Influence of isovector pairing and particle-number projection effects on spectroscopic factors for one-pair like-particle transfer reactions in proton-rich even-even nuclei

Isovector neutron-proton(np) pairing and particle-number fluctuation effects on the spectroscopic factors(SF) corresponding to one-pair like-particle transfer reactions in proton-rich even-even nuclei are studied. With this aim, expressions of the SF corresponding to two-neutron stripping and two-proton pick-up reactions, which take into account the isovector np pairing effect, are established within the generalized BCS approach, using a schematic definition proposed by Chasman. Expressions of the same SF which strictly conserve the particle number are also established within the Sharp-BCS(SBCS) discrete projection method. In both cases, it is shown that these expressions generalize those obtained when only the pairing between like particles is considered. First, the formalism is tested within the Richardson schematic model. Second, it is applied to study even-even proton-rich nuclei using the single-particle energies of a Woods-Saxon mean-field. In both cases, it is shown that the np pairing effect and the particle-number projection effect on the SF values are important, particularly in N =Z nuclei, and must then be taken into account.     

Statistical properties of excited fissioning nuclei

The phenomenon of the disappearance of the shell effects on the thermodynamic properties of nuclei with increasing excitation energy has been examined quantitatively on the basis of numerical calculations based on realistic shell model single particle level schemes. It is shown that shell effects disappear at moderate excitation energies and above these excitation energies, the thermodynamic behaviour of the nucleus is identical to that of the equivalent liquid drop model nucleus. Implications of the above feature in the interpretation of some aspects of fission of excited nuclei such as mass-asymmetry and angular anisotropy are examined. The relationship of the phenomenon of washing out of shell effects at high excitation energies with the temperature smearing method of determining ground state shell correction energies is also outlined.     

Photofission of nuclei with allowance for wriggling vibrations of fissioning nuclei

It is confirmed that one source of the large relative orbital momenta L of fragments in spontaneous and stimulated low-energy nuclear fission is quantum transverse zero-point wriggling vibrations of the fissioning system near its scission point. The angular distributions of fragments of low-energy photofission of actinide nuclei, calculated using the quantum theory of fission, are compared. Vibrations are allowed for by using parameter C _w determined by Nix and Swiatecki. Agreement between the experimental and theoretical angular distributions for ²³⁴U, ²³⁶U, ²³⁸U, ²³⁸Pu, ²⁴⁰Pu, ²⁴²Pu nuclei is observed. The strong sensitivity of the theoretical angular distributions for ²³⁸Pu, ²⁴⁰Pu, ²⁴²Pu nuclei toward the choice of parameters of transient fissioning states at the external and internal fission barriers is demonstrated.     

Rotation of fissioning nuclei in reactions with polarized neutrons

Advantages and disadvantages of taking into account rotation of polarized nuclei in classical trajectory calculations of ternary fission are considered. Expressions for polarization of the fissioning deformed compound nucleus which allow for the quantum number K in the fission channel are derived.     

Direct calculation of intermolecular potential energy surfaces

A variation perturbation method is presented for the direct calculation of intermolecular interaction energies. The theory is based on valence bond ideas but avoids the full evaluation of the matrix elements by expansion in powers of interchange, a procedure which is valid for small overlap between the systems. The participating excited states are regarded as polarized pseudo-states and are determined by optimizing the long-range multipole-multipole part of the interaction energy. The validity of these ideas is illustrated by a calculation of the He-He interaction. A remarkable simplification is pointed out, in which the interaction energy is given almost exactly by the sum of the repulsive term, calculated as zero + single interchange, plus the long-range interaction.     

A microscopic study of the dipole giant resonance in fissioning nuclei

Microscopic calculations of the dipole giant resonance in fissioning nuclei give a splitting of the dipole strength into three collective branches, contrary to two branches as predicted by the hydrodynamical model. These collective phenomena have been studied with simplifying separable interactions and sum-rule approaches, and found to be fairly independent of mass number and shell structure. The detailed dependence of excitation energies, dipole strengths and transition densities on the fission coordinate could give rise to interesting phenomena, particularly in electrofission experiments.     

Calculation of multidimensional potential energy surfaces for even-even transuranium nuclei: systematic investigation of the triaxiality effect on the fission barrier

Static fission barriers for 95 even-even transuranium nuclei with charge number Z = 94-118 have been systematically investigated by means of pairing self-consistent Woods-Saxon-Strutinsky calculations using the potential energy surface approach in multidimensional(β_2, γ, β_4) deformation space. Taking the heavier (252)~Cf nucleus(with the available fission barrier from experiment) as an example, the formation of the fission barrier and the influence of macroscopic, shell and pairing correction energies on it are analyzed. The results of the present calculated β_2 values and barrier heights are compared with previous calculations and available experiments. The role of triaxiality in the region of the first saddle is discussed. It is found that the second fission barrier is also considerably affected by the triaxial deformation degree of freedom in some nuclei(e.g., the Z =112-118 isotopes). Based on the potential energy curves, general trends of the evolution of the fission barrier heights and widths as a function of the nucleon numbers are investigated. In addition, the effects of Woods-Saxon potential parameter modifications(e.g.,the strength of the spin-orbit coupling and the nuclear surface diffuseness) on the fission barrier are briefly discussed.     

Efficient generation of flexible-monomer intermolecular potential energy surfaces

A new method of generating flexible-monomer intermolecular interaction potentials has been proposed. The method, based on symmetry-adapted perturbation theory, extends a rigid-monomer potential into a flexible-monomer one at a cost negligible compared to performing calculations on a full-dimensional grid (i.e., including internal degrees of freedom of monomers). The non-rigidity effects are accounted for by density-overlap integrals and by asymptotic expansion coefficients. Results for a model system (Ar-HF) demonstrate that the method recovers a substantial portion of these effects.     

Calculations of potential energy surfaces in the complex plane

Procedures are developed and tested for the numerical analytic continuation of the difference between two potential energy surfaces of the same symmetry in the vicinity of their complex-valued intersection. Rational fractions are used for curve-fitting ΔE as a function of either one or two independent, complex nuclear coordinates. The rational fractions are constructed from discrete values of ΔE(R, r) to exhibit the branch-point structure explicit in the complex square root function. For analytic continuation to values of the nuclear coordinates with small imaginary parts only real-valued input points are required. In order to analytically continue ΔE farther off the real-axis a few complex-valued input points must be used in addition to the real-valued data. The rational-fraction methods are tested for two systems : (a) the energy difference between the 3σ and 4σ states of HeH⁺⁺ and (b) the energy difference between the two lowest singlet states of H₃ ⁺ at collinear geometries. In both cases, the rational fractions accurately represent the actual potentials on the real axis and when analytically continued into the complex nuclear coordinate plane. In (b), the first derivatives of the rational fractions are calculated and found to be sufficiently accurate for semiclassical calculations on molecular collisions.     

P-odd,T-even symmetries for products of the spontaneous fissioning of oriented nuclei

P-Odd, T-even asymmetries in angular distributions of products from the binary and ternary spontaneous fissioning of nuclei oriented in strong magnetic fields at ultralow temperature are described for the first time by means of the quantum theory of fission. Using the spin density matrix of a fissioning nucleus and considering the notable octupole deformations of the nucleus that appear in the vicinity of its scission point, we show that coefficients of the asymmetries in question are governed by the orientation parameters of a fissioning nucleus with Q = 1 and Q = 3. The coefficients obtained in this work are compared to the analogous coefficients in the fissioning of unoriented target nuclei by polarized neutrons and oriented target nuclei by unpolarized neutrons.     

Potential energy surfaces and fission fragment mass yields of even-even superheavy nuclei

Potential energy surfaces and fission barriers of superheavy nuclei are analyzed in a macroscopic-microscopic model. The Lublin-Strasbourg Drop (LSD) model is used to obtain the macroscopic part of the energy, whereas the shell and pairing energy corrections are evaluated using the Yukawa-folded potential; a standard flooding technique is utilized to determine barrier heights. A Fourier shape parametrization containing only three deformation parameters is shown to effectively reproduce the nuclear shapes of nuclei approaching fission. In addition, a non-axial degree of freedom is taken into account to better describe the structure of nuclei around the ground state and in the saddle region. In addition to the symmetric fission valley, a new highly asymmetric fission mode is predicted in most superheavy nuclei. The fission fragment mass distributions of the considered nuclei are obtained by solving 3D Langevin equations.     

Microscopically derived potential energy surfaces from mostly structural considerations

A simple procedure to estimate the quadrupole Potential-Energy-Surface (PES) is presented, using mainly structural information, namely the content of the shell model space and the Pauli exclusion principle. Further microscopic properties are implicitly contained through the use of results from the Möller and Nix tables or experimental information. A mapping to the geometric potential is performed yielding the PES. The General Collective Model is used in order to obtain an estimate on the spectrum and quadrupole transitions, adjusting only the mass parameter. First, we test the conjecture on known nuclei, deriving the PES and compare them to known data. We will see that the PES approximates very well the structure expected. Having acquired a certain confidence, we predict the PES of several chain of isotopes of heavy and super-heavy nuclei and at the end we investigate the structure of nuclei in the supposed island of stability. One of the main points to show is that simple assumptions can provide already important information on the structure of nuclei outside known regions and that spectra and electromagnetic transitions can be estimated without using involved calculations and assumptions. The procedure does not allow to calculate binding energies. The method presented can be viewed as a starting point for further improvements.     

Influence of the separation energy on the radius of neutron rich nuclei

The intensive studies of equilibration processes in heavy ion reactions have produced a need for information on nuclear level densities at high energies. In a recent paper, it was concluded that standard Fermi gas formulas will be incorrect by exponential factors at energies above 100 MeV. Exact calculations of the nuclear level density in bases as large as 10³⁸ have been made and are compared with Fermi gas formulas. Two possible alternative forms are considered. Both forms produce much better agreement at high energies than does the Fermi gas model. All calculations reported are for non-interacting Fermions, but the effects expected from the two-body interaction are briefly examined. These considerations have consequences not only in heavy ion physics but also in astrophysics.     

Spectroscopic effects of conical intersections of molecular potential energy surfaces

A simple vibronic coupling model involving two electronic states and two vibrational modes is considered. The model is based on harmonic diabatic potentials and linear coupling of the diabatic electronic states. It is shown that the adiabatic electronic potential energy surfaces exhibit, in general, a conical intersection. The well known E × E and E × B Jahn-Teller problems are contained as special cases. Using numerical methods the optical absorption spectrum is calculated exactly. Extremely complex vibronic spectra are obtained when the conical intersection occurs within the Franck-Condon (FC) zone. The exact vibronic spectra are compared with spectra calculated in the adiabatic and FC approximation. The genuine spectroscopic effects of conical intersections are revealed by a comparison with the results of standard one-dimensional vibronic coupling calculations. The presence of a conical intersection limits the applicability of the adiabatic and FC approximations much more strongly than in the one-dimensional case. The upper adiabatic electronic state is strongly affected by non-adiabatic coupling even when the point of intersection lies outside the FC zone. The relevance of these results for the calculation of molecular electronic spectra is briefly discussed.     

From high resolution spectroscopy to the modeling of potential energy surfaces

Methods and recipes used to establish potential energy surfaces in condensed molecular phases are discussed. The reliability of calculations is tested by confrontation with spectroscopic measurements in crystals. Optical spectroscopy, in particular, hole burning as a line-narrowing technique, as well as high resolution inelastic neutron scattering (INS), are used to resolve tunneling level structures corresponding to large-amplitude atomic and molecular motions. Rotational tunneling of methyl groups is discussed, and new measurements by INS are presented for crystals that are proposed as suitable candidates for optical studies. Translational tunneling in benzoic acid crystals and the role of promoting modes are reviewed, and new measurements of vibrational spectra by inelastic x-ray scattering are compared with INS and Raman spectra.     

Three-body effects in hydrogen fluoride: survey of potential energy surfaces

The potential energy surface for trimers of hydrogen fluoride is examined for multiple arrangements of the three-molecule cluster. Several established approaches to model the potential energy are examined, including a strictly pairwise additive potential, an established polarizable potential model, another, strictly three-body polarizable model, and a three-body potential recently fitted to accurate ab initio calculations. These potential surfaces are compared to MP2/6-311++G** and SCF/6-311++G**ab initio calculations performed here for each configuration. In each case the overall trimer potential is examined, as well as the three-body contribution to it (obtained by subtracting the sum of the interactions taken pairwise). The effective pair potential has some correspondence to the ab initio calculations, although it generally displays a shallower minimum energy. The established polarizable model has a more repulsive core that compensates for a deeper attractive well that it has adopted to better describe phase-coexistence data. In contrast, the new three-body polarizable model shows better correspondence with the ab initio potential-energy surface.