Emergent geometry and duality in the carbon nucleus
Shihang Shen, Serdar Elhatisari, Timo A. Lähde, Dean Lee, Bing-Nan Lu, Ulf-G. Meißner
备注：
7+9 pages, 2+8 figures, discussion extended, references added. See final published version in Nature Communications for results that include ab initio N2LO chiral interactions
The carbon atom provides the backbone for the complex organic chemistry composing the building blocks of life. The physics of the carbon nucleus in its predominant isotope, $^{12}$C, is similarly full of multifaceted complexity. Some nuclear states of $^{12}$C can be preferentially treated as a collection of independent particles held by the mean field of the nucleus, while other states behave more as a collection of three alpha-particle clusters. But these two pictures are not mutually exclusive, and some states can be described in either fashion$^{1,2}$. In this work, we provide the first model-independent tomographic scan of the three-dimensional geometry of the nuclear states of $^{12}$C using the {\it ab initio} framework of nuclear lattice effective field theory. We find that the well-known but enigmatic Hoyle state is composed of a "bent-arm" or obtuse triangular arrangement of alpha clusters. We identify all of the low-lying nuclear states of $^{12}$C as having an intrinsic shape composed of three alpha clusters forming either an equilateral triangle or an obtuse triangle. From these basic structural formations, the various nuclear states correspond to different rotational and vibrational excitations as well as either distortions or large-amplitude displacements of the alpha clusters. The states with the equilateral triangle formation also have a dual description in terms of particle-hole excitations in the mean-field picture. We compare our theoretical calculations with experimental data for binding energies, quadrupole moments, electromagnetic transitions, charge densities, and form factors. The overall agreement is good, and further studies using higher-fidelity interactions are planned.
We investigate ultrarelativistic collisions of the 12C nucleus with heavy targets and show that the harmonic flow measures based on ratios of cumulant moments are particularly suited to study the intrinsic deformation of the 12C wave function. That way one can probe the expected alpha clusterization in the ground state, which leads to large initial triangularity in the shape of the fireball in the transverse plane. We show that the clusterization effect results in very characteristic behavior of the ratios of the cumulant moments as functions of the number of participant nucleons, both for the…
The inelasticity of hadron-carbon collisions for energies exceeding 100 TeV is estimated from the carbon-emulsion chamber data at Pamirs to be $<K_C> = 0.65\pm 0.08$. When combined with data on hadron-lead collisions taken at the same energy range it results in the $K\sim A^{0.086}$ mass number dependence of inelasticity. The evaluated partial inelasticity for secondary ($ν> 1$) interactions, $K_{ν>1} \simeq 0.2$, suggests that most of the energy is lost in the first interaction.
We introduce a new model for the Carbon-12 nucleus and compute its lowest energy levels. Our model is inspired by previous work on the rigid body approximation in the $B=12$ sector of the Skyrme model. We go beyond this approximation and treat the nucleus as a deformable body, finding several new states. A restricted set of deformations is considered, leading to a configuration space $\mathcal{C}$ which has a graph-like structure. We use ideas from quantum graph theory in order to make sense of quantum mechanics on $\mathcal{C}$ even though it is not a manifold. This is a new approach to Skyrm…
It is a well-known fact that a cluster of nucleons can be formed in the interior of an atomic nucleus, and such clusters may occupy molecular-like orbitals, showing characteristics similar to normal molecules consisting of atoms. Chemical molecules having a linear alignment are commonly seen in nature, such as carbon dioxide. A similar linear alignment of the nuclear clusters, referred to as linear-chain cluster state (LCCS), has been studied since the 1950s, however, up to now there is no clear experimental evidence demonstrating the existence of such a state. Recently, it was proposed that a…
We report the results of a study of neutrino-carbon interactions at beam energies ranging between few hundreds MeV and few tens of GeV, carried out within the framework of the impulse approximation using a realistic spectral function. The contributions of quasi elastic scattering, resonance production and deep inelastic scattering---consistently obtained, for first time, from a model based on a realistic description of the nuclear ground state---are compared and analyzed.
We investigate charged-current neutrino-nucleus deep inelastic scattering with particular interests in relationship of short range correlation (SRC) and EMC effect. The structure functions $F^A_2(x,Q^2)$, $x F^A_3(x,Q^2)$ and ratios of differential cross sections are presented where the nuclei $A$ are chosen to be carbon, iron and lead. We propose a kind of universal modification functions which would provide a nontrivial test of SRC universality on the platform of neutrino-nucleus scattering and improve our understanding of nucleon structure substantially.
Data from KEK on subthreshold antiproton as well as on pi(+-) and K(+-) production in proton-nucleus reactions are described at projectile energies between 3.5 and 12.0 GeV. We use a model which considers a hadron-nucleus reaction as an incoherent sum over collisions of the projectile with a varying number of target nucleons. It samples complete events and allows thus for the simultaneous consideration of all particle species measured. The overall reproduction of the data is quite satisfactory. It is shown that the contributions from the interaction of the projectile with groups of several tar…
The recently extracted matter radius of carbon isotope $^{22}$C allows us to estimate the mean-square distance of a halo neutron with respect to the center-of-mass of this nucleus. By considering this information, we suggest an energy region for an experimental investigation of the unbound $^{21}$C virtual state. Our analysis, in a renormalized zero-ranged three-body model, also indicates that the two-neutron separation energy in $^{22}$C is expected to be found below $\sim$0.4~MeV, where the $^{22}$C is approximated by a Borromean configuration with a pointlike $^{20}$C and two $s$-wave halo …
We present a nucleus-dependent valence-space approach for calculating ground and excited states of nuclei, which generalizes the shell-model in-medium similarity renormalization group to an ensemble reference with fractionally filled orbitals. Because the ensemble is used only as a reference, and not to represent physical states, no symmetry restoration is required. This allows us to capture 3N forces among valence nucleons with a valence-space Hamiltonian specifically targeted to each nucleus of interest. Predicted ground-state energies from carbon through nickel agree with results of other l…
The $α$ particle and $^6$He emissions from possible molecular states in beryllium and carbon isotopes have been studied using a mean-field-type cluster potential. Calculations can reproduce well the $α$-decay widths of excited states in $^{8}$Be, $^{12}$C and $^{20}$Ne. For the nucleus $^{10}$Be, we discussed the $α$-decay widths with different shapes or decay modes, in order to understand the very different decay widths of two excited states. The widths of $^{6}$He decay from $^{12}$Be and $α$ decays from $^{13,14}$C are predicted, which could be useful for future experiments.
We developed a novel approach based on a generalization of factorization and nuclear spectral functions, allowing for a consistent treatment of the amplitudes involving one- and two-nucleon currents, whose contribution to the nuclear electromagnetic response in the transverse channel is known to be significant. We report the results of calculations of the inclusive electron-carbon cross section, showing that the inclusion of processes involving two-nucleon currents appreciably improves the agreement between theory and data in the dip region, between the quasi elastic and $Δ$-production peaks. …
The properties of $\isotope[12]{C}$, $\isotope[16]{O}$, and $\isotope[20]{Ne}$ nuclei in strong magnetic fields $B\simeq 10^{17}\,$G are studied in the context of strongly magnetized neutron stars and white dwarfs. The SKY3D code is extended to incorporate the interaction of nucleons with the magnetic field and is utilized to solve the time-independent Hartree-Fock equations with a Skyrme interaction on a Cartesian three-dimensional grid. The numerical solutions demonstrate a number of phenomena, which include a splitting of the energy levels of spin-up and -down nucleons, spontaneous rearrang…
The structure of the neutron-rich carbon nucleus ^{16}C is described by introducing a new microscopic shell model of no-core type. The model space is composed of the 0s, 0p, 1s0d, and 1p0f shells. The effective interaction is microscopically derived from the CD-Bonn potential and the Coulomb force through a unitary transformation theory. Calculated low-lying energy levels of ^{16}C agree well with the experiment. The B(E2;2_{1}^{+} \to 0_{1}^{+}) value is calculated with the bare charges. The anomalously hindered B(E2) value for ^{16}C, measured recently, is well reproduced.
We study Borromean 2n-halo nuclei using effective field theory. We compute the universal scaling function that relates the mean-square matter radius of the 2n halo to dimensionless ratios of two- and three-body energies. We use the experimental value of the rms matter radius of 22C measured by Tanaka et al. to put constraints on its 2n separation energy and the 20C-n virtual energy. We also explore the consequences of these constraints for the existence of excited Efimov states in this nucleus. We find that, for 22C to have an rms matter radius within 1-sigma of the experimental value, the two…
New analyses of baryon spectra in proton-proton and proton-carbon collisions at $\sqrt{s}_\mathrm{_{NN}}=17.3$ GeV, made in the framework of two phenomenological models are presented. The first model in question is the classic Dual Parton Model by Capella and Tran Thanh Van, the second is the Gluon Exchange Model very recently proposed by the authors. For both studies, the usage of modern experimental data from the CERN SPS eliminates several of the most important limitations inherent to earlier studies of this type. In both studies, the standard mechanism of baryon stopping with preservation …
The bulk of the carbon in our universe is produced in the triple-alpha process in helium-burning red giant stars. We calculated the change of the triple-alpha reaction rate in a microscopic 12-nucleon model of the C-12 nucleus and looked for the effects of minimal variations of the strengths of the underlying interactions. Stellar model calculations were performed with the alternative reaction rates. Here, we show that outside a narrow window of 0.5 and 4% of the values of the strong and Coulomb forces, respectively, the stellar production of carbon or oxygen is reduced by factors of 30 to 100…
Hadronic interactions are crucial for the dynamical description of heavy-ion reactions at low collision energies and in the late dilute stages at high collision energies. In particular, the properties and decay channels of resonances are an essential ingredient of hadronic transport approaches. The HADES collaboration measured particle production in collisions of pions with carbon and tungsten nuclei at $E_\text{kin} = 1.7\,\text{GeV}$. Such reactions are of high interest, because they allow to probe the properties of baryonic resonances produced in a much cleaner environment than the usual nu…
The absolute differential cross sections for small-angle proton elastic scattering off the nuclei $^{12,14-17}$C have been measured in inverse kinematics at energies near 700 MeV/u at GSI Darmstadt. The hydrogen-filled ionization chamber IKAR served simultaneously as a gas target and a detector for the recoil protons. The projectile scattering angles were measured with multi-wire tracking detectors. The radial nuclear matter density distributions and the root-mean-square nuclear matter radii were deduced from the measured cross sections using the Glauber multiple-scattering theory. A possible …
The availability of the double-differential charged-current neutrino cross section, measured by the MiniBooNE collaboration using a carbon target, allows for a systematic comparison of nuclear effects in quasi-elastic electron and neutrino scattering. The results of theoretical studies based on the impulse approximation scheme and state-of-the-art models of the nuclear spectral functions suggest that the electron cross section and the flux averaged neutrino cross sections corresponding to the same target and seemingly comparable kinematical conditions can not be described within the same theor…
We discuss the implementation of the nuclear model based on realistic nuclear spectral functions in the GENIE neutrino interaction generator. Besides improving on the Fermi gas description of the nuclear ground state, our scheme involves a new prescription for $Q^2$ selection, meant to efficiently enforce energy momentum conservation. The results of our simulations, validated through comparison to electron scattering data, have been obtained for a variety of target nuclei, ranging from carbon to argon, and cover the kinematical region in which quasi elastic scattering is the dominant reaction …
How does the scattering cross section change when the colliding bound-state fragments are allowed particle-emitting resonances? This question is explored in the framework of a multi-channel algebraic scattering method of determining nucleon-nucleus cross sections at low energies. Two cases are examined, the first being a gedanken investigation in which n + carbon-12 scattering is studied with the target states assigned artificial widths. The second is a study of neutron scattering from beryllium-8; a nucleus that is particle unstable. Resonance character of the target states markedly varies ev…
We show that the quasielastic (QE) response calculated with the SuSAv2 (superscaling approach) model, that relies on the scaling phenomenon observed in the analysis of (e,e') data and on the relativistic mean-field theory, is very similar to that from a relativistic distorted wave impulse approximation model when only the real part of the optical potentials is employed. The coincidence between the results from these two completely independent approaches, which satisfactorily agree with the inclusive data, reinforces the reliability of the quasielastic predictions stemming from both models and …
Different orientations of $α$-clustered carbon nuclei colliding with heavy ions can result in a large variation in the value of anisotropic flow. Thus, photon flow observables from clustered ${\rm^{12}C}$ and ${\rm^{197}Au}$ collisions could be a potential probe to study the `direct photon puzzle'. We calculate the transverse momentum spectra and anisotropic flow coefficients ($v_n$) of thermal photons from collisions of triangular $α$-clustered carbon and gold at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=200$ GeV at RHIC using a hydrodynamic model framework and compare the results with those obtained from uncluster…
Background: Good understanding of the cross sections for (anti)neutrino scattering off nuclear targets in the few-GeV energy region is a prerequisite for correct interpretation of results of ongoing and planned oscillation experiments. Purpose: Clarify possible source of disagreement between recent measurements of the cross sections on carbon. Method: Nuclear effects in (anti)neutrino scattering off carbon nucleus are described using the spectral function approach. The effect of two- and multi-nucleon final states is accounted for by applying an effective value of the axial mass, fixed to 1.23…
Exact symmetry and symmetry-breaking phenomena play a key role in providing a better understanding of the physics of many-particle systems, from quarks and atomic nuclei, to molecules and galaxies. In atomic nuclei, exact and dominant symmetries such as rotational invariance, parity, and charge independence have been clearly established. However, even when these symmetries are taken into account, the structure of nuclei remains illusive and only partially understood, with no additional symmetries immediately evident from the underlying nucleon-nucleon interaction. Here, we show through ab init…
We investigate the degree of $α$ ($^4$He nucleus) clustering in the ground-state density profiles of $^{44}$Ti and $^{52}$Ti. Two types of density distributions, shell- and cluster-model configurations, are generated fully microscopically with the antisymmetrized quasi-cluster model, which can describe both the j-j coupling shell and $α$-cluster configurations in a single scheme. Despite both the models reproducing measured charge radius data, we found that the $α$ clustering significantly diffuses the density profiles near the nuclear surface compared to the ideal j-j coupling shell model con…
