Surface properties of neutron-rich exotic nuclei: A source for studying the nuclear symmetry energy

We study the correlation between the thickness of the neutron skin in finite nuclei and the nuclear symmetry energy for isotopic chains of even-even Ni, Sn, and Pb nuclei in the framework of the deformed self-consistent mean-field Skyrme HF+BCS method. The symmetry energy, the neutron pressure and the asymmetric compressibility in finite nuclei are calculated within the coherent density fluctuation model using the symmetry energy as a function of density within the Brueckner energy-density functional. The mass dependence of the nuclear symmetry energy and the neutron skin thickness are also studied together with the role of the neutron-proton asymmetry. A correlation between the parameters of the equation of state (symmetry energy and its density slope) and the neutron skin is suggested in the isotopic chains of Ni, Sn, and Pb nuclei.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Symmetry energy of deformed neutron-rich nuclei

The symmetry energy, the neutron pressure and the asymmetric compressibility of deformed neutron-rich even-even nuclei are calculated on the examples of Kr and Sm isotopes within the coherent density fluctuation model using the symmetry energy as a function of density within the Brueckner energy-density functional. The correlation between the thickness of the neutron skin and the characteristics related with the density dependence of the nuclear symmetry energy is investigated for isotopic chains of these nuclei in the framework of the self-consistent Skyrme-Hartree-Fock plus BCS method. Results for an extended chain of Pb isotopes are also presented. A remarkable difference is found in the trend followed by the different isotopic chains: the studied correlations reveal a smoother behavior in the Pb case than in the other cases. We also notice that the neutron skin thickness obtained for $^{208}$Pb with SLy4 force is found to be in a good agreement with recent data.Comment: 14 pages, 10 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in Physical Review

Scaling Functions and Superscaling in Medium and Heavy Nuclei

The scaling function $f(\psi')$ for medium and heavy nuclei with $Z\neq N$ for which the proton and neutron densities are not similar is constructed within the coherent density fluctuation model (CDFM) as a sum of the proton and neutron scaling functions. The latter are calculated in the cases of $^{62}$Ni, $^{82}$Kr, $^{118}$Sn, and $^{197}$Au nuclei on the basis of the corresponding proton and neutron density distributions which are obtained in deformed self-consistent mean-field Skyrme HF+BCS method. The results are in a reasonable agreement with the empirical data from the inclusive electron scattering from nuclei showing superscaling for negative values of $\psi'$, including those smaller than -1. This is an improvement over the relativistic Fermi gas (RFG) model predictions where $f(\psi')$ becomes abruptly zero for $\psi'\leq -1$. It is also an improvement over the CDFM calculations made in the past for nuclei with $Z\neq N$ assuming that the neutron density is equal to the proton one and using only the phenomenological charge density.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, ReVTeX, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Effects of random environment on a self-organized critical system: Renormalization group analysis of a continuous model

We study effects of random fluid motion on a system in a self-organized critical state. The latter is described by the continuous stochastic model, proposed by Hwa and Kardar [{\it Phys. Rev. Lett.} {\bf 62}: 1813 (1989)]. The advecting velocity field is Gaussian, not correlated in time, with the pair correlation function of the form $\propto \delta(t-t') / k_{\bot}^{d-1+\xi}$, where $k_{\bot}=|{\bf k}_{\bot}|$ and ${\bf k}_{\bot}$ is the component of the wave vector, perpendicular to a certain preferred direction -- the $d$-dimensional generalization of the ensemble introduced by Avellaneda and Majda [{\it Commun. Math. Phys.} {\bf 131}: 381 (1990)]. Using the field theoretic renormalization group we show that, depending on the relation between the exponent $\xi$ and the spatial dimension $d$, the system reveals different types of large-scale, long-time scaling behaviour, associated with the three possible fixed points of the renormalization group equations. They correspond to ordinary diffusion, to passively advected scalar field (the nonlinearity of the Hwa--Kardar model is irrelevant) and to the "pure" Hwa--Kardar model (the advection is irrelevant). For the special choice $\xi=2(4-d)/3$ both the nonlinearity and the advection are important. The corresponding critical exponents are found exactly for all these cases

Superscaling in Nuclei: A Search for Scaling Function Beyond the Relativistic Fermi Gas Model

We construct a scaling function $f(\psi^{\prime})$ for inclusive electron scattering from nuclei within the Coherent Density Fluctuation Model (CDFM). The latter is a natural extension to finite nuclei of the Relativistic Fermi Gas (RFG) model within which the scaling variable $\psi^{\prime}$ was introduced by Donnelly and collaborators. The calculations show that the high-momentum components of the nucleon momentum distribution in the CDFM and their similarity for different nuclei lead to quantitative description of the superscaling in nuclei. The results are in good agreement with the experimental data for different transfer momenta showing superscaling for negative values of $\psi^{\prime}$, including those smaller than -1.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures, submitted for publication to Phys. Rev.