554 research outputs found
Paradoxical Magnetic Cooling in a Structural Transition Model
In contrast to the experimentally widely used isentropic demagnetization
process for cooling to ultra-low temperatures we examine a particular classical
model system that does not cool, but rather heats up with isentropic
demagnetization. This system consists of several magnetite particles in a
colloidal suspension, and shows the uncommon behavior of disordering
structurally while ordering magnetically in an increasing magnetic field. For a
six-particle system, we report an uncommon structural transition from a ring to
a chain as a function of magnetic field and temperature.Comment: 3 pages, 2 figures. For recent information on physics of small
systems see http://www.smallsystems.d
The strength of nuclear shell effects at N=126 in the r-process region
We have investigated nuclear shell effects across the magic number N=126 in
the region of the r-process path. Microscopic calculations have been performed
using the relativistic Hartree-Bogoliubov approach within the framework of the
RMF theory for isotopic chains of rare-earth nuclei in the r-process region.
The Lagrangian model NL-SV1 with the inclusion of the vector self-coupling of
omega meson has been employed. The RMF results show that the shell effects at
N=126 remain strong and exhibit only a slight reduction in the strength in
going from the r-process path to the neutron drip line. This is in striking
contrast to a systematic weakening of the shell effects at N=82 in the
r-process region predicted earlier in the similar approach. In comparison the
shell effects with microscopic-macroscopic mass formulae show a near constancy
of shell gaps leading to strong shell effects in the region of r-process path
to the drip line. A recent analysis of solar-system r-process abundances in a
prompt supernova explosion model using various mass formulae including the
recently introduced mass tables based upon HFB approach shows that whilst mass
formulae with weak shell effects at N=126 give rise to a spread and an
overproduction of nuclides near the third abundance peak at A~190, mass tables
with droplet models showing stronger shell effects are able to reproduce the
abundance features near the third peak appropriately. In comparison, several
analyses of the second r-process peak at A~130 have required weakened shell
effects at N=82. Our predictions in the RMF theory with NL-SV1, which exhibit
weaker shell effects at N=82 and stronger one at N=126 in the r-process region,
support the conjecture that a different nature of the shell effects at the
magic numbers may be at play in r-process nucleosynthesis of heavy nuclei.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures; submitted to Physical Review C. Part of this
work was presented at Nuclear Physics in Astrophysics II, 20th International
Nuclear Physics Divisional Conference of the European Physical Society, at
Debrecen, Hungary, May 16-20, 200
Fission Cycling in a Supernova r-process
Recent halo star abundance observations exhibit an important feature of
consequence to the r-process: the presence of a main r-process between the
second and third peaks which is consistent among halo stars. We explore fission
cycling and steady-beta flow as the driving mechanisms behind this feature. The
presence of fission cycling during the r-process can account for
nucleosynthesis yields between the second and third peaks, whereas the presence
of steady-beta flow can account for consistent r-process patterns, robust under
small variations in astrophysical conditions. We employ the neutrino-driven
wind of the core-collapse supernova to examine fission cycling and steady-beta
flow in the r-process. As the traditional neutrino-driven wind model does not
produce the required very neutron-rich conditions for these mechanisms, we
examine changes to the neutrino physics necessary for fission cycling to occur
in the neutrino-driven wind environment, and we explore under what conditions
steady-beta flow is obtained.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figure
Application of the RMF mass model to the r-process and the influence of mass uncertainties
A new mass table calculated by the relativistic mean field approach with the
state-dependent BCS method for the pairing correlation is applied for the first
time to study r-process nucleosynthesis. The solar r-process abundance is well
reproduced within a waiting-point approximation approach. Using an exponential
fitting procedure to find the required astrophysical conditions, the influence
of mass uncertainty is investigated. R-process calculations using the FRDM,
ETFSI-Q and HFB-13 mass tables have been used for that purpose. It is found
that the nuclear physical uncertainty can significantly influence the deduced
astrophysical conditions for the r-process site. In addition, the influence of
the shell closure and shape transition have been examined in detail in the
r-process simulations.Comment: to be published in Phys. Rev. C, 22 pages, 9 figure
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