Halos in medium-heavy and heavy nuclei with covariant density functional theory in continuum

The covariant density functional theory with a few number of parameters has been widely used to describe the ground-state and excited-state properties for the nuclei all over the nuclear chart. In order to describe exotic properties of unstable nuclei, the contribution of the continuum and its coupling with bound states should be treated properly. In this Topical Review, the development of the covariant density functional theory in continuum will be introduced, including the relativistic continuum Hartree-Bogoliubov theory, the relativistic Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov theory in continuum, and the deformed relativistic Hartree-Bogoliubov theory in continuum. Then the descriptions and predictions of the neutron halo phenomena in both spherical and deformed nuclei will be reviewed. The diffuseness of the nuclear potentials, nuclear shapes and density distributions, and the impact of the pairing correlations on nuclear size will be discussed.Comment: 63 pages; Topical Review, J. Phys. G (in press

Two-Dimensional Steady Supersonic Exothermically Reacting Euler Flow past Lipschitz Bending Walls

We are concerned with the two-dimensional steady supersonic reacting Euler flow past Lipschitz bending walls that are small perturbations of a convex one, and establish the existence of global entropy solutions when the total variation of both the initial data and the slope of the boundary is sufficiently small. The flow is governed by an ideal polytropic gas and undergoes a one-step exothermic chemical reaction under the reaction rate function that is Lipschtiz and has a positive lower bound. The heat released by the reaction may cause the total variation of the solution to increase along the flow direction. We employ the modified wave-front tracking scheme to construct approximate solutions and develop a Glimm-type functional by incorporating the approximate strong rarefaction waves and Lipschitz bending walls to obtain the uniform bound on the total variation of the approximate solutions. Then we employ this bound to prove the convergence of the approximate solutions to a global entropy solution that contains a strong rarefaction wave generated by the Lipschitz bending wall. In addition, the asymptotic behavior of the entropy solution in the flow direction is also analyzed.Comment: 58 pages, 16 figures; SIAM J. Math. Anal. (accepted on November 1, 2016

Microscopic self-consistent description of induced fission dynamics: finite temperature effects

The dynamics of induced fission of $^{226}$Th is investigated in a theoretical framework based on the finite-temperature time-dependent generator coordinate method (TDGCM) in the Gaussian overlap approximation (GOA). The thermodynamical collective potential and inertia tensor at temperatures in the interval $T=0 - 1.25$ MeV are calculated using the self-consistent multidimensionally constrained relativistic mean field (MDC-RMF) model, based on the energy density functional DD-PC1. Pairing correlations are treated in the BCS approximation with a separable pairing force of finite range. Constrained RMF+BCS calculations are carried out in the collective space of axially symmetric quadrupole and octupole deformations for the asymmetric fissioning nucleus $^{226}$Th. The collective Hamiltonian is determined by the temperature-dependent free energy surface and perturbative cranking inertia tensor, and the TDGCM+GOA is used to propagate the initial collective state in time. The resulting charge and mass fragment distributions are analyzed as functions of the internal excitation energy. The model can qualitatively reproduce the empirical triple-humped structure of the fission charge and mass distributions already at $T=0$, but the precise experimental position of the asymmetric peaks and the symmetric-fission yield can only be accurately reproduced when the potential and inertia tensor of the collective Hamiltonian are determined at finite temperature, in this particular case between $T=0.75$ MeV and $T=1$ MeV.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure