A survey of known threshold excitations of mirror systems suggests a means to estimate masses of nuclear systems that are uncertain or not known, as does a trend in the relative energies of isobaric ground states. Using both studies and known mirror-pair energy differences, we estimate the mass of the nucleus 17-Na and its energy relative to the p+16-Ne threshold. This model-free estimate of the latter is larger than that suggested by recent structure models.
It is well known that intranuclear-cascade models generally overestimate the cross sections for one-proton removal from heavy, stable nuclei by a high-energy proton beam, but they yield reasonable predictions for one-neutron removal from the same nuclei and for one-nucleon removal from light targets. We use simple shell-model calculations to investigate the reasons of this deficiency. We find that a correct description of the neutron skin and of the energy density in the nuclear surface is crucial for the aforementioned observables. Neither ingredient is sufficient if taken separately.
It is a well-established fact that intranuclear-cascade models generally fail to consistently reproduce the cross sections for one-proton and one-neutron removal from stable nuclei by a high-energy proton beam. We use simple shell-model calculations to investigate the reasons of this deficiency. We find that a refined description of the neutron skin and of the energy density in the nuclear surface is crucial for the aforementioned observables, and that neither ingredient is sufficient if taken separately. As a by-product, the predictions for removal of several nucleons are also improved by the…
Final-state-exclusive momentum distributions of fast, forward travelling residual nuclei, following two nucleon removal from fast secondary radioactive beams of projectile nuclei, can and have now been measured. Assuming that the most important reaction mechanism is the sudden direct removal of a pair of nucleons from a set of relatively simple, active shell-model orbital configurations, such distributions were predicted to depend strongly on the total angular momentum I carried by the two nucleons - the final state spin for spin 0+ projectiles. The sensitivity of these now-accessible observab…
The discrepancy between experimental data and theoretical calculations in one-nucleon removal reactions at intermediate energies (quantified by the so-called "quenching factors") and its dependence on the isospin asymmetry of the nuclei has been an open problem in nuclear physics for the last fifteen years. In this work, we propose an explanation for this long-standing problem, which relies on the inclusion of the process of core destruction due to its interaction with the removed nucleon. To include this effect, we extend the commonly used eikonal formalism via an effective nucleon density, a…
One-nucleon removal reactions at or above the Fermi energy are important tools to explore the single-particle structure of exotic nuclei. Experimental data must be compared with calculations to extract structure information, evaluate correlation effects in nuclei or determine reaction rates for nuclear astrophysics. However, there is insufficient knowledge to calculate accurately the cross sections for these reactions. We evaluate the contributions of the final state interaction (FSI) and of the medium modifications of the nucleon-nucleon interactions and obtain the shapes and magnitudes of mo…
Reactions that involve the direct and sudden removal of a pair of like or unlike nucleons from a fast projectile beam by a light target nucleus are considered. Specifically, we study the three two-nucleon removal channels from $^{12}${C} that populate final states in the $^{10}${Be}, $^{10}${B} and $^{10}${C} reaction residues. The calculated two-nucleon removal cross sections and the residue momentum distributions are compared with available high energy data at 250, 1050 and 2010 MeV per nucleon, data that are inclusive with respect to the bound final-states of the residues. The measured $np$…
One-nucleon overlap functions, needed for nucleon-removal reaction calculations, are solutions of an inhomogeneous equation with the source term defined by the wave functions of the initial and final nuclear states and interaction between the removed nucleon with the rest. The source term approach (STA) allows the overlaps with correct asymptotic decrease to be modelled while using nuclear many-body functions calculated in minimal model spaces. By properly choosing the removed nucleon interaction the minimum-model-space STA can reproduce reduced values of spectroscopic factors extracted from n…
The eikonal direct-reaction model, as used in spectroscopic studies of intermediate-energy nucleon-removal reactions on light target nuclei, is considered in the case of a proton target and applied to neutron removal from $^{29}$Ne at 240 MeV/nucleon. The computed cross sections and their sensitivities are compared using an earlier detailed analysis of carbon target data. The nuclear structure input, for the $^{29}$Ne ground-state and $^{28}$Ne final states, is that deduced from the carbon target analysis. The comparisons quantify the sensitivity of the two reactions to the angular momenta and…
Single-particle overlap functions and spectroscopic factors are calculated on the basis of the one-body density matrices (ODM) obtained for the nucleus $^{16}O$ employing different approaches to account for the effects of correlations. The calculations use the relationship between the overlap functions related to bound states of the (A-1)-particle system and the ODM for the ground state of the A-particle system. The resulting bound-state overlap functions are compared and tested in the description of the experimental data from (p,d) reactions for which the shape of the overlap function is impo…
An approach to the Generator Coordinate Method (GCM) using Skyrme-type effective forces and Woods-Saxon construction potential is applied to calculate the single-particle proton and neutron overlap functions in $^{40}$Ca. The relationship between the bound-state overlap functions and the one-body density matrix has been used. These overlap functions are applied to calculate the cross sections of one-nucleon removal reactions such as ($e,e'p$), ($γ,p$) and ($p,d$) on $^{40}$Ca on the same theoretical footing. A consistent description of data for the different reactions is achieved. The shapes o…
Novel processes probing the decay of nucleus after removal of a nucleon with momentum larger than Fermi momentum by hard probes finally proved unambiguously the evidence for long sought presence of short-range correlations (SRCs) in nuclei. In combination with the analysis of large $Q^2$, A(e,e')X processes at $x>1$ they allow us to conclude that (i) practically all nucleons with momenta $\ge$ 300 MeV/c belong to SRCs, consisting mostly of two nucleons, ii) probability of such SRCs in medium and heavy nuclei is $\sim 25%$, iii) a fast removal of such nucleon practically always leads to emissio…
The nuclear structure dependence of direct reactions that remove a pair of like or unlike nucleons from a fast $^{12}$C projectile beam are considered. Specifically, we study the differences in the two-nucleon correlations present and the predicted removal cross sections when using $p$-shell shell-model and multi-$\hbarω$ no-core shell-model (NCSM) descriptions of the two-nucleon overlaps for the transitions to the mass $A$=10 projectile residues. The NCSM calculations use modern chiral two-nucleon and three-nucleon (NN+3N) interactions. The $np$-removal cross sections to low-lying $T$=0, $^{1…
We present an accurate method of treating the one-neutron removal reaction at intermediate incident energies induced by both nuclear and Coulomb interactions. In the method, the nuclear and Coulomb breakup processes are consistently treated by the method of continuum discretized coupled channels without making the adiabatic approximation to the Coulomb interaction, so that the removal cross section calculated never diverges. This method is applied to recently measured one-neutron removal cross section for $^{31}$Ne+$^{12}$C scattering at 230 MeV/nucleon and $^{31}$Ne+$^{208}$Pb scattering at 2…
I discuss the current status of efforts to constrain the strangeness-conserving weak hadronic interaction, which can be isolated in nuclear systems because of the associated parity violation.
We examine a recently proposed nucleon-nucleon interaction, claimed by its authors both realistic and leading to a standing wave instability in symmetric nuclear matter. Contrary to these claims, we find that this interaction leads to a serious overbinding of 4He, 16O and 40Ca nuclei when the Hartree-Fock method is properly applied. The resulting nuclear densities contradict the experimental data and all realistic Hartree-Fock results.
The present thesis deals with the theoretical study of multi-fragmentation and its related phenomena's like directed transverse flow, rapidity distribution, elliptical flow and nuclear stopping in intermediate energy heavy-ion collisions for asymmetric colliding nuclei. We aim to discuss the role of Coulomb interactions, nuclear equations of state (NEOS) and various rapidity bins by taking mass asymmetry into account.
Knowledge about parity-violating effects both from theory and experiment is reviewed. Further information that could be obtained from measurements of nuclear anapole moments is discussed.
The effects of charge independence breaking of nucleon-nucleon interaction on the bulk properties of nuclear matter are investigated. Our results indicate that at high densities, the inclusion of charge dependence in the nucleon-nucleon potential affects the bulk properties of nuclear matter. However, at low densities, this effect is not considerable. It is seen that the change of our results for the nuclear matter calculations due to the breaking of the charge independence increases by increasing density. It is shown that the energy contribution of the $^1S_0$ channel is sensitive to consider…
We present a model for the description of nuclear matter and finite nuclei, and at the same time, for the study of medium modifications of nucleon properties. The nucleons are described as nontopological solitons which interact through the self-consistent exchange of scalar and vector mesons. The model explicitly incorporates quark degrees of freedom into nuclear many-body systems and provides satisfactory results on the nuclear properties. The present model predicts a significant increase of the nucleon radius at normal nuclear matter density. It is very interesting to see the nucleon propert…
We investigate single-particle properties in infinite nuclear matter using a variety of interactions. One of the focal points is to study the impact of chiral three-nucleon forces on the nucleon self-energy and related quantities, such as spectral function and momentum distribution. We also present results for pairing correlations in nuclear matter. We find characteristic and systematic differences between the predictions obtained with the (softer) chiral interactions and those based on one-boson-exchange or phenomenology.
Some fundamental Nucleon-Nucleon interactions and their applications to finite nuclei are reviewed. Results for the few-body systems and from Shell-Model calculations are discussed and compared to point out the advantages and disadvantages of the different Nucleon-Nucleon interactions. The recently developed Drexel University Shell Model (DUSM) code is mentioned.
We study the possible relationship between the saturation properties of nuclear matter and the inclusion of non-locality in the nucleon-nucleon interaction. To this purpose we compute the saturation curve of nuclear matter within the Bethe-Brueckner-Goldstone theory using a recently proposed realistic non-local potential, and compare it with the corresponding curves obtained with a purely local realistic interaction (Argonne v$_{18}$) and the most recent version of the one-boson exchange potential (CD Bonn). We find that the inclusion of non-locality in the two-nucleon bare interaction strongl…
After reviewing our microscopic approach to nuclear and neutron-rich matter, we focus on how nucleon-nucleon scattering is impacted by the presence of a dense hadronic medium, with special emphasis on the case where neutron and proton densities are different. We discuss in detail medium and isospin asymmetry effects on the total elastic cross section and the mean free path of a neutron or a proton in isospin-asymmetric nuclear matter. We point out that in-medium cross sections play an important role in heavy-ion simulations aimed at extracting constraints on the symmetry potential. We argue th…
Single-particle overlap functions and spectroscopic factors are calculated on the basis of Jastrow-type one-body density matrices of open-shell nuclei constructed by using a factor cluster expansion. The calculations use the relationship between the overlap functions corresponding to bound states of the $(A-1)$-particle system and the one-body density matrix for the ground state of the $A$-particle system. In this work we extend our previous analyses of reactions on closed-shell nuclei by using the resulting overlap functions for the description of the cross sections of $(p,d)$ reactions on th…
We present microscopic coupled-cluster calculations of the spectroscopic factors for proton removal from the closed-shell oxygen isotopes $^{14,16,22,24,28}$O with the chiral nucleon-nucleon interaction at next-to-next-to-next-to-leading order. We include coupling-to-continuum degrees of freedom by using a Hartree-Fock basis built from a Woods-Saxon single-particle basis. This basis treats bound and continuum states on an equal footing. We find a significant quenching of spectroscopic factors in the neutron-rich oxygen isotopes, pointing to enhanced many-body correlations induced by strong cou…
Realistic nuclear potentials, derived within chiral perturbation theory, are a major breakthrough in modern nuclear structure theory, since they provide a direct link between nuclear physics and its underlying theory, namely the QCD. As a matter of fact, chiral potentials are tailored on the low-energy regime of nuclear structure physics, and chiral perturbation theory provides on the same footing two-nucleon forces as well as many-body ones. This feature fits well with modern advances in ab-initio methods and realistic shell-model. Here, we will review recent nuclear structure calculations, b…
Using an isospin-dependent quantum molecular dynamics, nuclear stopping in intermediate heavy ion collisions has been studied. The calculation has been done for colliding systems with different neutron-proton ratios in beam energy ranging from 15MeV/u to 150MeV/u. It is found that, in the energy region from above Fermi energy to 150MeV/u, nuclear stopping is very sensitive to the isospin dependence of in-medium nucleon-nucleon cross section, but insensitive to symmetry potential. From this investigation, we propose that nuclear stopping can be used as a new probe to extract the information on …
The properties of nuclear matter are studied using state-of-the-art nucleon-nucleon forces up to fifth order in chiral effective field theory. The equations of state of symmetric nuclear matter and pure neutron matter are calculated in the framework of the Brueckner-Hartree-Fock theory. We discuss in detail the convergence pattern of the chiral expansion and the regulator dependence of the calculated equations of state and provide an estimation of the truncation uncertainty. For all employed values of the regulator, the fifth-order chiral two-nucleon potential is found to generate nuclear satu…
We present a calculation of low energy magnetic states of doubly-closed-shell nuclei. Our results have been obtained within the random phase approximation using different nucleon-nucleon interactions, having zero- or finite-range and including a possible contribution in the tensor channel.
Modern nucleon-nucleon (NN) potentials, which accurately fit the nucleon-nucleon scattering phase shifts, contain terms which break isospin symmetry. The effects of these symmetry violating terms on the bulk properties of nuclear matter are investigated. The predictions of the charge symmetry breaking (CSB) terms are compared with the Nolen-Schiffer (NS) anomaly regarding the energies of neighboring mirror nuclei. We find that, for a quantitative explanation of the NS anomaly, it is crucial to include CSB in partial waves with $L>0$ (besides $^1S_0$) as derived from a microscopic model for CSB…
We calculate the nucleon parameters in isospin symmetric and asymmetric nuclear matter using the QCD sum rules. The higher moments of the nucleon structure functions are included. The complete set of the nucleon expectation values of the four-quark operators is employed. We analyze the role of the lowest order radiative corrections beyond the logarithmic approximation.
As follows from the energies of single-particle states in ^{40}Ca, ^{90}Zr and ^{208}Pb nuclei the contribution of many-particle NN forces to the nuclear single-particle potential is at least the sum of repulsive and attractive parts resulting from three-particle and four-particle forces respectively. In addition the specified nucleon density distributions in the above nuclei are determined from both the 1 GeV proton-nucleus elastic scattering and the single-particle energies.
The influence of the nuclear medium upon the internal structure of a composite nucleon is examined. The interaction with the medium is assumed to depend on the relative distances between the quarks in the nucleon consistent with the notion of color neutrality, and to be proportional to the nucleon density. In the resulting description the nucleon in matter is a superposition of the ground state (free nucleon) and radial excitations. The effects of the nuclear medium on the electromagnetic and weak nucleon form factors, and the nucleon structure function are computed using a light-front constit…
A systematic study of the in-medium correction factor ($F$) on nucleon-nucleon elastic cross section is performed within the Ultra-relativistic Quantum Molecular Dynamics (UrQMD) model. The effects of the beam energy dependence of $F$ on the directed, elliptic flow and nuclear stopping in $^{197}$Au+$^{197}$Au collisions with energy ranging from $0.09$ to $0.8A$ GeV are explored. It is found that the directed, elliptic flow and nuclear stopping at relatively low energies are very sensitive to $F$, and the sensitivity gradually weakens with increasing beam energy. The beam energy dependent in-m…
We consider 1S0 pairing in infinite neutron matter and nuclear matter and show that in the lowest order approximation, where the pairing interaction is taken to be the bare nucleon-nucleon (NN) interaction in the 1S0 channel, the pairing interaction and the energy gap can be determined directly from the 1S0 phase shifts. This is due to the almost separable character of the NN interaction in this partial wave. Since the most recent NN interactions are charge-dependent, we have to solve coupled gap equations for proton-proton, neutron-neutron, and neutron-proton pairing in nuclear matter. The re…
We present calculations of the energy per particle of pure neutron and symmetric nuclear matter with simplified Argonne nucleon-nucleon potentials for different many-body theories. We compare critically the Brueckner-Hartree-Fock results to other formalisms, such as the Brueckner-Bethe-Goldstone expansion up to third order, Self-Consistent Green's Functions, Auxiliary Field Diffusion Monte Carlo, and Fermi Hyper Netted Chain. We evaluate the importance of spin-orbit and tensor correlations in the equation of state and find these to be important in a wide range of densities.
New parameter-sets of the M3Y-type semi-realistic nucleon-nucleon interaction are obtained, by taking into account the whole contribution of the interaction to the pairing. The interactions are applicable to nuclear structure studies via mean-field calculations and their extensions. Implementing self-consistent mean-field calculations for the spherical nuclei, we confirm that the results do not change significantly from the previous ones, in which the parameters were determined by partly discarding influence of the density-dependent repulsion on the pairing.
The properties of vector mesons in nuclear matter are discussed. I examine the constraints imposed by elementary processes on the widths of $ρ$ and $ω$ mesons in nuclear matter. Furthermore, results for the $ρ$- and $ω$-nucleon scattering amplitudes obtained by fitting meson-nucleon scattering data in a coupled-channel approach are presented.
In this work we show the modifications of nucleon mass and nucleon radius with the help of the extended Relativistic Mean Field (RMF) model. We argue that even small departures above nuclear equilibrium density with constant nucleon mass require an energy transfer from the repulsive mean field to the quarks forming nucleon massive bags in Nuclear Matter (NM), together with the decrease in the nucleon volume. The transfer, which is proportional to pressure and absent in a standard RMF approach, provides good values for nuclear compressibility, symmetry energy and its slope. Different courses of…
After a brief review on the status of few--nucleon studies based on conventional nuclear forces, we sketch the concepts of the effective field theory approach constrained by chiral symmetry and its application to nuclear forces. Then first results for few--nucleon observables are discussed.
We report on our recent self-consistent calculations of $K^-$ nuclear quasi-bound states using $K^-$ optical potentials derived from chirally motivated meson-baryon coupled channels models [1,2]. The $K^-$ single-nucleon potentials were supplemented by a phenomenological $K^-$ multi-nucleon interaction term introduced to achieve good fits to $K^-$ atom data. We demonstrate a substantial impact of the $K^-$ multi-nucleon absorption on the widths of $K^-$ nuclear states. If such states ever exist in nuclear many-body systems, their widths are excessively large to allow observation.
The 1S0 pairing gap in isospin-symmetric nuclear matter and finite nuclei is investigated using the chiral nucleon-nucleon potential at the N3LO order in the two-body sector, and the N2LO order in the three-body sector. To include realistic nuclear forces in RHB (Relativistic Hartree Bolgoliubov) calculations we rely on a separable form of the pairing interaction adjusted to the bare nuclear force. The separable pairing force is applied to the analysis of pairing properties for several isotopic and isotonic chains of spherical nuclei.
Binding energies of ^{3}H, ^{4}He, and ^{16}O are calculated, using low-momentum nucleon-nucleon interactions (V_{low-k}) for a wide range of the cutoff momentum Λ. In addition, single-particle energies in nuclei around ^{16}O are computed. The dependence of the binding energies and the single-particle energies in these nuclei on the cutoff momentum Λof the V_{low-k} is examined. Furthermore, the availability of the V_{low-k} in nuclear structure calculations is discussed.
We study the two-nucleon force at next-to-next-to-leading order in a chiral effective field theory with explicit Delta degrees of freedom. Fixing the appearing low-energy constants from a next-to-leading order calculation of pion-nucleon threshold parameters, we find an improved convergence of most peripheral nucleon-nucleon phases compared to the theory with pions and nucleons only. In the delta-full theory, the next-to-leading order corrections are dominant in most partial waves considered.
Faddeev-Yakubovski equations in configuration space are used to solve four nucleon problem for bound and scattering states. Different realistic interaction models are tested, elucidating open problems in nuclear interaction description. On one hand, by example of nonlocal Doleschall potential, we reveal possibility of reducing three-nucleon force. On the other hand we disclose discrepancies in describing n+$^3$H resonance, which seems to be hardly related with off-shell structure of nucleon-nucleon interaction.
We calculate the nucleon parameters in isospin asymmetric nuclear matter using the QCD sum rules. The nucleon self-energies are expressed in terms of the in-medium values of QCD condensates. The simple approximate expressions for the self-energies are obtained in terms of these condensates. Relation between successive inclusion of the condensates and the meson-exchange picture of the nucleon interaction with medium is analyzed. The values of the self-energies and of the symmetry energy agree with those obtained by the methods of nuclear physics.
To obtain an understanding of the structure and reactions of nuclear systems from first principles has been a long-standing goal of nuclear physics. In this respect, few- and many-body systems provide a unique laboratory for studying nuclear interactions. During the past decades, the development of accurate representations of the nuclear force has undergone substantial progress. Particular emphasis has been devoted to chiral effective field theory (EFT), a low-energy effective representation of quantum chromodynamics (QCD). Within chiral EFT, many studies have been carried out dealing with the…
We calculate self-consistent single-nucleon and single-Lambda potentials in hyperonic matter for different Lambda concentrations. The predictions include relativistic Dirac effects as reported previously in a calculation of the Lambda binding energy in symmetric nuclear matter. We discuss the dependence on momentum, density, and Lambda fraction.
We use the Gorkov formulation of the Dirac-Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov approximation to nuclear pairing to study the ^1S_0 nucleon-nucleon correlations in nuclear matter. We find the short-range correlations of the ^1S_0 pairing fields to be almost identical to those of the two-nucleon virtual state. We obtain mutually consistent results for the pairing fields, using several different sets of effective interaction parameters, when we demand that each of these sets places the virtual-state pole at its physical location.
We study nuclear matter and finite nuclei in terms of the quark mean field (QMF) model, in which we describe the nucleon using the constituent quark model. The meson mean fields, in particular the sigma meson, created by other nucleons act on quarks inside a nucleon and change the nucleon properties in nuclear medium. The QMF model predicts an increasing size of the nucleon as well as a reduction of the nucleon mass in the nuclear environment. The present model is applied to study the properties of finite nuclei after fixing all the parameters by the nuclear matter properties, and it is found …
The correlation effects in nuclei owing to which the nuclear wave functions are different from the Slater determinants are studied on the basis of the original theory. The calculated numbers of nucleons out of the nuclear Fermi-surface are in reasonable agreement with the finding from the high-momentum components of the nucleon momentum distributions in nuclei. The problems concerning the nuclear binding energy are also discussed.
There is now a large and increasing body of experimental data and theoretical analyses for reactions that remove a single nucleon from an intermediate-energy beam of neutron- or proton-rich nuclei. In each such measurement, one obtains the inclusive cross section for the population of all bound final states of the mass A-1 reaction residue. These data, from different regions of the nuclear chart, and that involve weakly- and strongly-bound nucleons, are compared with theoretical expectations. These calculations include an approximate treatment of the reaction dynamics and shell-model descripti…
We employ meson-nucleon scattering data to deduce the properties of the low-mass vector mesons in nuclear matter, and present results for the $ρ$ and $ω$ in-medium spectral functions. The corresponding thermal emission rate for lepton pairs is also discussed.
The contributions of short-range nucleon-nucleon correlations, meson exchange current (MEC) corrections and the influence of Delta isobar excitations (isobaric currents, IC) on photon induced two-nucleon knockout reactions are investigated. The nuclear structure functions are evaluated for the system of infinite nuclear matter. This allows a systematic investigation of the relative importance of the various contributions (MEC, IC and correlations) in different kinematical regions. Nucleon-nucleon (NN) correlations derived from a realistic NN interaction by solving the Bethe-Goldstone equation …
Interacting boson models provide an elegant and powerful method to describe collective excitations of complex systems by introducing a set of effective degrees of freedom. We review the interacting boson model of nuclear structure and discuss a recent extension to the nucleon and its excited states.
The nucleon structure and the nuclear force are investigated in the context of the non-perturbative path-integral method of hadronization. Starting from a microscopic quark-diquark model, the nucleon is generated as a relativistic bound state and an effective chiral meson-nucleon Lagrangian is derived. Many of the nucleon physical properties are studied using a theory of at most two free parameters.
Nuclear mass data provide EMPIRICAL evidence of: 1. Clustering of nucleons; 2. Attractive n-p interactions; and 3. Repulsive but symmetric n-n and p-p interactions after correcting for the repulsive Coulomb interactions between positive nuclear charges. These findings suggest a possible source of energy in neutron stars, in stars which formed on them, and demonstrate the need for a Theoretical understanding of 1. Interactions between nucleons; 2. Clustering of nucleons; and 3. Neutron-emission by penetration of the gravitational barrier surrounding a neutron star.
We estimate the contribution of inelastic nucleon excitations to the $(e,e^\prime)$ inclusive cross section in the CEBAF kinematic range. Calculations are based upon parameterizations of the nucleon structure functions measured at SLAC. Nuclear binding effects are included in a vector-scalar field theory, and are assumed have a minimal effect on the nucleon excitation spectrum. We find that for $q\lsim 1$ GeV the elastic and inelastic nucleon contributions to the nuclear response functions are comparable, and can be separated, but with roughly a factor of two uncertainty in the latter from the…
