Molecular degrees of freedom: resonances and orbiting

Studies of orbiting and other gross features of heavy ion induced reactions show that molecular degrees of freedom play a significant role. The formation of a rotating dinuclear molecule appears as a general feature, and the radii derived for these dinuclear systems are larger than the radii of the conventional nucleus-nucleus potential. These large radii for the molecular bonding potential are similar to those derived from systematic studies performed recently on resonances in the /sup 12/C + /sup 12/C + /sup 16/O systems

Cluster states in nuclei as representations of a U(n+1) group

We propose a description of cluster states in nuclei in terms of representations of unitary algebras U(n+1), where n is the number of space degrees of freedom. Within this framework, a variety of situations including both vibrational and rotational spectra, soft and rigid configurations, identical and non-identical constituents can be described. As an example, we show how the method can be used to study alpha-clustering configurations in 12C with point group symmetry D(3h).Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, Phys. Rev. C, in pres

Anomalous magnetic ordering in PrBa_2Cu_3O_{7-y} single crystals: Evidence for magnetic coupling between the Cu and Pr sublattices

In Al-free PrBa_2Cu_3O_{7-y} single crystals the kink in the temperature dependence of magnetic susceptibility chi_{ab}(T), connected with Pr antiferromagnetic ordering, disappears after field cooling (FC) in a field H || ab-plane. The kink in chi_c(T) remains unchanged after FC in H || c-axis. As a possible explanation, freezing of the Cu magnetic moments, lying in the ab-plane, caused by FC in H || ab, hinders their reorientation and, due to coupling between the Pr and Cu(2) sublattices, ordering of the Pr^{3+} moments. A field induced phase transition and a field dependence of the Pr^{3+} ordering temperature have been found for both H || c and H || ab.Comment: 11 pages (LaTex with elsart.sty), 5 EPS figs. Accepted to Physica

Preparation and Characterization of Homogeneous YBCO Single Crystals with Doping Level near the SC-AFM Boundary

High-purity and homogeneous YBa2Cu3Oy single crystals with carrier doping level near the AFM-SC boundary have been obtained in the oxygen content range between y = 6.340 and 6.370. The crystals are ortho-II phase at room temperature and undergo the orthorhombic to tetragonal transition at about 140_Degree_C. They show sharp superconducting transitions, with Tc between 4 and 20 K. Tc changes by 0.8 K when the oxygen content y is changed by 0.001, and is also sensitive to annealing conditions near room temperature, due to the dependence of doping on oxygen ordering correlation lengths. Crystals with oxygen content y lower than 6.345 are non-superconducting.Comment: 6 page

Quasimolecular single-nucleon effects in heavy-ion collisions

Several experimental examples are discussed to illustrate that single-particle molecular orbital behavior has become an established reality in nuclear physics over the last several years. Measurements and analyses of inelastic scattering in the /sup 13/C + /sup 12/C and /sup 17/O + /sup 12/C systems, and of neutron transfer in the /sup 13/C(/sup 13/C, /sup 12/C)/sup 14/C reaction, show that the motion of valence nucleons can be strongly and simultaneously influenced by both collision partners in heavy-ion collisions. This bvehavior is characteristic of a molecular (single-particle) rather than a direct (DWBA) mechanism: it demonstrates that the single-particle analog of atomic molecular motion plays an important role in nuclear reactions at bombarding energies near the Coulomb barrier. Such behavior may be even more pronounced in the collisions of massive nuclei that will be studied with the new generation of heavy-ion accelerators. 19 references

Charge-state distributions of 100, 175, 275, and 352 MeV gold ions emerging from thin carbon foils

These measurements were undertaken as a consequence of our failure early this year to accelerate Au/sup +46/ ions in the Oak Ridge Isochronous Cyclotron using an injected beam of 352 MeV /sup 197/Au/sup +17/ from the 25 MV tandem accelerator. Following that unsuccessful test, we made a preliminary measurement of the charge-state distribution of 352 MeV /sup 197/Au ions emerging from a carbon foil using the bending magnet that is a part of the cyclotron beam injection system. The measured mean charge was approx.38.5, about 4.5 charge-states lower than predicted by the Sayer semi-empirical formula. The measurements reported here were done more precisely and systematically confirm that preliminary result. 12 refs., 5 figs., 4 tabs

Development of a laser optically pumped polarized target for use in heavy-ion physics. [/sup 151/ /sup 153/Eu]

Important micro- and macroscopic details of heavy-ion reactions may be explicitly determined when nuclear spin aligned (polarized) targets are used. For deformed nuclei, the orientation of the symmetry axis of the nuclear density distribution is determined by the nuclear spin orientation. Polarized targets would thus allow experiments to be performed as a function of the orientation of the symmetry axis of the nuclear density distribution. A polarized target of /sup 151/ /sup 153/Eu is being developed at Oak Ridge and is based on laser depopulation optical pumping. A spatially defined target is provided by a supersonic gas jet and consists of Eu atoms seeded into an inert carrier gas. Detailed time-dependent optical-pumping calculations predict approx. = 90% nuclear spin polarization in a Eu target with an expected thickness in excess of 10/sup 15/ atoms/cm/sup 2/. We present some of the effects that will be observable in heavy-ion reactions when deformed polarized targets are used