Interplay between valence and core excitation mechanisms in the breakup of halo nuclei

The phenomenon of core excitation in the breakup of a two-body halo nucleus is investigated. We show that this effect plays a significant role in the reaction dynamics and, furthermore, its interference with the valence excitation mechanism has sizable and measurable effects on the breakup angular distributions. These effects have been studied in the resonant breakup of 11Be on a carbon target, populating the resonances at 1.78 MeV (5/2+) and 3.41 MeV (3/2+). The calculations have been performed using a recently extension of the DWBA method, which takes into account the effect of core excitation in both the structure of the halo nucleus and in the reaction mechanism. The calculated angular distributions have been compared with the available data [Fukuda et al., Phys. Rev. C70,054606]. Although each of these resonances is dominated by one of the two considered mechanisms, the angular patterns of these resonances depend in a very delicate way on the interference between them. This is the first clear evidence of this effect but the phenomenon is likely to occur in other similar reactions.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, (Version to appear in Physical Review Letters

Description of the 11^{11}Li(p,d)10(p,d){^{10}}Li transfer reaction using structure overlaps from a full three-body model

Recent data on the differential angular distribution for the transfer reaction $^{11}$Li(p,d)$^{10}$Li at $E/A=5.7$ MeV in inverse kinematics are analysed within the DWBA reaction framework, using the overlap functions calculated within a three-body model of $^{11}$Li. The weight of the different $^{10}$Li configurations in the system's ground state is obtained from the structure calculations unambiguously. The effect of the $^{9}$Li spin in the calculated observables is also investigated. We find that, although all the considered models succeed in reproducing the shape of the data, the magnitude is very sensitive to the content of $p_{1/2}$ wave in the $^{11}$Li ground-state wave function. Among the considered models, the best agreement with the data is obtained when the $^{11}$Li ground state contains a $\sim$31\% of $p_{1/2}$ wave in the $n$-$^9$Li subsystem. Although this model takes into account explicitly the splitting of the $1^+$ and $2^+$ resonances due to the coupling of the $p_{1/2}$ wave to the $3/2^-$ spin of the core, a similar degree of agreement can be achieved with a model in which the $^{9}$Li spin is ignored, provided that it contains a similar p-wave content.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures. Final versio

Linking structure and dynamics in (p,pn)(p,pn) reactions with Borromean nuclei: the 11^{11}Li(p,pn)10(p,pn){^{10}}Li case

One-neutron removal $(p,pn)$ reactions induced by two-neutron Borromean nuclei are studied within a Transfer-to-the-Continuum (TC) reaction framework, which incorporates the three-body character of the incident nucleus. The relative energy distribution of the residual unbound two-body subsystem, which is assumed to retain information on the structure of the original three-body projectile, is computed by evaluating the transition amplitude for different neutron-core final states in the continuum. These transition amplitudes depend on the overlaps between the original three-body ground-state wave function and the two-body continuum states populated in the reaction, thus ensuring a consistent description of the incident and final nuclei. By comparing different $^{11}$Li three-body models, it is found that the $^{11}$Li$(p,pn){^{10}}$Li relative energy spectrum is very sensitive to the position of the $p_{1/2}$ and $s_{1/2}$ states in $^{10}$Li and to the partial wave content of these configurations within the $^{11}$Li ground-state wave function. The possible presence of a low-lying $d_{5/2}$ resonance is discussed. The coupling of the single particle configurations with the non-zero spin of the $^{9}$Li core, which produces a spin-spin splitting of the states, is also studied. Among the considered models, the best agreement with the available data is obtained with a $^{11}$Li model that incorporates the actual spin of the core and contains $\sim$31\% of $p_{1/2}$-wave content in the $n$-$^9$Li subsystem, in accord with our previous findings for the $^{11}$Li(p,d)$^{10}$Li transfer reaction, and a near-threshold virtual state.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, submitted to PL

Investigating the 10Li continuum through 9Li(d,p)10Li reactions

The continuum structure of the unbound system $^{10}$Li, inferred from the $^{9}$Li$(d,p)^{10}$Li transfer reaction, is reexamined. Experimental data for this reaction, measured at two different energies, are analyzed with the same reaction framework and structure models. It is shown that the seemingly different features observed in the measured excitation energy spectra can be understood as due to the different incident energy and angular range covered by the two experiments. The present results support the persistence of the $N=7$ parity inversion beyond the neutron dripline as well as the splitting of the well-known low-lying $p$-wave resonance. Furthermore, they provide indirect evidence that most of the $\ell=2$ single-particle strength, including possible $d_{5/2}$ resonances, lies at relatively high excitations energies.Comment: accepted for publication in Physics Letters

Determining B(E1)B(E1) distributions of weakly bound nuclei from breakup cross sections using Continuum Discretized Coupled Channels calculations. Application to 11^{11}Be

A novel method to extract the $B(E1)$ strength of a weakly bound nucleus from experimental Coulomb dissociation data is proposed. The method makes use of continuum discretized coupled channels (CDCC) calculations, in which both nuclear and Coulomb forces are taken into account to all orders. This is a crucial advantage with respect to the standard procedure based on the Equivalent Photon Method (EPM) which does not properly take into account nuclear distortion, higher order coupling effects, or Coulomb-nuclear interference terms. The procedure is applied to the $^{11}$Be nucleus using two sets of available experimental data at different energies, for which seemingly incompatible $B(E1)$ have been reported using the EPM. We show that the present procedure gives consistent $B(E1)$ strengths, thus solving the aforementioned long-standing discrepancy between the two measurements.Comment: Submitted for publicatio

Atmosphere above a large solar pore

A large solar pore with a granular light bridge was observed on October 15, 2008 with the IBIS spectrometer at the Dunn Solar Telescope and a 69-min long time series of spectral scans in the lines Ca II 854.2 nm and Fe I 617.3 nm was obtained. The intensity and Doppler signals in the Ca II line were separated. This line samples the middle chromosphere in the core and the middle photosphere in the wings. Although no indication of a penumbra is seen in the photosphere, an extended filamentary structure, both in intensity and Doppler signals, is observed in the Ca II line core. An analysis of morphological and dynamical properties of the structure shows a close similarity to a superpenumbra of a sunspot with developed penumbra. A special attention is paid to the light bridge, which is the brightest feature in the pore seen in the Ca II line centre and shows an enhanced power of chromospheric oscillations at 3-5 mHz. Although the acoustic power flux in the light bridge is five times higher than in the "quiet" chromosphere, it cannot explain the observed brightness.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, accepted in Journal of Physics: Conference Serie

The effect of load in a contact with boundary lubrication

The effect of the transition load on the wear in a contact with boundary lubrication was investigated. An experimental method was developed for this purpose, and parameters affecting the boundary lubrication under industrial operating conditions were identified. These parameters are the adsorbed boundary film, the contact microgeometry (surface roughness), macrogeometry, and hardness of materials used. It was found that the curve of the tops of the surface protrustion affect the transition load, and thus the boundary lubrication. The transition load also depends on the chemical nature of the contact and its geometrical and mechanical aspects

The continuum description with pseudo-state wave functions

Benchmark calculations are performed aiming to test the use of two different pseudo-state bases on the the Multiple Scattering expansion of the total Transition amplitude (MST) scattering framework. Calculated differential cross sections for p-6He inelastic scattering at 717 MeV/u show a good agreement between the observables calculated in the two bases. This result gives extra confidence on the pseudo-state representation of continuum states to describe inelastic/breakup scattering.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures. Published in Physical Review

Simultaneous analysis of elastic scattering and transfer/breakup channels for the 6He+208Pb reaction at energies near the Coulomb barrier

The elastic and alpha-production channels for the 6He+208Pb reaction are investigated at energies around the Coulomb barrier (E_{lab}=14, 16, 18, 22, and 27 MeV). The effect of the two-neutron transfer channels on the elastic scattering has been studied within the Coupled-Reaction-Channels (CRC) method. We find that the explicit inclusion of these channels allows a simultaneous description of the elastic data and the inclusive alpha cross sections at backward angles. Three-body Continuum-Discretized Coupled-Channels (CDCC) calculations are found to reproduce the elastic data, but not the transfer/breakup data. The trivially-equivalent local polarization potential (TELP) derived from the CRC and CDCC calculations are found to explain the features found in previous phenomenological optical model calculations for this system.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures (replaced with updated version