Microscopic description of neutron emission rates in compound nuclei

The neutron emission rates in thermal excited nuclei are conventionally described by statistical models with a phenomenological level density parameter that depends on excitation energies, deformations and mass regions. In the microscopic view of hot nuclei, the neutron emission rates can be determined by the external neutron gas densities without any free parameters. Therefore the microscopic description of thermal neutron emissions is desirable that can impact several understandings such as survival probabilities of superheavy compound nuclei and neutron emissivity in reactors. To describe the neutron emission rates microscopically, the external thermal neutron gases are self-consistently obtained based on the Finite-Temperature Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov (FT-HFB) approach. The results are compared with the statistical model to explore the connections between the FT-HFB approach and the statistical model. The Skyrme FT-HFB equation is solved by HFB-AX in deformed coordinate spaces. Based on the FT-HFB approach, the thermal properties and external neutron gas are properly described with the self-consistent gas substraction procedure. Then neutron emission rates can be obtained based on the densities of external neutron gases. The thermal statistical properties of $^{238}$U and $^{258}$U are studied in detail in terms of excitation energies. The thermal neutron emission rates in $^{238, 258}$U and superheavy compound nuclei $_{112}^{278}$Cn and $_{114}^{292}$Fl are calculated, which agree well with the statistical model by adopting an excitation-energy-dependent level density parameter. The coordinate-space FT-HFB approach can provide reliable microscopic descriptions of neutron emission rates in hot nuclei, as well as microscopic constraints on the excitation energy dependence of level density parameters for statistical models.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, revised and accepted for PR

Towards microscopic studies of survival probabilities of compound superheavy nuclei

The microscopic approach of fission rates and neutron emission rates in compound nuclei have been applied to $^{258}$No and $^{286}$Cn. The microscopic framework is based on the finite-temperature Skyrme-Hartree-Fock+BCS calculations, in which the fission barriers and mass parameters are self-consistently temperature dependent. The fission rates from low to high temperatures can be obtained based on the imaginary free energy method. The neutron emission rates are obtained with neutron gases at surfaces. Finally the survival probabilities of superheavy nuclei can be calculated microscopically. The microscopic approach has been compared with the widely used statistical models. Generally, there are still large uncertainties in descriptions of fission rates.Comment: 9 pages,7 figures, accepted for Physica Scripta Special Issu

A Refined Holographic QCD Model and QCD Phase Structure

We consider the Einstein-Maxwell-dilaton system with an arbitrary kinetic gauge function and a dilaton potential. A family of analytic solutions is obtained by the potential reconstruction method. We then study its holographic dual QCD model. The kinetic gauge function can be fixed by requesting the linear Regge spectrum of mesons. We calculate the free energy to obtain the phase diagram of the holographic QCD model.Comment: 21 pages, 17 figures. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1301.038

Confinement-Deconfinment Phase Transition for Heavy Quarks

We study confinement-deconfinement phase transition for heavy quarks in a bottom-up holographic QCD model. We consider a black hole background in an Einstein-Maxwell-scalar system and add probe open strings to the background. Combining the various configurations of the open strings and the phase structure of the black hole background itself, we obtain the confinement-deconfinement phase diagram for heavy quarks in the holographic QCD model.Comment: 23 pages, 14 figures, published in JHEP. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1301.038

Topological phase transition in the quench dynamics of a one-dimensional Fermi gas

We study the quench dynamics of a one-dimensional ultracold Fermi gas in an optical lattice potential with synthetic spin-orbit coupling. At equilibrium, the ground state of the system can undergo a topological phase transition and become a topological superfluid with Majorana edge states. As the interaction is quenched near the topological phase boundary, we identify an interesting dynamical phase transition of the quenched state in the long-time limit, characterized by an abrupt change of the pairing gap at a critical quenched interaction strength. We further demonstrate the topological nature of this dynamical phase transition from edge-state analysis of the quenched states. Our findings provide interesting clues for the understanding of topological phase transitions in dynamical processes, and can be useful for the dynamical detection of Majorana edge states in corresponding systems.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure

Does a change in debt structure matter in earnings management? the application of nonlinear panel threshold test

In this study, we apply Hansen¡¦s (1999) nonlinear panel threshold test, the most powerful test of its kind, to investigate the relationship between debt ratio and earnings management of 474 selected Taiwan-listed companies during the September 2002 - June 2005 period. Rather than a fixed positive relation that is determined from the OLS, our empirical results strongly suggest that when a firm¡¦s debt ratio exceeds 46.79% and 62.17%, its debt structure changes, which in turn leads to changes in earnings management. With an increase in debt ratio, managers tend to manage earnings to a greater extent and at a higher speed. In other words, the threshold effect of debt on the relationship between debt ratio and earnings management generates an increasingly positive impact. These empirical results provide concerned investors and authorities with an enhanced understanding of earnings management, as manipulated by managers confronted with different debt structures.