Covariant density functional theory: The role of the pion

We investigate the role of the pion in Covariant Density Functional Theory. Starting from conventional Relativistic Mean Field (RMF) theory with a non-linear coupling of the $\sigma$-meson and without exchange terms we add pions with a pseudo-vector coupling to the nucleons in relativistic Hartree-Fock approximation. In order to take into account the change of the pion field in the nuclear medium the effective coupling constant of the pion is treated as a free parameter. It is found that the inclusion of the pion to this sort of density functionals does not destroy the overall description of the bulk properties by RMF. On the other hand, the non-central contribution of the pion (tensor coupling) does have effects on single particle energies and on binding energies of certain nuclei.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figure

Structural evolution in Pt isotopes with the Interacting Boson Model Hamiltonian derived from the Gogny Energy Density Functional

Spectroscopic calculations are carried out, for the description of the shape/phase transition in Pt nuclei in terms of the Interacting Boson Model (IBM) Hamiltonian derived from (constrained) Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov (HFB) calculations with the finite range and density dependent Gogny-D1S Energy Density Functional. Assuming that the many-nucleon driven dynamics of nuclear surface deformation can be simulated by effective bosonic degrees of freedom, the Gogny-D1S potential energy surface (PES) with quadrupole degrees of freedom is mapped onto the corresponding PES of the IBM. Using this mapping procedure, the parameters of the IBM Hamiltonian, relevant to the low-lying quadrupole collective states, are derived as functions of the number of valence nucleons. Merits of both Gogny-HFB and IBM approaches are utilized so that the spectra and the wave functions in the laboratory system are calculated precisely. The experimental low-lying spectra of both ground-state and side-band levels are well reproduced. From the systematics of the calculated spectra and the reduced E2 transition probabilities $B$(E2), the prolate-to-oblate shape/phase transition is shown to take place quite smoothly as a function of neutron number $N$ in the considered Pt isotopic chain, for which the $\gamma$-softness plays an essential role. All these spectroscopic observables behave consistently with the relevant PESs and the derived parameters of the IBM Hamiltonian as functions of $N$. Spectroscopic predictions are also made for those nuclei which do not have enough experimental E2 data.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure

Influence of the driving mechanism on the response of systems with athermal dynamics: the example of the random-field Ising model

We investigate the influence of the driving mechanism on the hysteretic response of systems with athermal dynamics. In the framework of local-mean field theory at finite temperature (but neglecting thermallly activated processes), we compare the rate-independent hysteresis loops obtained in the random field Ising model (RFIM) when controlling either the external magnetic field $H$ or the extensive magnetization $M$. Two distinct behaviors are observed, depending on disorder strength. At large disorder, the $H$-driven and $M$-driven protocols yield identical hysteresis loops in the thermodynamic limit. At low disorder, when the $H$-driven magnetization curve is discontinuous (due to the presence of a macroscopic avalanche), the $M$-driven loop is re-entrant while the induced field exhibits strong intermittent fluctuations and is only weakly self-averaging. The relevance of these results to the experimental observations in ferromagnetic materials, shape memory alloys, and other disordered systems is discussed.Comment: 11 pages, 11 figure

Effect of Tensor Correlations on Gamow-Teller States in 90Zr and 208Pb

The tensor terms of the Skyrme effective interaction are included in the self-consistent Hartree-Fock plus Random Phase Approximation (HF+RPA) model. The Gamow-Teller (GT) strength function of 90Zr and 208Pb are calculated with and without the tensor terms. The main peaks are moved downwards by about 2 MeV when including the tensor contribution. About 10% of the non-energy weighted sum rule is shifted to the excitation energy region above 30 MeV by the RPA tensor correlations. The contribution of the tensor terms to the energy weighted sum rule is given analytically, and compared to the outcome of RPA.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figures,2 table

Effective interaction for pf-shell nuclei

An effective interaction is derived for use in the full pf basis. Starting from a realistic G-matrix interaction, 195 two-body matrix elements and 4 single-particle energies are determined by fitting to 699 energy data in the mass range 47 to 66. The derived interaction successfully describes various structures of pf-shell nuclei. As examples, systematics of the energies of the first 2+ states in the Ca, Ti, Cr, Fe, and Ni isotope chains and energy levels of 56,57,58Ni are presented. The appearance of a new magic number 34 is seen.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev.

Level spectroscopy of the square-lattice three-state Potts model with a ferromagnetic next-nearest-neighbor coupling

We study the square-lattice three-state Potts model with the ferromagnetic next-nearest-neighbor coupling at finite temperature. Using the level-spectroscopy method, we numerically analyze the excitation spectrum of the transfer matrices and precisely determine the global phase diagram. Then we find that, contrary to a previous result based on the finite-size scaling, the massless region continues up to the decoupling point with ${\bf Z}_3\times{\bf Z}_3$ criticality in the antiferromagnetic region. We also check the universal relations among excitation levels to provide the reliability of our result.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

Systematically improvable optimized atomic basis sets for {\it ab inito} calculations

We propose a unique scheme to construct fully optimized atomic basis sets for density-functional calculations. The shapes of the radial functions are optimized by minimizing the {\it spillage} of the wave functions between the atomic orbital calculations and the converged plane wave calculations for dimer systems. The quality of the bases can be systematically improved by increasing the size of the bases within the same framework. The scheme is easy to implement and very flexible. We have done extensive tests of this scheme for wide variety of systems. The results show that the obtained atomic basis sets are very satisfactory for both accuracy and transferability