Unveiling the origin of shape coexistence in lead isotopes

The shape coexistence in the nuclei $^{182-192}$Pb is analyzed within the Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov approach with the effective Gogny force. A good agreement with the experimental energies is found for the coexisting spherical, oblate and prolate states. Contrary to the established interpretation, it is found that the low-lying prolate and oblate $0^+$ states observed in this mass region are predominantly characterized by neutron correlations whereas the protons behave as spectators rather than playing an active role.Comment: 5 pages, 6 postscript figure

Structural evolution in germanium and selenium nuclei within the mapped interacting boson model based on the Gogny energy density functional

The shape transitions and shape coexistence in the Ge and Se isotopes are studied within the interacting boson model (IBM) with the microscopic input from the self-consistent mean-field calculation based on the Gogny-D1M energy density functional. The mean-field energy surface as a function of the quadrupole shape variables $\beta$ and $\gamma$, obtained from the constrained Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov method, is mapped onto the expectation value of the IBM Hamiltonian with configuration mixing in the boson condensate state. The resultant Hamiltonian is used to compute excitation energies and electromagnetic properties of the selected nuclei $^{66-94}$Ge and $^{68-96}$Se. Our calculation suggests that many nuclei exhibit $\gamma$ softness. Coexistence between prolate and oblate, as well as between spherical and $\gamma$-soft, shapes is also observed. The method provides a reasonable description of the observed systematics of the excitation energy of the low-lying energy levels and transition strengths for nuclei below the neutron shell closure $N=50$, and provides predictions on the spectroscopy of neutron-rich Ge and Se isotopes with $52\leq N\leq 62$, where data are scarce or not available.Comment: 16 pages, 20 figure

Spectroscopy of quadrupole and octupole states in rare-earth nuclei from a Gogny force

Collective quadrupole and octupole states are described in a series of Sm and Gd isotopes within the framework of the interacting boson model (IBM), whose Hamiltonian parameters are deduced from mean field calculations with the Gogny energy density functional. The link between both frameworks is the ($\beta_2\beta_3$) potential energy surface computed within the Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov framework in the case of the Gogny force. The diagonalization of the IBM Hamiltonian provides excitation energies and transition strengths of an assorted set of states including both positive and negative parity states. The resultant spectroscopic properties are compared with the available experimental data and also with the results of the configuration mixing calculations with the Gogny force within the generator coordinate method (GCM). The structure of excited $0^{+}$ states and its connection with double octupole phonons is also addressed. The model is shown to describe the empirical trend of the low-energy quadrupole and octupole collective structure fairly well, and turns out to be consistent with GCM results obtained with the Gogny force.Comment: 17 pages, 12 figures, 4 table

Polyradical character and spin frustration in fullerene molecules: An ab initio non-collinear Hartree--Fock study

Most {\em ab initio} calculations on fullerene molecules have been carried out based on the paradigm of the H\"uckel model. This is consistent with the restricted nature of the independent-particle model underlying such calculations, even in single-reference-based correlated approaches. On the other hand, previous works on some of these molecules using model Hamiltonians have clearly indicated the importance of short-range inter-atomic spin-spin correlations. In this work, we consider {\em ab initio} non-collinear Hartree--Fock (HF) solutions for representative fullerene systems: the bowl, cage, ring, and pentagon isomers of C$_{20}$, and the larger C$_{30}$, C$_{36}$, C$_{60}$, C$_{70}$, and C$_{84}$ fullerene cages. In all cases but the ring we find that the HF minimum corresponds to a truly non-collinear solution with a torsional spin density wave. Optimized geometries at the generalized HF (GHF) level lead to fully symmetric structures, even in those cases where Jahn-Teller distortions have been previously considered. The nature of the GHF solutions is consistent with the $\pi$-electron space becoming polyradical in nature: each $p$-orbital remains effectively singly occupied. The spin frustration, induced by the pentagon rings in an otherwise anti-ferromagnetic background, is minimized at the HF level by aligning the spins in non-collinear arrangements. The long-range magnetic ordering observed is reminiscent of the character of broken symmetry HF solutions in polyacene systems.Comment: 16 figure

Multi-reference symmetry-projected variational approximation for the ground state of the doped one-dimensional Hubbard model

A multi-reference configuration mixing scheme is used to describe the ground state, characterized by well defined spin and space group symmetry quantum numbers as well as doping fractions $N_{e}/N_{sites}$, of one dimensional Hubbard lattices with nearest-neighbor hopping and periodic boundary conditions. Within this scheme, each ground state is expanded in a given number of nonorthogonal and variationally determined symmetry-projected configurations. The results obtained for the ground state and correlation energies of half-filled and doped lattices with 30, 34 and 50 sites, compare well with the exact Lieb-Wu solutions as well as with the ones obtained with other state-of-the-art approximations. The structure of the intrinsic symmetry-broken determinants resulting from the variational procedure is interpreted in terms of solitons whose translational and breathing motions can be regarded as basic units of quantum fluctuations. It is also shown that in the case of doped 1D lattices, a part of such fluctuations can also be interpreted in terms of polarons. In addition to momentum distributions, both spin-spin and density-density correlation functions are studied as functions of doping. The spectral functions and density of states, computed with an ansatz whose quality can be well-controlled by the number of symmetry-projected configurations used to approximate the $N_{e} \pm 1$ electron systems, display features beyond a simple quasiparticle distribution, as well as spin-charge separation trends.Comment: 16 pages, 11 figure

Effective shell model Hamiltonians from density functional theory: quadrupolar and pairing correlations

We describe a procedure for mapping a self-consistent mean-field theory (also known as density functional theory) into a shell model Hamiltonian that includes quadrupole-quadrupole and monopole pairing interactions in a truncated space. We test our method in the deformed N=Z sd-shell nuclei Ne-20, Mg-24 and Ar-36, starting from the Hartree-Fock plus BCS approximation of the USD shell model interaction. A similar procedure is then followed using the SLy4 Skyrme energy density functional in the particle-hole channel plus a zero-range density-dependent force in the pairing channel. Using the ground-state solution of this density functional theory at the Hartree-Fock plus BCS level, an effective shell model Hamiltonian is constructed. We use this mapped Hamiltonian to extract quadrupolar and pairing correlation energies beyond the mean field approximation. The rescaling of the mass quadrupole operator in the truncated shell model space is found to be almost independent of the coupling strength used in the pairing channel of the underlying mean-field theory.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figure