Two-quasiparticle bands in neutron-rich nuclei

The large multi-detector arrays such as EUROBALL and GAMMASPHERE have made possible the study of the spectroscopy of neutron-rich nuclei through the observation of discrete, prompt -rays emitted following fission. Most of the information obtained has concerned yrast states and collective excitations. In the present work, a search has been made for excited bands based upon two-quasiparticle intrinsic structures. Such bands have been found in several even-even nuclei from ⁹⁶Sr to ¹¹²Pd. Careful analysis of triple-coincidence spectra has been performed in order to determine branching ratios within the bands. These branching ratios are then used to establish the magnetic properties of the intrinsic structure, permitting, in most cases, the determination of which Nilsson orbits (and whether they are neutron or proton states) are contributing to the excitation. Some example results from this search are presented.Received: 1 November 2002, Published online: 2 March 2004PACS: 23.20.Lv transitions and level energies - 21.60.Ev Collective models - 27.60. + j      

Dynamics of single-particle and collective excitations in heavy nuclei

The propagation of single-particle and small-amplitude collective excitations in a heavy nucleus is considered. We calculate perturbatively corrections to the mean-field approximation induced by the coupling of one-particle and collective motion via the residual particle-hole interaction. Special attention is paid to the energy variation of the quasiparticle effective mass near Fermi energy. We conclude from the calculation that particles and holes excited in low multipolarity giant resonances have average effective masses of the order of 0.8 m rather than m. The mechanism for the decrease is provided by the enforced decoupling of the quasiparticles from surface oscillations due to the high frequency of the giant resonances. We also study the role of surface modes in the decay of giant resonances. Considerable reduction of the damping into 2p-2h states expected from the absorptive part of the optical potential is found. The correlated particle-hole pairs interact with each other by exchanging surface oscillations which adds a destructive interference term to the decay widths of giant resonances. The reduction depends on the multipolarity of the mode and is only large for low angular momenta.     

The low-lying quadrupole collective excitations of Ru and Pd isotopes

Quadrupole excitations of even-even Ru and Pd isotopes are described within a microscopic approach based on the general collective Bohr model which includes the effect of coupling with the pairing vibrations. The excitation energies and E2 transition probabilities observed in ^104–114Ru and ^106–110Pd are reproduced in the frame of the calculation containing no free parameters. Particularly interesting are ¹⁰⁴Ru and ^106–110Pd where good agreement to very rich information based on Coulomb excitation experiments is achieved.     

Two-quasiparticle excitations and collectivity in the weakly-deformed transitional isotopes 104, 106, 108Cd

Using the generalized centroid-shift method on the Rutgers tandem, the following half-lives of ¹⁰⁶Cd excited states were measured in the reaction ⁹³Nb(¹⁶O, p2n): $\text{T}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>1</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}\text{(3679.0}\text{keV}\text{) = 0.7}{}^{\mathrm{+0.1}}{}_{\mathrm{?0.3}}\text{ns}\text{, T}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>1</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}\text{(3507.8}\text{keV}\text{) = 1.2 ± 0.4}\text{ns}\text{, T}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>1</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}\text{(3044.2}\text{keV}\text{) = 0.4 ± 0.1}\text{ns, and}\text{T}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>1</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}\text{(2330.7}\text{keV}\text{) = 0.6 ± 0.2}\text{ns}$. With the same method applied on the Rossendorf cyclotron, the following half-lives were measured in the reactions ${}^{\mathrm{102,\; 106}}\text{Pd}\text{(α, 2}\text{n}\text{): T}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>1</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}\text{(2902.0}\text{keV}\text{) = 0.8}{}^{\mathrm{+0.2}}{}_{\mathrm{?0.1}}\text{ns}\text{(}{}^{104}\text{Cd}\text{)}$ as well as $\text{T}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>1</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}\text{(3737.3}\text{keV}\text{) = 0.2 ± 0.1}\text{ns}$, $\text{T}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>1</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}\text{(3223.7}\text{keV}\text{) = 0.2 ± 0.1}\text{ns}$, $\text{T}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>1</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}\text{(3057.4}\text{keV}\text{) = 0.10 ± 0.05}\text{ns}$, $\text{T}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>1</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}\text{(2975.3}\text{keV}\text{) = 0.15 ± 0.10}\text{ns}$, $\text{T}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>1</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}\text{(3110.5}\text{keV}\text{) = 0.3 ± 0.1}\text{ns}$, and $\text{T}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>1</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}\text{(2565.2}\text{keV}\text{) = 0.2 ± 0.1}\text{ns}\text{(}{}^{108}\text{Cd}\text{)}$. The results reveal the non-collective (two-quasiparticle) character of several states above 2.9 MeV in ^{104, 106, 108}Cd, in qualitative accordance with predictions of the slightly-deformed-rotor model. They concern completely aligned [h_{$\text{11}\text{2}$}g_{$\text{7}\text{2}$}] (9^??11^?-13^?, etc.) as well as semi-decoupled [h_{$\text{11}\text{2}$}d_{$\text{5}\text{2}$}] (6^?-8^?-10^?, etc.) two-quasineutron band structures. Further, the possible character of 8⁺ (two-quasiproton) excitations, 5⁺ (two-quasineutron) states and of other intrinsic excitations is discussed. The experimental findings present a challenge to current theories of transitional nuclei for a quantitative treatment of absolute γ-ray transition strengths.     

Solution of Bohr's collective Hamiltonian for transitional odd-mass nuclei

A numerically feasible method, based on the use of deformed phonons, is developed for the diagonalization of the collective quadrupole Hamiltonian for a system with an odd particle coupled to an anharmonic even core. Examples: the transition from prolate to oblate via γ-unstable shapes and furthermore the $\text{h}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>9</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}$ spectra of the nuclei ¹⁸⁷Ir and ¹⁹⁷Tl.     

Atomic collective excitations in liquid lead

The atomic dynamics of liquid lead at the temperature T = 600 K has been simulated on the basis of the embedded atom model potential (the “embedded” atom model making it possible to effectively take into account the many-particle interactions) in order to study the mechanisms of formation of the atomic collective excitations. Spectra of the dynamic structure factor S(k, ω) and the spectral densities of the time correlation functions of the longitudinal \(\tilde C_L\) (k, ω) and transverse \(\tilde C_T\) (k, ω) currents have been calculated for the wavenumber region 0.11 Å^?1 ≤ k ≤ 2.01 Å^?1. It has been established that the dynamics of density fluctuations is characterized by two dispersion “acoustic-like” branches of the longitudinal and transverse polarization.     

Effect of the Pauli principle on collective states in transitional Xe,Ba and Ce nuclei

It is shown how the modified harmonic method can be used to correct the quadrupole operator of the interacting boson model for the effect of the Pauli principle on states with several d-bosons. This gives a possible explanation for the observed strange reduction of ground-state band B(E2) values in the xenon-barium region.     

Cluster and symplectic excitations in nuclei

To incorporate two successful microscopic theories, the cluster and the symplectic models, into a single theory we have developed a recursion formula method of calculating overlaps between cluster and symplectic states. This has facilitated the calculation of cluster widths and isoscalar E2 transition rates in a basis including both types of state. A method of calculating interaction matrix elements is briefly discussed. We have calculated the overlaps between the cluster and the symplectic states for the ¹⁶O, ²⁰Ne, and ²⁴Mg systems. Comparison of the E2 transition rates between the cluster and the symplectic states has clearly indicated the complementary role of these excitations. The feasibility of unifying the cluster and the symplectic excitations is expected to be very useful for a number of nuclear structure problems, particularly those associated with both cluster correlation and quadrupole collectivity.     

Elementary excitations in vibrational nuclei

We propose to describe the entire collective spectrum of vibrational nuclei in terms of few enteracting elementary excitation modes. We discuss in detail the case in which only two elementary modes are important (the quadrupole d and the octupole f-bosons). We give explicit expressions for the energy levels and transition matrix elements.     

States of intermediate charge symmetry as low-lying, 0 collective excitations of medium weight nuclei

A method for calculating the states of the charge-independent pairing hamiltonian that have intermediate charge symmetry is presented. The states are shown to be collective 0⁺ excitations with energies that fall well within the gap in the single-particle spectrum.     

Interfacing collective atomic excitations and single photons

We study the performance and limitations of a coherent interface between collective atomic states and single photons. A quantized spin-wave excitation of an atomic sample inside an optical resonator is prepared probabilistically, stored, and adiabatically converted on demand into a sub-Poissonian photonic excitation of the resonator mode. The measured peak single-quantum conversion efficiency of chi=0.84(11) and its dependence on various parameters are well described by a simple model of the mode geometry and multilevel atomic structure, pointing the way towards implementing high-performance stationary single-photon sources.     

Theory of collective excitations in simple liquids

We present a parameter-free theory of the collective excitations in simple liquids such as liquid metals or rare gases. The theory is based on the mode-coupling theory (MCT), which has been previously applied successfully for explaining the liquid-to glass transition. The only input is the liquid structure factor. We achieve good agreement both for the liquid dispersion (maximum of the longitudinal current spectrum) and width (damping) with experimental findings. The time-dependent memory function predicted by MCT has a two-step exponential decay as previously found in computer simulations. Furthermore MCT predicts a scaling of the liquid dispersion with the effective hard-sphere diameter of the materials. This scaling is obeyed by the available experimental data.     

Multistep variational approach to collective excitations

We discuss a multistep variational approach to collective excitations. The approach is developed in a boson formalism (bosons representing particle-hole excitations) and based on an iterative sequence of diagonalizations in subspaces of the full boson space. Purpose of these diagonalizations is that of searching for the best approximation of the ground state of the system. The procedure also leads us to define a set of excited states and, at the same time, of operators which generate these states as a result of their action on the ground state. We examine the cases in which these operators carry one-particle one-hole and up to two-particle two-hole excitations. We also explore the possibility of associating bosons to Tamm-Dancoff excitations and of describing the spectrum in terms of only a selected group of these. Tests within an exactly solvable three-level model are provided.     

Optically-driven cooling for collective atomic excitations

We explore how to cool collective atomic excitations in an optically-driven three-level atomic ensemble, which may be described by a model of two coupled harmonic oscillators (HOs) with a time-dependent coupling. Moreover, the model of two coupled HOs is further generalized to address the resolved sideband cooling issues, where the lower-frequency HO can be cooled whenever the cooling process dominates over the heating one during the sideband transitions. Unusually, due to the absence of the heating process, the optimal result for cooling collective excitations in an atomic ensemble could break the standard resolved sideband cooling limit for general models of two coupled HOs.     

Fluid-dynamical description of nuclear collective excitations

The role of antisymmetric tensor fields in the gauging of groups is related to theorems on cohomology theory, and Cartan integrable systems are discussed. Examples are given. Various possibilities to gauge d = 11 supergravity by decontracting its underlying group are considered. In particular the simple supergroups Osp (1 | 64) and SU(32 | 1) yield a negative result, but a certain non-semisimple supergroup containing Osp (1 | 32) is proposed as a viable candidate. The corresponding action would no longer contain the 3-index photon A_μν?, but instead a second spin $\text{3}\text{2}$ field η_μ and boson fields $\text{B}{}_{\mathrm{\mu }}{}^{\mathrm{a1a2}}$ and $\text{B}{}_{\mathrm{\mu }}{}^{\mathrm{a1\dots a5}}$. A first order formalism for d = 11 is presented. It is to be used for an improved form of dimensional reduction.     

Gamma band in transitional nuclei

The obstinate difficulty of the Davydov-Filippov model in obtaining the correct bunching of states in the γ-band of even-even mass transitional nuclei is explained in an extended version of the model which includes the 2-qp excitations and also the coupling between the 0- and 2-qp states. The important result is that the 0–2qp coupling for even spin states is much stronger than that for odd ones. Due to this effect the bunching of even-odd spin states in the Davydov-Filippov model is destroyed producing either an opposite bunching (now odd-even spin states) or a band wherein the states have similar energy spacings.     

Sum rules for nuclear collective excitations

Characterizations of the response function and of integral properties of the strength function via a moment expansion are discussed. Sum rule expressions for the moments in the RPA are derived. The validity of these sum rules for both density independent and density dependent interactions is proved. For forces of the Skyrme type, analytic expressions for the plus three energy weighted sum rules are given for isoscalar monopole and quadrupole operators. From these, a close relationship between the monopole and quadrupole energies is shown and their dependence on incompressibility and effective mass is studied. The inverse energy weighted sum rule is computed numerically for the monopole operator, and an upper bound for the width of the monopole resonance is given. Finally the reliability of moments given by the RPA with effective interactions is discussed using simple soluble models for the hamiltonian, and also by comparison with experimental data.     

The tensor force and collective excitations in nuclear matter

The formalism for the particle-hole Green function is developed to handle the nucleon-nucleon tensor potential in order to investigate both the ring correlation energy and collective excitations in nuclear matter. The formalism is exact for direct ring diagrams. An approximation for exchange ring diagrams is also introduced. The one-pion-exchange potential with cut-off radius is used throughout. No collective excitations are found coming from the tensor force.     

Critical phenomena in open quantum systems and collective excitations

In quantum systems at high level density, the states of the system are mixed strongly via the continuum of decay channels. This mixing creates states with large external collectivity if the level density reaches some critical value. Besides this external collectivity, the states may have some internal collectivity created by (internal) residual interaction in the corresponding closed system. The cross section pattern at high level density is determined by the interplay of internal and external collectivity. Presented at the International Conference on “Atomic Nuclei and Metallic Clusters”, Prague, September 1–5, 1997.