Microscopic Study of the Isoscalar Giant Monopole Resonance in Cd, Sn and Pb Isotopes

The isoscalar giant monopole resonance (ISGMR) in Cd, Sn and Pb isotopes has been studied within the self-consistent Skyrme Hartree-Fock+BCS and quasi-particle random phase approximation (QRPA). Three Skyrme parameter sets are used in the calculations, i.e., SLy5, SkM* and SkP, since they are characterized by different values of the compression modulus in symmetric nuclear matter, namely K=230, 217, and 202 MeV, respectively. We also investigate the effect of different types of pairing forces on the ISGMR in Cd, Sn and Pb isotopes. The calculated peak energies and the strength distributions of ISGMR are compared with available experimental data. We find that SkP fails completely to describe the ISGMR strength distribution for all isotopes due to its low value of the nuclear matter incompressibility, namely K=202 MeV. On the other hand, the SLy5 parameter set, supplemented by an appropriate pairing interaction, gives a reasonable description of the ISGMR in Cd and Pb isotopes. A better description of ISGMR in Sn isotopes is achieved by the SkM* interaction, that has a somewhat softer value of the nuclear incompressibility.Comment: Submitted to Phys. Rev.

Proton decay from the isoscalar giant dipole resonance in 58^{58}Ni

Proton decay from the 3$\hbar\omega$ isoscalar giant dipole resonance (ISGDR) in $^{58}$Ni has been measured using the ($\alpha,\alpha'p$) reaction at a bombarding energy of 386 MeV to investigate its decay properties. We have extracted the ISGDR strength under the coincidence condition between inelastically scattered $\alpha$ particles at forward angles and decay protons emitted at backward angles. Branching ratios for proton decay to low-lying states of $^{57}$Co have been determined, and the results compared to predictions of recent continuum-RPA calculations. The final-state spectra of protons decaying to the low-lying states in $^{57}$Co were analyzed for a more detailed understanding of the structure of the ISGDR. It is found that there are differences in the structure of the ISGDR as a function of excitation energy.Comment: Minor changes after review. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. C. 19 pages; 7 figure

Effect of the tensor force on the charge-exchange spin-dipole excitations of 208Pb

The charge-exchange spin-dipole (SD) excitations of 208Pb are studied by using a fully self-consistent Skyrme Hartree-Fock plus Random Phase Approximation (HF+RPA) formalism which includes the tensor interaction. It is found, for the first time, that the tensor correlations have a unique, multipole-dependent effect on the SD excitations, that is, they produce softening of 1- states, but hardening of 0- and 2- states. This paves the way to a clear assessment of the strength of the tensor terms. We compare our results with a recent measurement, showing that our choice of tensor terms improves the agreement with experiment. The robustness of our results is supported by the analytic form of the tensor matrix elements.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, 2 table

Self-consistent calculation of nuclear photoabsorption cross section: Finite amplitude method with Skyrme functionals in the three-dimensional real space

The finite amplitude method (FAM), which we have recently proposed (T. Nakatsukasa, T. Inakura, and K. Yabana, Phys. Rev. C 76, 024318 (2007)), simplifies significantly the fully self-consistent RPA calculation. Employing the FAM, we are conducting systematic, fully self-consistent response calculations for a wide mass region. This paper is intended to present a computational scheme to be used in the systematic investigation and to show the performance of the FAM for a realistic Skyrme energy functional. We implemented the method in the mixed representation in which the forward and backward RPA amplitudes are represented by indices of single-particle orbitals for occupied states and the spatial grid points for unoccupied states. We solve the linear response equation for a given frequency. The equation is a linear algebraic problem with a sparse non-hermitian matrix, which is solved with an iterative method. We show results of the dipole response for selected spherical and deformed nuclei. The peak energies of the giant dipole resonance agree well with measurements for heavy nuclei, while they are systematically underestimated for light nuclei. We also discuss the width of the giant dipole resonance in the fully self-consistent RPA calculation.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figure

Isotopic dependence of the giant monopole resonance in the even-A ^{112-124}Sn isotopes and the asymmetry term in nuclear incompressibility

The strength distributions of the giant monopole resonance (GMR) have been measured in the even-A Sn isotopes (A=112--124) with inelastic scattering of 400-MeV $\alpha$ particles in the angular range $0^\circ$--$8.5^\circ$. We find that the experimentally-observed GMR energies of the Sn isotopes are lower than the values predicted by theoretical calculations that reproduce the GMR energies in $^{208}$Pb and $^{90}$Zr very well. From the GMR data, a value of $K_{\tau} = -550 \pm 100$ MeV is obtained for the asymmetry-term in the nuclear incompressibility.Comment: Submitted to Physical Review Letters. 10 pages; 4 figure

Isoscalar dipole strength in ^{208}_{82}Pb_{126}: the spurious mode and the strength in the continuum

Isoscalar dipole (compression) mode is studied first using schematic harmonic-oscillator model and, then, the self-consistent Hartree-Fock (HF) and random phase approximation (RPA) solved in coordinate space. Taking ^{208}Pb and the SkM* interaction as a numerical example, the spurious component and the strength in the continuum are carefully examined using the sum rules. It is pointed out that in the continuum calculation one has to use an extremely fine radial mesh in HF and RPA in order to separate, with good accuracy, the spurious component from intrinsic excitations.Comment: 19 pages, 2 figure

Breathing mode in an improved transport approach

The nuclear breathing-mode giant monopole resonance is studied within an improved relativistic Boltzmann-Uehling-Uhlenbeck (BUU) transport approach. As a new feature, the numerical treatment of ground state nuclei and their phase-space evolution is realized with the same semiclassical energy density functional. With this new method a very good stability of ground state nuclei in BUU simulations is achieved. This is important in extracting clear breathing-mode signals for the excitation energy and, in particular, for the lifetime from transport theoretical studies including mean-field and collisional effects.Comment: 33 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Isospin properties of electric dipole excitations in 48Ca

Two different experimental approaches were combined to study the electric dipole strength in the doubly-magic nucleus 48Ca below the neutron threshold. Real-photon scattering experiments using bremsstrahlung up to 9.9 MeV and nearly mono-energetic linearly polarized photons with energies between 6.6 and 9.51 MeV provided strength distribution and parities, and an (\alpha,\alpha'\gamma) experiment at E_{\alpha}=136 MeV gave cross sections for an isoscalar probe. The unexpected difference observed in the dipole response is compared to calculations using the first-order random-phase approximation and points to an energy-dependent isospin character. A strong isoscalar state at 7.6 MeV was identified for the first time supporting a recent theoretical prediction.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, as accepted in Phys. Lett.

Overtones of Isoscalar Giant Resonances in medium-heavy and heavy nuclei

A semi-microscopic approach based on both the continum-random-phase-approximation (CRPA) method and a phenomenological treatment of the spreading effect is extended and applied to describe the main properties (particle-hole strength distribution, energy-dependent transition density, partial direct-nucleon-decay branching ratios) of the isoscalar giant dipole, second monopole, and second quadrupole resonances. Abilities of the approach are checked by description of gross properties of the main-tone resonances. Calculation results obtained for the resonances in a few singly- and doubly-closed-shell nuclei are compared with available experimental data.Comment: 12 pages, 14 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Time scales in nuclear giant resonances

We propose a general approach to characterise fluctuations of measured cross sections of nuclear giant resonances. Simulated cross sections are obtained from a particular, yet representative self-energy which contains all information about fragmentations. Using a wavelet analysis, we demonstrate the extraction of time scales of cascading decays into configurations of different complexity of the resonance. We argue that the spreading widths of collective excitations in nuclei are determined by the number of fragmentations as seen in the power spectrum. An analytic treatment of the wavelet analysis using a Fourier expansion of the cross section confirms this principle. A simple rule for the relative life times of states associated with hierarchies of different complexity is given.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure