The neutron-proton effective mass splitting in neutron-rich nucleonic matter reflects the space-time nonlocality of the isovector nuclear interaction. It affects the neutron/proton ratio during the earlier evolution of the Universe, cooling of protoneutron stars, structure of rare isotopes and dynamics of heavy-ion collisions. While there is still no consensus on whether the neutron-proton effective mass splitting is negative, zero or positive and how it depends on the density as well as the isospin-asymmetry of the medium, significant progress has been made in recent yeas in addressing these issues. We first recall the connections among the neutron-proton effective mass splitting, the momentum dependence of the isovector potential and the density dependence of the symmetry energy. We then make a few observations about the progress in calculating the neutron-proton effective mass splitting using various nuclear many-body theories and its effects on the isospin-dependence of in-medium nucleon-nucleon cross sections. Perhaps, our most reliable knowledge so far about the neutron-proton effective mass splitting at saturation density of nuclear matter comes from optical model analyses of huge sets of nucleon-nucleus scattering data accumulated over the last five decades. The momentum dependence of the symmetry potential from these analyses provide a useful boundary condition at saturation density for calibrating nuclear many-body calculations. Several observables in heavy-ion collisions have been identified as sensitive probes of the neutron-proton effective mass splitting in dense neutron-rich matter based on transport model simulations. We review these observables and comment on the latest experimental findings.
Background: Eclipse effect of the neutron and proton in a deuteron target is essential to correctly describe high-energy deuteron scattering. The nucleus-deuteron scattering needs information not only on the nucleus-proton but also the nucleus-neutron interaction, for which no direct measurement of the nucleus-neutron cross sections is available for unstable nuclei. Purpose: We systematically evaluated the total reaction cross sections by a deuteron target to explore the feasibility of extracting the nucleus-neutron interaction from measurable cross sections. Methods: High-energy nucleus-deute…
Fragments productions in spallation reactions are key infrastructure data for various applications. Based on the empirical parameterizations {\sc spacs}, a Bayesian-neural-network (BNN) approach is established to predict the fragment cross sections in the proton induced spallation reactions. A systematic investigation have been performed for the measured proton induced spallation reactions of systems ranging from the intermediate to the heavy nuclei and the incident energy ranging from 168 MeV/u to 1500 MeV/u. By learning the residuals between the experimental measurements and the {\sc spacs} …
In the framework of the isospin-dependent Boltzmann-Uehling-Uhlenbeck transport model, nuclear bubble configuration in the hypothetical $^{48}$Si nucleus is studied by proton induced central reaction at an incident beam energy of 0.8 GeV/nucleon. It is found that along the beam direction more energetic protons are emitted with bubble configuration in the target. In the forward angles, compared with the case without bubble configuration, less scattered energetic protons are emitted with bubble configuration in the target. We thus provide a new way to probe the bubble configuration in nuclei.
The Bayesian neural network (BNN) method is used to construct a predictive model for fragment prediction of proton induced spallation reactions with the guidance of a simplified EPAX formula. Compared to the experimental data, it is found that the BNN + sEPAX model can reasonably extrapolate with less information compared with BNN method. The BNN + sEPAX method provides a new approach to predict the energy-dependent residual cross sections produced in proton-induced spallation reactions from tens of MeV/u up to several GeV/u.
Neutron-proton effective mass splitting in neutron-rich matter at normal density from analyzing nucleon-nucleus scattering data within an isospin dependent optical model
A new method is proposed to deduce the neutron radii of neutron-rich nuclei. This method requires measuring the reaction cross sections of both the neutron-rich nucleus and its stable isotope at the same energy on a proton target. Using this method and the available experimental data of $^{12,22}$C + $p$ and $^{9,14}$Be + $p$ at 40$A$ MeV, the neutron radii of $^{22}$C and $^{14}$Be have been deduced for the first time.
Giant dipole resonance in proton capture reactions using an extended quantum molecular dynamics model
质子俘获反应是研究元素天体物理起源的一个重要过程。在扩展的量子分子动力学模型框架下，我们研究了质子俘获反应中的巨偶极共振（GDR），如$^{11}$ B $(p, γ)^{12}$ C，$^{27}$ Al $(p, γ)^{28}$ Si，$^{39}$ K $(p, γ)^{40}$ Ca，和$^{67}$ Co $(p, γ)^{68}$ Ni.研究了GDR参数的系统特性，包括峰值能量、强度和半高宽。还讨论了半高宽随温度的变化关系。与实验数据进行了比较。
Two-nucleon transfer reactions are essential tools to investigate specific features of the nuclearstructure such as the correlation among valence particles in the transfer process. Besides, transfer reactions may be an important channel to take into account in charge exchange processes since they can represent a competing contribution to the final cross section. The two-proton pickup transfer reaction 40Ca(18O,20Ne)38Ar has been measured at 270 MeV and the angular distributions for transitions to different excited states extracted. This work shows the analysis of the data performed by finite r…
We studied the complete dynamics of the proton-induced spallation process with the microscopic framework of the Constrained Molecular Dynamics (CoMD) Model. We performed calculations of proton-induced spallation reactions on 181Ta, 208Pb, and 238U targets with the CoMD model and compared the results with a standard two-step approach based on an intranuclear cascade model (INC) followed by a statistical deexcitation model. The calculations were also compared with recent experimental data from the literature. Our calculations showed an overall satisfactory agreement with the experimental data an…
The production of new proton-rich nuclei in the vicinity of 100Sn is investigated via multinucleon transfer reactions within the framework of microscopic time-dependent Hartree-Fock (TDHF) and statistical model GEMINI++. The TDHF+GEMINI method has demonstrated the reliable description in the multinucleon transfer dynamics and the agreement between theoretical results and experimental data is quite satisfactory in the observed transfer reactions. We reveal the production cross sections of proton-rich nuclei in 100Sn region via multinucleon transfer reactions to be several orders of magnitude hi…
The rapidity dependent directed flow of particles produced in a relativistic heavy ion collision can be generated in the hydrodynamic expansion of a tilted source. The asymmetry of the pressure leads to a build up of a directed flow of matter with respect to the collision axis. The experimentally observed ordering of the directed flow of baryons, pions and antibaryons can be described as resulting from the expansion of a baryon inhomogeneous fireball. An uneven distribution of baryons in the transverse plane leads to an asymmetry in the collective push for protons and antiprotons. Precise meas…
The nucleon self-energies of $^{40}$Ca and $^{48}$Ca are determined using a nonlocal dispersive optical model (DOM). By enforcing the dispersion relation connecting the real and imaginary part of the self-energy, scattering and structure data are used to constrain these self-energies. The ability to calculate both bound and scattering states simultaneously puts these self-energies in a unique position to consistently describe exclusive knockout reactions such as $(e,e'p)$. The present analysis reveals the importance of high-energy proton reaction cross-section data in constraining spectroscopi…
