two-center shell model. Two-quasiparticle states are revealed in the α-decay chain of even-even nuclei ^286,288114. The calculated values for Q _α are compared to the available experimental data. The termination of the α-decay chains by spontaneous fission is analyzed.     

The 114In level scheme studied by the (n, γ) reaction

The level scheme of the nucleus ¹¹⁴In has been studied using capture of thermal neutrons. The experimental information is taken from γ singles spectra and γ-γ coincidence spectra and from delayed coincidence measurements. Levels up to 1.4 MeV excitation energy are proposed. Several short lifetimes of excited states in ¹¹⁴In and ¹¹⁶In could be measured. The binding energy of the last neutron in ¹¹⁴In, B_n = 7273.9 ± 1.2 keV, determined in this work is in strong disagreement with previously accepted values. Additional experimental information on the ¹¹⁶In level scheme is given. Six states of the ($\text{π(}\text{g}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>9</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}\text{)}{}^{\mathrm{?1}}\text{, ν}\text{h}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>11</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}$) multiplet (3^? to 8^?) in ¹¹⁴In. The expected close similarity between many low-lying states in ¹¹⁴In and ¹¹⁶In could be confirmed. In particular, it was found that the anomalous high isomeric cross-section ratio of the second isomeric state results from very selective reorientation transitions within the negative-parity multiplet. The coupling constant of the quadrupole part of the residual neutron-proton interaction obtained from a theoretical calculation of the ¹¹⁴In level scheme is similar in size to that of ¹¹⁶In, thus giving credit to the explanation given in our previous ¹¹⁶In work. The splitting of multiplets in doubly odd In nuclei gives additional information for an interpretation of the so-called $\text{g}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>7</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}{}^{\mathrm{?}}\text{h}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>11</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}$ anomaly in stripping studies near A = 110. Transition probability ratios B(M1)/B(E2) and E1 hindrance factors are discussed for both ¹¹⁴In and ¹¹⁶In. No sign of states exhibiting stable deformation similar to those in odd-A In nuclei has been found up to now in the doubly odd In nuclei studied. There is some evidence that these doubly odd In nuclei behave more like Cd than like single closed shell Sn nuclei.     

The deformation of the ground and excited states in the Ag and Sn nuclei

The microscopic calculation of the potential energies in the ground and excited states of Ag and Sn nuclei has been performed. The single particle Nilsson potential and the shell correction Strutinski method have been used. The weak sensitivness to nonaxial deformation has been found for even neighbours of these nuclei. The small tendency towards prolate deformation of the ground and excited one-quasiparticle states originating from theg _9/2 proton subshell in^101–105Ag odd isotopes has been noticed. The behaviour with quadrupole e and hexadecapole ε₄ deformation of the ground and two-quasiparticle excited 0⁺ states originating from thed _5/2,g _9/2 andg _7/2 proton subshells andh _11/2 neutron subshell in^112–118Sn has been investigated. The small quadrupole deformation of the excited 0⁺ states has been found what is in agreement with the experimental data concerning the rotational bands build on the first excited 0⁺ states in Sn isotopes.     

Parameters of the <Superscript>64,66,68,70</Superscript>Zn single-particle structure

Populations and energies of neutron subshells in ^{64, 66, 68, 70}Zn and proton subshells in ^{64, 66, 68}Zn are found from the joint evaluation of the data on stripping and pickup reactions and data on spins and parities of nuclear states. The analysis of the thus obtained parameters made it possible to find population features of the nucleon subshells in the nuclei mentioned. A relation between these features and the available data on the first excited 2⁺ states and deformations in this region of nuclei is shown.     

Coulomb displacement energies in nuclei: A new approach

In the present work the positions of the isobaric analog resonances (IAR) are calculated using the HF-TDA theory with a complete proton particle-neutron hole basis. The important feature of this approach is the fact that the HF potential and the particle-hole interaction used in the TDA are derived from the same two-body interaction. In this theory all the higher order effects are taken into account in one consistent framework. The calculations are performed for several N > Z, closed shell nuclei. For these nuclei good agreement between the experimental and theoretical excitation energies of the IAR is obtained.     

Binding energies of even-even superheavy nuclei in a semi-microscopic approach

The structure of some even-even superheavy nuclei with the proton number Z = 98?120 is studied using a semi-microscopic but not self-consistent model. The macroscopic energy part is obtained from the Skyrme nucleon-nucleon interaction in the semi-classical extended Thomas-Fermi approach. A simple but accurate method is derived for calculating the direct part of the Coulomb energy. The microscopic shell plus pairing energy corrections are calculated from the traditional Strutinsky method. Within this semi-microscopic approach, the total energy curves with the quadrupole deformation of the studied superheavy nuclei were calculated. The same approach features the well known ²⁰⁸Pb or ²³⁸U nuclei. For each nucleus the model predictions for the binding energy, the deformation parameters, the half-density radii and comparison with other theoretical models are made. The calculated binding energies are in good agreement with the available experimental data.     

Synthesis of 292116 in the 248Cm + 48Ca reaction

We report on the observation of the first decay event of the new nuclide ²⁹²116 produced in an experiment devoted to the synthesis of Z=116 nuclei in the ²⁴⁸Cm + ⁴⁸Ca reaction. The implantation of a heavy recoil in the focal-plane detector was followed in 46.9 ms by an α particle with E _α=10.56MeV. The energies and decay times of the descendant nuclei are in agreement with those observed in the decay chains of the even-even isotope ²⁸⁸114, previously produced in the ²⁴⁴Pu + ⁴⁸Ca reaction. Thus, the first α decay should be attributed to the parent nuclide ²⁹²116 produced via the evaporation of four neutrons in the complete fusion of ²⁴⁸Cm and ⁴⁸Ca. The experiment is in progress at Flerov Laboratory for Nuclear Reactions (FLNR, JINR, Dubna).     

Low lying 8 and 12 hole states in light nuclei

The positions of 4, 8 and 12 hole states in alpha particle nuclei from ²²⁰Ne to ⁵²Fe are calculated using a j dependent monopole-monopole interaction with an A⁻¹ dependence. The 12 hole states in ⁴⁰Ca and ⁴⁴Ti are lower than the 8 hole states and are calculated to be at 5 and 3 MeV respectively. B(E2)'s are calculated for ⁴⁰Ca and the nature of the 5.21 MeV state is discussed.     

Description of low-lying vibrationalK π≠0+ states of deformed nuclei in the quasiparticle-phonon nuclear model

The QPNM equations are derived taking account of p-h and p-p interactions. The calculated quadrupole, octupole and hexadecapole vibrational states in¹⁶⁸Er,¹⁷²Yb and¹⁷⁸Hf are found to be in reasonable agreement with experimental data. It is shown that distribution of theEλ strength in some deformed nuclei differs from the standard one. There are cases when for a givenK ^π theEλ strength is concentrated not on the first but on higher-lying states. The assertion made earlier about the absence of collective two-phonon states in deformed nuclei is confirmed.     

Reaction spectroscopy with even tin isotopes

The two-particle transfer reactions ^{116, 118}Sn(t, p) and the inelastic scattering of 55 MeV protons from ¹¹⁶Sn and 16 MeV protons from ^{116, 118, 120}Sn are analysed for various transitions to collective and non-collective states in the final nucleus using DWBA. Form factors have been calculated with wave functions containing two-quasiparticle excitations of neutrons in open and closed shells as well as 1p-1h transitions from closed proton shells. In the inelastic scattering, generally a Serber-type Gaussian effective interaction was inserted. The results are compared with those obtained on the assumption of two-quasiparticle excitations in a restricted configuration space only. For both types of reaction, reasonable agreement with experimental data is obtained for the angular distribution. In the (t, p) reaction the measured and calculated relative cross sections agree within a factor of two. For the inelastic scattering, apart from relative cross sections the mass dependence of the collective excitations and the influence of four-quasiparticle excitations have been examined. The transition to the collective 2⁺ level in ¹¹⁶Sn was calculated with the proton component of the wave function corrected according to electromagnetic measurements. From inelastic scattering it follows that the transitions to negative-parity states especially are not described satisfactorily by the wave functions used. Cross sections for unobserved higher excited levels have been estimated.     

Binding energies of even-even superheavy nuclei

The structure of the even-even superheavy nuclei with the proton number Z=98–110 is studied using the self-consistent relativistic mean-field theory. The calculated binding energies are in good agreement with the available experimental ones. An upper limit and a lower limit on the binding energies are set by the calculations. This is useful for future calculations of properties of superheavy nuclei and for the experimental synthesis of superheavy nuclei. The energy surface of some relevant superheavy nuclei is also given and it confirms the correctness of the calculations.     

Predictions of decay modes for the superheavy nuclei most suitable for synthesis

The competition between α-decay and spontaneous fission of superheavy nuclei(SHN) is investigated by the generalized liquid drop model(GLDM) and the modified Swiatecki's formula respectively. The theoretical decay modes are in good agreement with the experimental results. Predictions are made for as-yet unobserved superheavy nuclei. The theoretical calculations show that the nuclei~(298)120,~(295)119,~(290)118,~(291)117,~(287)117,~(294)116,~(289)116,~(286)116,~(285)116,~(284)115,~(283)115,~(283)114,~(282)114,~(280)113,~(276)112,~(275)112,~(274)112,~(273)111,~(272)110,~(265)109 may be synthesized experimentally in the near future since they not only have relatively large predicted cross sections but can also be identified via α-decay chains.     

Neutron and proton shell closure in the superheavy region via cluster radioactivity in <Superscript>280–314</Superscript>116 isotopes

Based on the concept of cold valley in fission and fusion, the radioactive decay of superheavy^280–314116 nuclei was studied taking Coulomb and proximity potentials as the interacting barrier. It is found that the inclusion of proximity potential does not change the position of minima but minima become deeper which agrees with the earlier findings of Gupta and co-workers. In addition to alpha particle minima, the other deepest minima occur for ⁸Be, ^12,14C clusters. In the fission region two deep regions are found each consisting of several comparable minima, the first region centred on ²⁰⁸Pb and the second is around ¹³²Sn. The cluster decay half-lives and other characteristics are computed for various clusters ranging from alpha particle to ⁷⁰Ni. The computed half-lives for alpha decay match with the experimental values and with the values calculated using Viola-Seaborg-Sobiczewski (VSS) systematic. The plots connecting computed Q values and half-lives against neutron number of daughter nuclei were studied for different clusters and it is found that the next neutron shell closures occur at N = 162, 172 and 184. Isotopic and isobaric mass parabolas are studied for various cluster emissions and minima of parabola indicate neutron shell closure at N = 162, 184 and proton shell closure at Z = 114. Our study shows that ₁₆₂²⁷⁶114 is the deformed doubly magic and ₁₈₄²⁹⁸114 is the spherical doubly magic nuclei.      

Collective bands in even mass Sn isotopes

Positive parity bands in ^{112, 114, 116, 118}Sn have been excited up to levels with spin and parity J^π = 12⁺ using Cd(α, 2nγ)Sn reactions. The experiments consisted of γ-ray excitation function, γ-γ coincidence, lifetime, γ-ray angular distribution, γ-ray linear polarization and conversion electron measurements. The observed bands show strong resemblances with ground-state bands of transitional nuclei in this mass region. It is pointed out that the J^π = 0⁺ band-heads originate from 2p-2h excitations in the Z = 50 proton shell. The excitation energies of the band-heads are calculated by means of the macroscopic-microscopic renormalization method. Pair correlations between the 2h and 2p configurations are included separately in a phenomenological way by taking into account the pairing energies of the Cd and Te ground states with respect to the Sn ground state.