Coulomb excitation of exotic nuclei at the R3B-LAND setup

Exotic Ni isotopes have been measured at the R3B-LAND setup at GSI in Darmstadt, using Coulomb excitation in inverse kinematics at beam energies around 500 MeV/u. As the experimental setup allows kinematically complete measurements, the excitation energy was reconstructed using the invariant mass method. The GDR and additional low-lying strength have been observed in 68Ni, the latter exhausting 4.1(1.9)% of the E1 energy-weighted sum rule. Also, the branching ratio for the non-statistical decay of the excited 68Ni nuclei was measured and amounts to 24(4)%.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures. Invited Talk given at the 11th International Conference on Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions (NN2012), San Antonio, Texas, USA, May 27-June 1, 2012. To appear in the NN2012 Proceedings in Journal of Physics: Conference Series (JPCS

Coulomb dissociation of P 27 at 500 MeV/u

The proton-capture reaction Si26(p,γ)P27 was studied via Coulomb dissociation (CD) of P27 at an incident energy of about 500 MeV/u. The three lowest-lying resonances in P27 have been populated and their resonance strengths have been measured. In addition, a nonresonant direct-capture component was clearly identified and its astrophysical S factor measured. The experimental results are compared to Monte Carlo simulations of the CD process using a semiclassical model. Our thermonuclear reaction rates show good agreement with the rates from a recent compilation. With respect to the nuclear structure of P27 we have found evidence for a negative-parity intruder state at 2.88-MeV excitation energy

Coulomb dissociation of 27 P: A reaction of astrophysical interest

The ground-state decay of 26Al(0+) (T 1/2=1.05 7 106) has a shorter life-time than the Universe. The presence of this element in the Galaxy was measured via g-ray spectroscopy, showing that the nucleosynthesis of this element is an ongoing process in stars. The proton-capture reaction 26Si(p,γ) 27P competes with the production of 26Al(0+) by β-decay. Coulomb dissociation of 27P has been suggested as an indirect method to measure radiative-proton capture when the direct reaction is not feasible. Such an experiment was performed at GSI with a secondary 27P beam produced by fragmenting a 36Ar primary beam at 500 A MeV. Two main observables are preliminarily presented in this work: the reaction cross section and the relative-energy spectrum of the outgoing fragments \ua9 Copyright owned by the author(s)

Breakup reaction models for two- and three-cluster projectiles

Breakup reactions are one of the main tools for the study of exotic nuclei, and in particular of their continuum. In order to get valuable information from measurements, a precise reaction model coupled to a fair description of the projectile is needed. We assume that the projectile initially possesses a cluster structure, which is revealed by the dissociation process. This structure is described by a few-body Hamiltonian involving effective forces between the clusters. Within this assumption, we review various reaction models. In semiclassical models, the projectile-target relative motion is described by a classical trajectory and the reaction properties are deduced by solving a time-dependent Schroedinger equation. We then describe the principle and variants of the eikonal approximation: the dynamical eikonal approximation, the standard eikonal approximation, and a corrected version avoiding Coulomb divergence. Finally, we present the continuum-discretized coupled-channel method (CDCC), in which the Schroedinger equation is solved with the projectile continuum approximated by square-integrable states. These models are first illustrated by applications to two-cluster projectiles for studies of nuclei far from stability and of reactions useful in astrophysics. Recent extensions to three-cluster projectiles, like two-neutron halo nuclei, are then presented and discussed. We end this review with some views of the future in breakup-reaction theory.Comment: Will constitute a chapter of "Clusters in Nuclei - Vol.2." to be published as a volume of "Lecture Notes in Physics" (Springer

The cluster-core model for halo-structure of light nuclei at the drip lines

Nuclei at both the neutron- and proton-drip lines are studied. In the cluster-core model, the halo-structure of all the observed and proposed cases of neutron- or proton-halos is investigated in terms of simple potential energy surfaces calculated as the sum of binding energies, Coulomb repulsion, nuclear proximity attraction and the centrifugal potential for all the possible cluster+core configurations of a nucleus. The clusters of neutrons and protons are taken to be unbound, with additional Coulomb energy added for proton-clusters. The model predictions agree with the available experimental studies but show some differences with the nucleon separation energy hypothesis, particularly for proton-halo nuclei. Of particular interest are the halo-structures of $^{11}N$ and $^{20}Mg$. The calculated potential energy surfaces are also useful to identify the new magic numbers and molecular structures in exotic nuclei. In particular, N=6 is a possible new magic number for very neutron-deficient nuclei, but Z=N=2 and Z=8 seem to remain magic even for such nuclei, near the drip line

Nuclear symmetry energy and neutron skins derived from pygmy dipole resonances

By exploiting Coulomb dissociation of high-energy radioactive beams of the neutron-rich nuclei 129-132Sn and 133, 134Sb, their dipole-strength distributions have been measured. A sizable fraction of "pygmy" dipole strength, energetically located below the giant dipole resonance, is observed in all of these nuclei. A comparison with available pygmy resonance data in stable nuclei (208Pb and N=82 isotones) indicates a trend of strength increasing with the proton-to-neutron asymmetry. On theoretical grounds, employing the RQRPA approach, a one-to-one correlation is found between the pygmy strength and parameters describing the density dependence of the nuclear symmetry energy, and in turn with the thicknesses of the neutron skins. On this basis, by using the experimental pygmy strength, parameters of the nuclear symmetry energy (a4=32.0± ; 1.8 MeV and po=2.3± ; 0.8 MeV/fm3) are deduced as well as neutron-skin thicknesses Rn-Rp of 0.24± ; 0.04 fm for 132Sn and of 0.18± ; 0.035 fm for 208Pb, both doubly magic nuclei. Astrophysical implications with regard to neutron stars are briefly addressed

Measurement of the 92,93,94,100Mo(γ,n) reactions by Coulomb Dissociation

The Coulomb Dissociation (CD) cross sections of the stable isotopes 92,94,100Mo and of the unstable isotope 93Mo were measured at the LAND/R3B setup at GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung in Darmstadt, Germany. Experimental data on these isotopes may help to explain the problem of the underproduction of 92,94Mo and 96,98Ru in the models of p-process nucleosynthesis. The CD cross sections obtained for the stable Mo isotopes are in good agreement with experiments performed with real photons, thus validating the method of Coulomb Dissociation. The result for the reaction 93Mo(γ,n) is especially important since the corresponding cross section has not been measured before. A preliminary integral Coulomb Dissociation cross section of the 94Mo(γ,n) reaction is presented. Further analysis will complete the experimental database for the (γ,n) production chain of the p-isotopes of molybdenum