Imaginary-time method for radiative capture reaction rate

We propose a new computational method for astrophysical reaction rate of radiative capture process. In the method, an evolution of a wave function is calculated along the imaginary-time axis which is identified as the inverse temperature. It enables direct evaluation of reaction rate as a function of temperature without solving any scattering problem. The method is tested for two-body radiative capture reaction, ${^{16}{\rm O}}(\alpha,\gamma){^{20}{\rm Ne}}$, showing that it gives identical results to that calculated by the ordinary procedure. The new method will be suited for calculation of triple-alpha radiative capture rate for which an explicit construction of the scattering solution is difficult.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure

Time-dependent correlations in quantum magnets at finite temperature

In this article we investigate the time dependence of the gap mode of copper nitrate at various temperatures. We combine state-of-the-art theoretical calculations with high precision neutron resonance spin-echo measurements to understand the anomalous decoherence effects found previously in this material. It is shown that the time domain offers a complementary view on this phenomenon, which allows us to directly compare experimental data and theoretical predictions without the need of further intensive data analysis, such as (de)convolution.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

Luttinger-Liquid Behavior in the Alternating Spin-Chain System Copper Nitrate

We determine the phase diagram of copper nitrate Cu(NO$_3$)$_2\cdot$2.5D$_2$O in the context of quantum phase transitions and novel states of matter. We establish this compound as an ideal candidate to study quasi-1D Luttinger liquids, 3D Bose-Einstein-Condensation of triplons, and the crossover between 1D and 3D physics. Magnetocaloric effect, magnetization, and neutron scattering data provide clear evidence for transitions into a Luttinger liquid regime and a 3D long-range ordered phase as function of field and temperature. Theoretical simulations of this model material allow us to fully establish the phase diagram and to discuss it in the context of dimerized spin systems.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Energy Loss, Electron Screening, and the Astrophysical 3He(d,p)4He cross section

We reanalyze the low-energy 3He(d,p)4He cross section measurements of Engstler et al. using recently measured energy loss data for proton and deuteron beams in a helium gas. Although the new 3He(d,p)4He S-factors are significantly lower than those reported by Engstler et al. they clearly show the presence of electron screening effects. From the new S-factors we find an electron screening energy in agreement with the adiabatic limit.Comment: 8 Page RevTeX document, two postscript figures, now in a self-extracting uufile type archiv

Functional Characterisation of Alpha-Galactosidase A Mutations as a Basis for a New Classification System in Fabry Disease

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.The study has been supported partially by an unrestricted scientific grant from Shire Human Genetic Therapies (Germany

Large-scale prediction of the parity distribution in the nuclear level density and application to astrophysical reaction rates

A generalized method to calculate the excitation-energy dependent parity ratio in the nuclear level density is presented, using the assumption of Poisson distributed independent quasi particles combined with BCS occupation numbers. It is found that it is crucial to employ a sufficiently large model space to allow excitations both from low-lying shells and to higher shells beyond a single major shell. Parity ratios are only found to equilibrate above at least 5-10 MeV of excitation energy. Furthermore, an overshooting effect close to major shells is found where the parity opposite to the ground state parity may dominate across a range of several MeV before the parity ratio finally equilibrates. The method is suited for large-scale calculations as needed, for example, in astrophysical applications. Parity distributions were computed for all nuclei from the proton dripline to the neutron dripline and from Ne up to Bi. These results were then used to recalculate astrophysical reaction rates in a Hauser-Feshbach statistical model. Although certain transitions can be considerably enhanced or suppressed, the impact on astrophysically relevant reactions remains limited, mainly due to the thermal population of target states in stellar reaction rates.Comment: 15 pages, 17 figures; corrected/updated references in v2; additional material can be found at http://nucastro.org/adndt.html#parit

Coulomb dissociation of 9Li and the rate of the 8Li(n,g)9Li reaction

We calculate the Coulomb dissociation of 9Li on Pb and U targets at 28.5 MeV/A beam energy within a finite range distorted wave Born approximation formalism of the breakup reactions. Invoking the principle of detailed balance, these cross sections are used to determine the excitation function and subsequently the rate of the radiative capture reaction 8Li(n,g)9Li at astrophysical energies. Our method is free from the uncertainties associated with the multipole strength distributions of the 9Li nucleus. The rate of this reaction at a temperature of 10^9K is found to be about 2900 cm^3 mole^{-1} s^{-1}.Comment: 13 pages Revtex, 2 figures, title and abstract changed on referee's suggestions, figures modified and discussions extended, results remain the same; version to appear in Phys. Rev.

Atomic effects in astrophysical nuclear reactions

Two models are presented for the description of the electron screening effects that appear in laboratory nuclear reactions at astrophysical energies. The two-electron screening energy of the first model agrees very well with the recent LUNA experimental result for the break-up reaction $He3(He3,2p)He^{4}$, which so far defies all available theoretical models. Moreover, multi-electron effects that enhance laboratory reactions of the CNO cycle and other advanced nuclear burning stages, are also studied by means of the Thomas-Fermi model, deriving analytical formulae that establish a lower and upper limit for the associated screening energy. The results of the second model, which show a very satisfactory compatibility with the adiabatic approximation ones, are expected to be particularly useful in future experiments for a more accurate determination of the CNO astrophysical factors.Comment: 14 RevTex pages + 2 ps (revised) figures. Phys.Rev.C (in production

Enhancement of the Deuteron-Fusion Reactions in Metals and its Experimental Implications

Recent measurements of the reaction d(d,p)t in metallic environments at very low energies performed by different experimental groups point to an enhanced electron screening effect. However, the resulting screening energies differ strongly for divers host metals and different experiments. Here, we present new experimental results and investigations of interfering processes in the irradiated targets. These measurements inside metals set special challenges and pitfalls which make them and the data analysis particularly error-prone. There are multi-parameter collateral effects which are crucial for the correct interpretation of the observed experimental yields. They mainly originate from target surface contaminations due to residual gases in the vacuum as well as from inhomogeneities and instabilities in the deuteron density distribution in the targets. In order to address these problems an improved differential analysis method beyond the standard procedures has been implemented. Profound scrutiny of the other experiments demonstrates that the observed unusual changes in the reaction yields are mainly due to deuteron density dynamics simulating the alleged screening energy values. The experimental results are compared with different theoretical models of the electron screening in metals. The Debye-H\"{u}ckel model that has been previously proposed to explain the influence of the electron screening on both nuclear reactions and radioactive decays could be clearly excluded.Comment: 22 pages, 12 figures, REVTeX4, 2-column format. Submitted to Phys. Rev. C; accepte

Nuclear masses set bounds on quantum chaos

It has been suggested that chaotic motion inside the nucleus may significantly limit the accuracy with which nuclear masses can be calculated. Using a power spectrum analysis we show that the inclusion of additional physical contributions in mass calculations, through many-body interactions or local information, removes the chaotic signal in the discrepancies between calculated and measured masses. Furthermore, a systematic application of global mass formulas and of a set of relationships among neighboring nuclei to more than 2000 nuclear masses allows to set an unambiguous upper bound for the average errors in calculated masses which turn out to be almost an order of magnitude smaller than estimated chaotic components.Comment: 4 pages, Accepted for publication in Physical Review Letter