A talk given at the 25th International Nuclear Physics Conference (INPC 2013), Firenze (Italy) 2-7 June 2013; to be published in EPJ Web of Conferences Journal
We present a theoretical approach based on density functional theory supplemented by a microscopic multi-phonon model which is applied for investigations of pygmy resonances and other excitations of different multipolarities in stable and exotic nuclei. The possible relation of low-energy modes to the properties of neutron or proton skins is systematically studied in isotonic and isotopic chains. The fine structure of nuclear electric and magnetic response functions is analyzed and compared to experimental data. Their relevance to nuclear astrophysics is discussed.
Nuclear excitation cross section of $^{229}$Th from the ground state to the low-lying isomeric state via inelastic electron scattering is calculated, on the level of Dirac distorted wave Born approximation. With electron energies below 100 eV, inelastic scattering is very efficient in the isomeric excitation, yielding excitation cross sections on the order of 10$^{-27}$ to 10$^{-26}$ cm$^2$. Systematic analyses are presented on elements affecting the excitation cross section, including the ion-core potential, the relativistic effect, the knowledge of the reduced nuclear transition probabilitie…
The collective excitation of nuclear matter is analyzed in a bosonized Landau Fermi liquid model. When the nonlinear self-interacting terms of scalar mesons are included in Walecka model, the collective excitation energy of nuclear matter can be obtained self-consistently, and the calculation results are consistent with the corresponding experimental data of the nucleus ${}^{208}Pb$ when the quantum number of the orientation of the total spin $m$ is zero. The cases with the nonzero $m$ values are also studied, and it is found that the collective excitation energy of nuclear matter decreases wi…
A recent nuclear physics experiment [C. J. Chiara {\it et al.}, Nature (London) {\bf 554}, 216 (2018)] reports the first direct observation of nuclear excitation by electron capture (NEEC) in the depletion of the $^{93m}$Mo isomer. The experiment used a beam-based setup in which Mo highly charged ions with nuclei in the isomeric state $^{93m}$Mo at 2.4 MeV excitation energy were slowed down in a solid-state target. In this process, nuclear excitation to a higher triggering level led to isomer depletion. The reported excitation probability $P_{\rm{exc}} = 0.01$ was solely attributed to the so-f…
A nuclear excitation following the capture of an electron in an empty orbital has been recently observed for the first time. So far, the evaluation of the cross section of the process has been carried out widely using the assumption that the ion is in its electronic ground state prior to the capture. We show that by lifting this restriction new capture channels emerge resulting in a boost of more than three orders of magnitude to the electron capture resonance strength.
Efficient excitation of nuclei via exchange of a real or virtual photon has a fundamental importance for nuclear science and technology development. Here, we present a new mechanism of nuclear excitation based on the capture of a free muon into the atomic orbits (NE$μ$C). The cross section of such a new process is evaluated using the Feshbach projection operator formalism and compared to other known excitation phenomena, i.e. photo-excitation and nuclear excitation by electron capture (NEEC), showing up to ten orders of magnitude increase in cross section. NE$μ$C is particularly interesting fo…
Background: Large argon-based neutrino detectors, such as those planned for the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment, have the potential to provide unique sensitivity to low-energy (few to tens of MeV) electron neutrinos produced by core-collapse supernovae. Despite their importance for neutrino energy reconstruction, nuclear de-excitations following charged-current $ν_e$ absorption on $^{40}$Ar have never been studied in detail at supernova energies. Purpose: I develop a model of nuclear de-excitations that occur following the $^{40}\mathrm{Ar}(ν_e,e^{-})^{40}\mathrm{K}^*$ reaction. This mode…
In isospin symmetric and asymmetric nuclear matter we study the structure functions connected with the zero sound excitations. In the simple model with Landau-Migdal quasiparticle interactions the density response $Π^R(ω,k)$ of the nuclear matter to the small isovector external field $V_0(ω,k)$ is considered. In the previous papers the complex branches of solutions $ω_{si}(k)$, $i=n,p,np$ of the dispersion equation corresponding to zero sound excitations in the symmetric and asymmetric nuclear matter are obtained. Now we investigate the structure and response functions of nuclear matter based …
Nuclear clustering plays an important role, especially in the dynamics of light nuclei. The importance of the emergence of the nuclear clustering was discussed in the recent measurement of the photoabsorption cross sections as it offered the possibility of the coexistence of various excitation modes which are closely related to the nuclear clustering. To understand the excitation mechanism, we study the electric-dipole ($E1$) responses of $^6$Li with a fully microscopic six-body calculation. The ground-state wave function is accurately described with a superposition of correlated Gaussian (CG)…
We study the symmetric nuclear matter using bare nucleon-nucleon ($NN$) interactions with finite particle-number approach within finite cubic boxes. Due to the $NN$ correlations originating from bare $NN$ interaction, two nucleons can be excited to the high-momentum region, leading to the increase of the kinetic energy in nuclear matter. We further consider the spin excitations in the nucleon pairs, where the spin of the two nucleons are changed, and this excitation is important for the tensor correlation. The unitary correlation operator method (UCOM) is used to treat the short-range correlat…
A new mechanism of nuclear excitation via two-photon electron transitions (NETP) is proposed and studied theoretically. As a generic example, detailed calculations are performed for the $E1E1$ $1s2s\,^1S_0 \rightarrow 1s^2\,^1S_0$ two-photon decay of He-like $^{225}$Ac$^{87+}$ ion with the resonant excitation of the $3/2+$ nuclear state with the energy 40.09(5) keV. The probability for such a two-photon decay via the nuclear excitation is found to be $P_{\rm NETP} = 3.5 \times 10^{-9}$ and, thus, is comparable with other mechanisms, such as nuclear excitation by electron transition and by elec…
The optimal parameters for nuclear excitation by electron capture in plasma environments generated by the interaction of ultra-strong optical lasers with solid matter are investigated theoretically. As a case study we consider a 4.85 keV nuclear transition starting from the long-lived $^{93\mathrm{m}}$Mo isomer that can lead to the release of the stored 2.4 MeV excitation energy. We find that due to the complex plasma dynamics, the nuclear excitation rate and the actual number of excited nuclei do not reach their maximum at the same laser parameters. The nuclear excitation achievable with a hi…
The process of nuclear excitation by electron capture in plasma environments generated by the interaction of ultra-strong optical lasers with solid-state samples is investigated theoretically. With the help of a plasma model we perform a comprehensive study of the optimal parameters for most efficient nuclear excitation and determine the corresponding laser setup requirements. We discern between the low-density plasma regime, modeled by scaling laws, and the high-density regime, for which we perform particle-in-cell calculations. As nuclear transition case study we consider the 4.85 keV nuclea…
A comprehensive theoretical study of direct laser excitation of a nuclear state based on the density matrix formalism is presented. The nuclear clock isomer $^{229\text{m}}$Th is discussed in detail, as it could allow for direct laser excitation using existing technology and provides the motivation for this work. The optical Bloch equations are derived for the simplest case of a pure nuclear two-level system and for the more complex cases taking into account the presence of magnetic sub-states, hyperfine-structure and Zeeman splitting in external fields. Nuclear level splitting for free atoms …
Density functional theory is a preferred microscopic method for calculation of nuclear properties over the whole nuclear chart. Besides ground-state properties, which are calculated by Hartree-Fock theory, nuclear excitations can be described by means of Random Phase Approximation (RPA). The main objective of the present work is to give Skyrme RPA formalism for spherically symmetric nuclei, using the techniques of angular-momentum coupling. Various auxiliary topics, such as Hartree-Fock theory, Coulomb integral, center-of-mass corrections and pairing, are treated as well. RPA method is derived…
