Nuclear symmetry energy effects in finite nuclei and neutron star

Within a relativistic mean-field model with nonlinear isoscalar–isovector coupling, we explore the possibility of constraining the density dependence of nuclear symmetry energy from a systematic study of the neutron skin thickness of finite nuclei and neutron star properties. We find the present skin data supports a rather stiff symmetry energy at subsaturation densities that corresponds to a soft symmetry energy at supranormal densities. Correlation between the skin of ²⁰⁸Pb and the neutron star masses and radii with kaon condensation has been studied. We find that ²⁰⁸Pb skin estimate suggest star radii that reveals considerable model dependence. Thus precise measurements of neutron star radii in conjunction with skin thickness of heavy nuclei could provide significant constraint on the density dependence of symmetry energy.     

Search for spontaneous transition of nuclei to a superdense state

We report the results of an experimental search for spontaneous transition of nuclei from ordinary to superdense state in NaI(Tl). New limits on the superdense-state parameters are presented.     

Global systematics of the Wigner energy

Following Zeldes, double-beta decay Q   values are used as a filter for extracting symmetry energy and Wigner energy coefficients across the full range of nuclei, from A=10$A=10$ to A=246$A=246$. The symmetry coefficient extracted is found to vary smoothly with A and mass formula coefficients can be determined for the corresponding symmetry and surface symmetry terms. However, the extracted Wigner coefficient has large standard errors and fluctuates dramatically with A, even as regards its sign. Shell corrections remove most of the fluctuations and allow the determination of a reliable Wigner coefficient for the mass formula.     

A-dependence of the γ- and p-induced production of the Λ(1520) from nuclei

Using results of a recent calculation of the Λ(1520) in the nuclear medium, which show that the medium width is about five times the free width, we study the A-dependence of the Λ(1520) production cross-section in the reactions γA → K⁺Λ(1520)A^′ and pA → pK⁺Λ(1520)A^′. We find a sizable A-dependence in the ratio of the nuclear cross-sections for heavy nuclei with respect to a light one due to the large value of the Λ(1520) width in the medium, showing that devoted experiments, easily within reach in present facilities, can provide good information on that magnitude by measuring the cross-sections studied here.     

Instabilities in nuclear matter and finite nuclei

Spinodal instability in nuclear matter and finite nuclei is investigated. This instability occurs in the low-density region of the phase diagram. The thermodynamical and dynamical analysis is based on Landau theory of Fermi liquids. It is shown that asymmetric nuclear matter can be characterized by a unique spinodal region, defined by the instability against isoscalar-like fluctuation, as in symmetric nuclear matter. Everywhere in this density region the system is stable against isovector-like fluctuations related to the species separation tendency. Nevertheless, this instability in asymmetric nuclear matter induces isospin distillation leading to a more symmetric liquid phase and a more neutron-rich gas phase.     

The symmetry energy in nuclei and in nuclear matter

We discuss to what extent information on ground-state properties of finite nuclei (energies and radii) can be used to obtain constraints on the symmetry energy in nuclear matter and its dependence on the density. The starting point is a generalized Weizs?cker formula for ground-state energies. In particular, effects from the Wigner energy and shell structure on the symmetry energy are investigated. Strong correlations in the parameter space prevent a clear isolation of the surface contribution. Use of neutron skin information improves the situation. The result of the analysis appears consistent with a rather soft density dependence of the symmetry energy in nuclear matter.     

System dependence of the correlation function of IMFs in Ar + Sn at 35 MeV/u

The inclusive reduced velocity correlation functions of the intermediate mass fragments were measured in the reactions of ³⁶Ar + ^112,124Sn at 35 MeV/u. The anti-correlation is observed to be stronger in ³⁶Ar + ¹²⁴Sn system than that in ³⁶Ar + ¹¹²Sn. The difference of the correlation functions between the two reactions is mainly contributed by the particle pairs with high momenta. A three body Coulomb repulsive trajectory model is employed to calculate the emission time scale of the IMFs for the two systems. The time scale is 150 fm/c in ³⁶Ar + ¹¹²Sn and 120 fm/c in the ³⁶Ar + ¹²⁴Sn, respectively.     

Saturation of nuclear matter and realistic interactions

In this communication we study symmetric nuclear matter for the Brueckner-Hartree-Fock approach, using two realistic nucleon-nucleon interactions (CD-Bonn and Bonn C). The single-particle energy is calculated self-consistently from the real on-shell self-energy. The relation between different expressions for the pressure is studied in cold nuclear matter. For best calculations the self-energy is calculated with the inclusion of hole-hole (hh) propagation. The effects of hh contributions and a self-consistent treatment within the framework of the Green function approach are investigated. Using two different methods, namely, G-matrix and bare potential, the hh term is calculated. We found that using G-matrix brought about non-negligible contribution to the self-energy, but this difference is very small and can be ignored if compared with the large contribution coming from particle-particle term. The contribution of the hh term leads to a repulsive contribution to the Fermi energy which increases with density. For extended Brueckner-Hartree-Fock approach the Fermi energy at the saturation point fulfills the Hugenholtz-Van Hove relation.     

Precision mass measurements of radioactive nuclei at JYFLTRAP

The Penning trap mass spectrometer JYFLTRAP was used to measure the atomic masses of radioactive nuclei with an uncertainty better than 10 keV. The atomic masses of the neutron-deficient nuclei around the line were measured to improve the understanding of the rp-process path and the SbSnTe cycle. Furthermore, the masses of the neutron-rich gallium ( ) to palladium ( ) nuclei have been measured. The physics impacts on the nuclear structure and the r-process paths are reviewed. A better understanding of the nuclear deformation is presented by studying the pairing energy around .     

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.     

Masses of atomic nuclei far from stability

It is shown that a new way of applying a set of nuclear-mass relations among neighbouring nuclei, known as the Garvey–Kelson (GK) relations, holds exceptionally well for all currently measured masses. It is then demonstrated that these relationships are not adequately fulfilled for the best-known procedures to predict unknown masses. This suggests that these models may be optimized by constraining them to satisfy the (generalized) GK equations.     

Detection of magnetic nanoparticles with magnetoencephalography

Superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) have been widely utilized in biomedical applications due to their extremely high sensitivity to magnetic signals. The present study explores the feasibility of a new type of nanotechnology-based imaging method using standard clinical magnetoencephalographic (MEG) systems equipped with SQUID sensors. Previous studies have shown that biological targets labeled with non-toxic, magnetized nanoparticles can be imaged by measuring the magnetic field generated by these particles. In this work, we demonstrate that (1) the magnetic signals from certain nanoparticles can be detected without magnetization using standard clinical MEG, (2) for some types of nanoparticles, only bound particles produce detectable signals, and (3) the magnetic field of particles several hours after magnetization is significantly stronger than that of un-magnetized particles. These findings hold promise in facilitating the potential application of magnetic nanoparticles to in vivo tumor imaging. The minimum amount of nanoparticles that produce detectable signals is predicted by theoretical modeling and computer simulation.     

Dynamical response functions in correlated fermionic systems

Response functions in nuclear matter at finite temperature are considered beyond the usual Hartree-Fock plus random phase approximation (RPA) scheme. The contributions due to the propagator for the dressed nucleons and the corresponding vertex corrections are treated in a consistent way. For that purpose a semi-realistic Hamiltonian is developed with parameters adjusted to reproduce the nucleon self-energy as derived from realistic nucleon-nucleon interactions. For a scalar residual interaction the resulting response functions are very close to the RPA response functions. However, the collective modes, if present, get an additional width due to the coupling to multi-pair configurations. For isospin-dependent residual interactions we find strong modifications of isospin response functions due to multi-pair contributions in the response function. Such a modification can lead to the disappearance of collective spin or isospin modes in a correlated system and shall have an effect on the absorption rate of neutrinos in nuclear matter.     

A Small Signal Equivalent Circuit Model for Resonant Tunnelling Diode

We report a resonant tunnelling diode （RTD） small signal equivalent circuit model consisting of quantum capacitance and quantum inductance. The model is verified through the actual InAs/In0.53Ga0.47As/AlAs RTD fabricated on an InP substrate. Model parameters are extracted by fitting the equivalent circuit model with ac measurement data in three different regions of RTD current-voltage （I-V） characteristics. The electron lifetime, representing the average time that the carriers remain in the quasibound states during the tunnelling process, is also calculated to be 2.09ps.     

Comments on “A study of amorphous Ti–Ni alloys by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy”

Recently, Seabolt et al. have published a paper [M.A. Seabolt, W.R. Ogden, A.R. Chourasia, A. Ishida, J. Electron Spectrosc. Relat. Phenom. 135 (2004) 135] in which – among others – they determine the density of states (DOS) in some materials by electron spectroscopic means. The experimental work they do is impressive and they do a pioneering work with trying to make a quantitative analysis of the density of states. However, the oversimplified data evaluation method strongly degrades the value of their work. The authors state (but do not show) that the results of a complementary analysis support their conclusions, but the principle and some technical mistakes during the data evaluation make some results of the work unreliable. Below, their data analysis method is scrutinized and it is shown that the quantitative information they derive is more likely a data evaluation artifact, stemming from the inherent features of the Shirley-type background removal, rather than a quantitative measure of the DOS.     

Nonextensive effects on the phase structure of quantum hadrodynamics

In this Letter, we investigate nonextensive effects on phase transition in nuclear matter in the context Walecka many-body field theory. A difference is observed when the results calculated for the nuclear matter at vanishing baryon density is compared to those obtained through the standard Fermi-Dirac distribution. It is observed a dependence between the nonextensive parameter q and the coupling constants of the phase transition. A numerical relation for this thermodynamical dependence is also proposed.     

A systematic study on the binding energy of Λ hypernuclei

We calculate the binding energy per baryon of the Λ hypernuclei systematically, using the relativistic mean field theory (RMF) in a static frame. Some similar properties are found for most of the Λ hypernuclei confirmed by experiments. The data show that a Λ hypernucleus will be more stable if it is made by adding a Λ hyperon to a stable normal nuclear core, or by replacing a neutron by a Λ hyperon to a stable normal nuclear core. According to our calculations, the existence of some new Λ hypernuclei are predicted under the frame of RMF.