Thermal Model Analysis of Particle Ratios at GSI Ni-Ni Experiments Using Exact Strangeness Conservation

The production of hadrons in Ni-Ni at the GSI is considered in a hadronic gas model with chemical equilibrium. Special attention is given to the abundance of strange particles which are treated using the exact conservation of strangeness. It is found that all the data can be described using a temperature T = 70 pm 10 MeV and a baryon chemical potential mu_B = 720 pm 20 MeV.Comment: Revtex, 7 pages, 3 figures in postscript forma

Neutrino reactions on 138^{138}La and 180^{180}Ta via charged and neutral currents by the Quasi-particle Random Phase Approximation (QRPA)

Cosmological origins of the two heaviest odd-odd nuclei, $^{138}$La and $^{180}$Ta, are believed to be closely related to the neutrino-process. We investigate in detail neutrino-induced reactions on the nuclei. Charged current (CC) reactions, $^{138}$Ba$(\nu_e, e^{-}) ^{138}$La and $^{180}$Hf$(\nu_e, e^{-}) ^{180}$Ta, are calculated by the standard Quasi-particle Random Phase Approximation (QRPA) with neutron-proton pairing as well as neutron-neutron, proton-proton pairing correlations. For neutral current (NC) reactions, $^{139}$La$(\nu \nu^{'}) ^{139}${La}$^*$ and $^{181}$Ta$(\nu, \nu^{'}) ^{181}$Ta$^*$, we generate ground and excited states of odd-even target nuclei, $^{139}$La and $^{181}$Ta, by operating one quasi-particle to even-even nuclei, $^{138}$Ba and $^{180}$Hf, which are assumed as the BCS ground state. Numerical results for CC reactions are shown to be consistent with recent semi-empirical data deduced from the Gamow-Teller strength distributions measured in the ($^{3}$He, t) reaction. Results for NC reactions are estimated to be smaller by a factor about 4 $\sim$ 5 rather than those by CC reactions. Finally, cross sections weighted by the incident neutrino flux in the core collapsing supernova are presented for further applications to the network calculations for relevant nuclear abundances

Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay in Gauge Theories

Neutrinoless double beta decay is a very important process both from the particle and nuclear physics point of view. Its observation will severely constrain the existing models and signal that the neutrinos are massive Majorana particles. From the elementary particle point of view it pops up in almost every model. In addition to the traditional mechanisms, like the neutrino mass, the admixture of right handed currents etc, it may occur due to the R-parity violating supersymmetric (SUSY) interactions. From the nuclear physics point of view it is challenging, because: 1) The relevant nuclei have complicated nuclear structure. 2) The energetically allowed transitions are exhaust a small part of all the strength. 3) One must cope with the short distance behavior of the transition operators, especially when the intermediate particles are heavy (eg in SUSY models). Thus novel effects, like the double beta decay of pions in flight between nucleons, have to be considered. 4) The intermediate momenta involved are about 100 MeV. Thus one has to take into account possible momentum dependent terms in the nucleon current. We find that, for the mass mechanism, such modifications of the nucleon current for light neutrinos reduce the nuclear matrix elements by about 25 per cent, almost regardless of the nuclear model. In the case of heavy neutrinos the effect is much larger and model dependent. Taking the above effects into account, the available nuclear matrix elements for the experimentally interesting nuclei A = 76, 82, 96, 100, 116, 128, 130, 136 and 150 and the experimental limits on the life times we have extracted new stringent limits on the average neutrino mass and on the R-parity violating coupling for various SUSY models.Comment: Latex, 24 pages, 1 postscript figure, uses iopconf.st

Neutrino induced reactions related to the ν\nu-process nucleosynthesis of 92{}^{92}Nb and 98{}^{98}Tc

It has recently been proposed that ${}^{92}_{41}$Nb and ${}^{98}_{43}$Tc may have been formed in the $\nu$-process. We investigate the neutrino induced reactions related to the $\nu$-process origin of the two odd-odd nuclei. The main neutrino reactions for ${}^{92}_{41}$Nb are the charged-current (CC) $^{92}$Zr($\nu_e,e^{-}$)$^{92}$Nb and the neutral-current (NC) $^{93}$Nb(${\nu} ({\bar \nu}), {\nu}^{'} ({\bar \nu})^{'}$ n)$^{92}$Nb reactions. The main reactions for ${}^{98}_{43}$Tc, are the CC reaction $^{98}$Mo($\nu_e,e^-$)$^{98}$Tc and the NC reaction $^{99}$Ru(${\nu} ({\bar \nu}), {\nu}^{'} ({\bar \nu})^{'}$ p)$^{98}$Tc. Our calculations are carried out using the quasi-particle random phase approximation. Numerical results are presented for the energy and temperature dependent cross sections. Since charge exchange reactions by neutrons may also lead to the formation of ${}^{92}_{41}$Nb and ${}^{98}_{43}$Tc, we discuss the feasibility of the $^{92}$Mo(n,p)$^{92}$Nb and $^{98}$Ru(n,p)$^{98}$Tc reactions to produce these nuclei.Comment: 21 pages, 8 figure

Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay within QRPA with Proton-Neutron Pairing

We have investigated the role of proton-neutron pairing in the context of the Quasiparticle Random Phase approximation formalism. This way the neutrinoless double beta decay matrix elements of the experimentally interesting A= 48, 76, 82, 96, 100, 116, 128, 130 and 136 systems have been calculated. We have found that the inclusion of proton-neutron pairing influences the neutrinoless double beta decay rates significantly, in all cases allowing for larger values of the expectation value of light neutrino masses. Using the best presently available experimental limits on the half life-time of neutrinoless double beta decay we have extracted the limits on lepton number violating parameters.Comment: 16 RevTex page

Overconstrained estimates of neutrinoless double beta decay within the QRPA

Estimates of nuclear matrix elements for neutrinoless double beta decay (0nu2beta) based on the quasiparticle random phase approximations (QRPA) are affected by theoretical uncertainties, which can be substantially reduced by fixing the unknown strength parameter g_pp of the residual particle-particle interaction through one experimental constraint - most notably through the two-neutrino double beta decay (2nu2beta) lifetime. However, it has been noted that the g_pp adjustment via 2\nu2\beta data may bring QRPA models in disagreement with independent data on electron capture (EC) and single beta decay (beta^-) lifetimes. Actually, in two nuclei of interest for 0nu2beta decay (Mo-100 and Cd-116), for which all such data are available, we show that the disagreement vanishes, provided that the axial vector coupling g_A is treated as a free parameter, with allowance for g_A<1 (``strong quenching''). Three independent lifetime data (2nu2beta, EC, \beta^-) are then accurately reproduced by means of two free parameters (g_pp, g_A), resulting in an overconstrained parameter space. In addition, the sign of the 2nu2beta matrix element M^2nu is unambiguously selected (M^2nu>0) by the combination of all data. We discuss quantitatively, in each of the two nuclei, these phenomenological constraints and their consequences for QRPA estimates of the 0nu2beta matrix elements and of their uncertainties.Comment: Revised version (27 pages, including 10 figures), focussed on Mo-100 and Cd-116. To appear in J. Phys. G: Nucl. Phys. (2008

Extension of random-phase approximation preserving energy weighted sum rules: an application to a 3-level Lipkin model

A limitation common to all extensions of random-phase approximation including only particle-hole configurations is that they violate to some extent the energy weighted sum rules. Considering one such extension, the improved RPA (IRPA), already used to study the electronic properties of metallic clusters, we show how it can be generalized in order to eliminate this drawback. This is achieved by enlarging the configuration space, including also elementary excitations corresponding to the annihilation of a particle (hole) and the creation of another particle (hole) on the correlated ground state. The approach is tested within a solvable 3-level model.Comment: 2 figure