New Skyrme energy density functional for a better description of the Gamow-Teller Resonance

We present a new Skyrme energy density functional (EDF) named SAMi [Phys. Rev. C 86 031306(R)]. This interaction has been accurately calibrated to reproduce properties of doubly-magic nuclei and infinite nuclear matter. The novelties introduced in the model and fitting protocol of SAMi are crucial for a better description of the Gamow-Teller Resonance (GTR). Those are, on one side, the two-component spin-orbit potential needed for describing different proton high-angular momentum spin-orbit splitings and, on the other side, the careful description of the empirical hierarchy and positive values found in previous analysis of the spin (G_0) and spin-isospin (G_0^') Landau-Migdal parameters: 0 < G_0 < G_0^', a feature that many of available Skyrme forces fail to reproduce. When employed within the self-consistent Hartree-Fock plus Random Phase Approximation, SAMi produces results on ground and excited state nuclear properties that are in good agreement with experimental findings. This is true not only for the GTR, but also for the Spin Dipole Resonance (SDR) and the Isobaric Analog Resonance (IAR) as well as for the non charge-exchange Isoscalar Giant Monopole (ISGMR) and Isovector Giant Dipole (IVGDR) and Quadrupole Resonances (IVGQR).Comment: Proceedings of the Nuclear Physics Workshop "Marie & Pierre Curie" Kazimierz 2012. To appear in Physica Script

The nuclear symmetry energy and other isovector observables from the point of view of nuclear structure

In this contribution, we review some works related with the extraction of the symmetry energy parameters from isovector nuclear excitations, like the giant resonances. Then, we move to the general issue of how to assess whether correlations between a parameter of the nuclear equation of state and a nuclear observable are robust or not. To this aim, we introduce the covariance analysis and we discuss some counter-intuitive, yet enlightening, results from it.Comment: To be published in the proceedings of the 2014 Zakopane Conference on Nuclear Physics (Acta Physica Polonica B

Low-lying dipole response: isospin character and collectivity in 68{}^{68}Ni, 132{}^{132}Sn and 208{}^{208}Pb

The isospin character, the collective or single-particle nature, and the sensitivity to the slope of the nuclear symmetry energy of the low-energy isovector dipole response (known as pygmy dipole resonance) are nowadays under debate. In the present work we study, within the fully self-consistent non-relativistic mean field (MF) approach based on Skyrme Hartree-Fock plus Random Phase Approximation (RPA), the measured even-even nuclei ${}^{68}$Ni, ${}^{132}$Sn and ${}^{208}$Pb. To analyze the model dependence in the predictions of the pygmy dipole strength, we employ three different Skyrme parameter sets. We find that both the isoscalar and the isovector dipole responses of all three nuclei show a low-energy peak that increases in magnitude, and is shifted to larger excitation energies, with increasing values of the slope of the symmetry energy at saturation. We highlight the fact that the collectivity associated with the RPA state(s) contributing to this peak is different in the isoscalar and isovector case, or in other words it depends on the external probe. While the response of these RPA states to an isovector operator does not show a clear collective nature, the response to an isoscalar operator is recognizably collective, for {\it all} analyzed nuclei and {\it all} studied interactions.Comment: Submitted to Phys. Rev.

Outer crust of a cold non-accreting magnetar

The outer crust structure and composition of a cold, non-accreting magnetar is studied. We model the outer crust to be made of fully equilibrated matter where ionized nuclei form a Coulomb crystal embedded in an electron gas. The main effects of the strong magnetic field are those of quantizing the electron motion in Landau levels and of modifying the nuclear single particle levels producing, on average, an increased binding of nucleons in nuclei present in the Coulomb lattice. The effect of an homogeneous and constant magnetic field on nuclear masses has been predicted by using a covariant density functional, in which induced currents and axial deformation due to the presence of a magnetic field that breaks time-reversal symmetry have been included self-consistently in the nucleon and meson equations of motion. Although not yet observed, for $B\gtrsim 10^{16}$G both effects contribute to produce different compositions and to enlarge the range of pressures typically present in common neutron stars. Specifically, in such a regime, the magnetic field effects on nuclei favor the appearance of heavier nuclei at low pressures. As $B$ increases, such heavier nuclei are also preferred up to larger pressures. In the most extreme case, the whole outer crust is almost made of ${}_{40}^{92}$Zr$_{52}$.Comment: Published versio

A new Skyrme interaction with improved spin-isospin properties

A correct determination of the spin-isospin properties of the nuclear effective interaction should lead, among other improvements, to an accurate description of the Gamow-Teller Resonance (GTR). These nuclear excitations impact on a variety of physical processes: from the response in charge-exchange reactions of nuclei naturally present in the Earth, to the description of the stellar nucleosynthesis, and of the pre-supernova explosion core-collapse evolution of massive stars in the Universe. A reliable description of the GTR provides also stringent tests for neutrinoless double-$\beta$ decay calculations. We present a new Skyrme interaction as accurate as previous forces in the description of finite nuclei and of uniform matter properties around saturation density, and that account well for the GTR in ${}^{48}$Ca, ${}^{90}$Zr and ${}^{208}$Pb, the Isobaric Analog Resonance and the Spin Dipole Resonance in ${}^{90}$Zr and ${}^{208}$Pb.Comment: Predictions on the IAR and SDR and comparison with the SGII interaction for the GTRs where adde

Human behavior in Prisoner's Dilemma experiments suppresses network reciprocity

During the last few years, much research has been devoted to strategic interactions on complex networks. In this context, the Prisoner's Dilemma has become a paradigmatic model, and it has been established that imitative evolutionary dynamics lead to very different outcomes depending on the details of the network. We here report that when one takes into account the real behavior of people observed in the experiments, both at the mean-field level and on utterly different networks the observed level of cooperation is the same. We thus show that when human subjects interact in an heterogeneous mix including cooperators, defectors and moody conditional cooperators, the structure of the population does not promote or inhibit cooperation with respect to a well mixed population.Comment: 5 Pages including 4 figures. Submitted for publicatio

Low-rate coding using incremental redundancy for GLDPC codes

In this paper we propose a low-rate coding method, suited for application-layer forward error correction. Depending on channel conditions, the coding scheme we propose can switch from a fixed-rate LDPC code to various low-rate GLDPC codes. The source symbols are first encoded by using a staircase or triangular LDPC code. If additional symbols are needed, the encoder is then switched to the GLDPC mode and extra-repair symbols are produced, on demand. In order to ensure small overheads, we consider irregular distributions of extra-repair symbols optimized by density evolution techniques. We also show that increasing the number of extra-repair symbols improves the successful decoding probability, which becomes very close to 1 for sufficiently many extra-repair symbols