An ab initio theory of double odd-even mass differences in nuclei

Two aspects of the problem of evaluating double odd-even mass differences D_2 in semi-magic nuclei are studied related to existence of two components with different properties, a superfluid nuclear subsystem and a non-superfluid one. For the superfluid subsystem, the difference D_2 is approximately equal to 2\Delta, the gap \Delta being the solution of the gap equation. For the non-superfluid subsystem, D_2 is found by solving the equation for two-particle Green function for normal systems. Both equations under consideration contain the same effective pairing interaction. For the latter, the semi-microscopic model is used in which the main term calculated from the first principles is supplemented with a small phenomenological addendum containing one phenomenological parameter supposed to be universal for all medium and heavy atomic nuclei.Comment: 7 pages, 10 figures, Report at Nuclear Structure and Related Topics, Dubna, Russia, July 2 - July 7, 201

Microscopic evaluation of the pairing gap

We discuss the relevant progress that has been made in the last few years on the microscopic theory of the pairing correlation in nuclei and the open problems that still must be solved in order to reach a satisfactory description and understanding of the nuclear pairing. The similarities and differences with the nuclear matter case are emphasized and described by few illustrative examples. The comparison of calculations of different groups on the same set of nuclei show, besides agreements, also discrepancies that remain to be clarified. The role of the many-body correlations, like screening, that go beyond the BCS scheme, is still uncertain and requires further investigation.Comment: 21 pages,7 figures; minor modification, accepted for publication in J. Phys.

The first quadrupole excitations in spherical nuclei and nuclear pairing

Excitation energies and transition probabilities of the first 2+ excitations in even lead, tin and nickel isotopes are calculated within the self-consistent Theory of Finite Fermi Systems based on the Energy Density Functional by Fayans et al. A reasonable agreement with available experimental data is obtained. The effect of the density dependence of the effective pairing interaction is analyzed in detail by comparing results obtained with volume and surface pairing. The effect is found to be noticeable, especially for the 2+ energies which are systematically higher at 200-300 keV for the volume paring as compared with the surface pairing case, the latter being in a better agreement with the data.Comment: Presented at International Conference on Nuclear Structure and Related Topics, Dubna, July 2 - 7, 201

Phonon effects on the double mass differences in magic nuclei

Odd-even double mass differences (DMD) of magic nuclei are found within the approach starting from the free $NN$ interaction with account for particle-phonon coupling (PC) effects. We consider three PC effects: the phonon induced effective interaction, the renormalization of the "ends" due to the $Z$-factor corresponding to the pole PC contribution to the nucleon mass operator and the change of the single-particle energies. The perturbation theory in $g^2_L$, where $g_L$ is the vertex of the $L$-phonon creation, is used for PC calculations. PC corrections to single-particle energies are found self-consistently with an approximate account for the tadpole diagram. Results for magic $^{40,48}$Ca, $^{56,78}$Ni, $^{100,132}$Sn and $^{208}$Pb nuclei are presented. For lighter part of this set of nuclei, from $^{40}$Ca till $^{56}$Ni, the cases divide approximately in half between those where the PC corrections to DMD values make agreement with the data better and the ones with the opposite result. In the major part of the cases of worsening of description of DMD, a poor applicability of the perturbation theory for the induced interaction is the most probable reason of the phenomenon. For intermediate nuclei, $^{78}$Ni and $^{100}$Sn, there is no sufficiently accurate data on masses of nuclei necessary for finding DMD values. Finally, for heavier nuclei, $^{132}$Sn and $^{208}$Pb, PC corrections always make agreement with the experiment better.Comment: LaTex, 12 pages, 6 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. C. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1206.218

Upper edge of the neutron star crust : the drip point and around

A semi-microscopic self-consistent quantum approach developed recently to describe the inner crust structure of neutron stars within the Wigner-Seitz method with the explicit inclusion of neutron and proton pairing correlations is used for finding the neutron drip point which separates the outer and inner crusts. The equilibrium configurations of the crust are examined in vicinity of the drip point and in the upper part of the inner crust, for the density region corresponding to average Fermi momenta $k_{\rm F}{=}0.2 \div 0.5$fm$^{-1}$.Comment: 22 pages, 6 figure

Reduction in the Energy Cost of Minerals through at-the-face Comminution and Separation of Mineral and Waste [abstract]

Only abstract of poster available.Track III: Energy InfrastructureHigh-pressure waterjets penetrate into material through the pressurization and growth of small cracks within the target surface. In mineral ores the individual grains of the constituent components are defined by the grain boundaries and these provide such surface cracks. Eroding the ore by a stream of high-pressure water can thus exploit the cracks so that they grow, inter-connect and remove the ore on a grain by grain basis. This separates out the individual components of the ore, as the ore is mined. Because the properties of the different mineral grains differ, either in size, density or shape they can be separated, often quite easily, at the mining machine, as the grains are collected after being removed from the face. Thus, at the point of mining, the valuable components of the ore can be separated and collected. The remaining waste minerals can then be left adjacent to the mining face, potentially being re-cemented to provide support to the ongoing excavation. This joint mining and separation process saves the cost of transporting the waste rock out of the mine, and the costs of conventional separation of the valuable material at the surface. In current practice, all the ore mined is crushed, at the surface, to a very fine powder in order to achieve liberation of the valuable mineral. As well as requiring considerably more energy this also produces a very fine waste product, which is more expensive to dispose of, often behind large tailings dams at the surface, at an environmental cost. The use of pressurized cavitation to enhance the process, and reduce energy needs and process time is a part of this work. This new process is anticipated to drop the energy cost of mineral production by up to 60% and has been validated in laboratory and some field tests

Self-consistent calculations of quadrupole moments of the first 2+ states in Sn and Pb isotopes

A method of calculating static moments of excited states and transitions between excited states is formulated for non-magic nuclei within the Green function formalism. For these characteristics, it leads to a noticeable difference from the standard QRPA approach. Quadrupole moments of the first 2+ states in Sn and Pb isotopes are calculated using the self-consistent TFFS based on the Energy Density Functional by Fayans et al. with the set of parameters DF3-a fixed previously. A reasonable agreement with available experimental data is obtained.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figure

Interaction of the single-particle and collective degrees of freedom in non-magic nuclei: the role of phonon tadpole terms

A method of a consistent consideration of the phonon contributions to mass and gap operators in non-magic nuclei is developed in the so-called g^2 approximation, where g is the low-lying phonon creation amplitude. It includes simultaneous accounting for both the usual non-local terms and the phonon tadpole ones. The relations which allow the tadpoles to be calculated without any new parameters are derived. As an application of the results, the role of the phonon tadpoles in the single-particle strength distribution and in the single-particle energies and gap values has been considered. Relation to the problem of the surface nature of pairing is discussed.Comment: 22 pages, 7 figure

Separabelized Skyrme Interactions and Quasiparticle RPA

A finite rank separable approximation for the quasiparticle RPA with Skyrme interactions is applied to study the low lying quadrupole and octupole states in some S isotopes and giant resonances in some spherical nuclei. It is shown that characteristics calculated within the suggested approach are in a good agreement with available experimental data.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures, proceedings of the Seventh School-Seminar on Heavy Ion Physics, Dubna, Russia, May 27-June 1, 2002; to appear in Physics of Atomic Nucle