Pairing in Nuclei

Simple generic aspects of nuclear pairing in homogeneous medium as well as in finite nuclei are discussed. It is argued that low-energy nuclear structure is not sensitive enough to resolve fine details of nuclear nucleon-nucleon (NN) interaction in general and pairing NN interaction in particular what allows for regularization of the ultraviolet (high-momentum) divergences and a consistent formulation of effective superfluid local theory. Some aspects of (dis)entanglement of pairing with various other effects as well as forefront ideas concerning isoscalar pairing are also briefly discussed.Comment: Invited talk presented at the International Conference on Finite Fermionic Systems, Nilsson Model 50 Years,Lund, Sweden, June 14-18, 2005, 7 LaTeX pages, 4 encapsulated postscript figure

Comments on the nuclear symmetry energy

According to standard textbooks, the nuclear symmetry energy originates from the {\it kinetic} energy and the {\it interaction} itself. We argue that this view requires certain modifications. We ascribe the physical origin of the {\it kinetic} term to the discreteness of fermionic levels of, in principle arbitrary binary fermionic systems, and relate its mean value directly to the average level density. Physically it connects this part also to the isoscalar part of the interaction which, at least in self-bound systems like atomic nuclei, decides upon the spatial dimensions of the system. For the general case of binary fermionic systems possible external confining potentials as well as specific boundary conditions will contribute to this part. The reliability of this concept is tested using self-consistent Skyrme Hartree-Fock calculations.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure

Mean-Field Calculation Based on Proton-Neutron Mixed Energy Density Functionals

We have performed calculations based on the Skyrme energy density functional (EDF) that includes arbitrary mixing between protons and neutrons. In this framework, single-particle states are generalized as mixtures of proton and neutron components. The model assumes that the Skyrme EDF is invariant under the rotation in isospin space and the Coulomb force is the only source of the isospin symmetry breaking. To control the isospin of the system, we employ the isocranking method, which is analogous to the standard cranking approach used for describing high-spin states. Here, we present results of the isocranking calculations performed for the isobaric analog states in $A = 40$ and $A = 54$ nuclei.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figures, talk given at the 2nd Conference on "Advances in Radioactive Isotope Science 2014" (ARIS 2014), Tokyo, Japan, Jun. 1-6, 201

Global properties of the Skyrme-force-induced nuclear symmetry energy

Large scale calculations are performed to establish the global mass dependence of the nuclear symmetry energy, $a_{sym}(A)$, which in turn depends on two basic ingredients: the mean-level spacing, $\epsilon(A)$, and the effective strength of the isovector mean-potential, $\kappa(A)$. Surprisingly, our results reveal that in modern parameterizations including SLy4, SkO, SkXc, and SkP these two basic ingredients of $a_{sym}$ are almost equal after rescaling them linearly by the isoscalar and the isovector effective masses, respectively. This result points toward a new fundamental property of the nuclear interaction that remains to be resolved. In addition, our analysis determines the ratio of the surface-to-volume contributions to $a_{sym}$ to be $\sim$1.6, consistent with hydrodynamical estimates for the static dipole polarizability as well as the neutron-skin.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, 1 tabl

Microscopic structure of fundamental excitations in N=Z nuclei

Excitation energies of the $T$=1 states in even-even as well as $T$=0 and $T$=1 states in odd-odd $N$=$Z$ nuclei are calculated within the mean-field approach. It is shown that the underlying structure of these states can be determined in a consistent manner only when both isoscalar and isovector pairing collectivity as well as isospin projection, treated within the iso-cranking approximation, are taken into account. In particular, in odd-odd $N$=$Z$ nuclei, the interplay between quasiparticle excitations (relevant for the case of $T$=0 states) and iso-rotations (relevant for the case of $T$=1 states) explains the near-degeneracy of these fundamental excitations.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Nuclear Symmetry Energy in Relativistic Mean Field Theory

The Physical origin of the nuclear symmetry energy is studied within the relativistic mean field (RMF) theory. Based on the nuclear binding energies calculated with and without mean isovector potential for several isobaric chains we conform earlier Skyrme-Hartree-Fock result that the nuclear symmetry energy strength depends on the mean level spacing $\epsilon (A)$ and an effective mean isovector potential strength $\kappa (A)$. A detaied analysis of isospin dependence of the two components contributing to the nuclear symmetry energy reveals a quadratic dependence due to the mean-isoscalar potential, $\sim\epsilon T^2$, and, completely unexpectedly, the presence of a strong linear component $\sim\kappa T(T+1+\epsilon/\kappa)$ in the isovector potential. The latter generates a nuclear symmetry energy in RMF theory that is proportional to $E_{sym}\sim T(T+1)$ at variance to the non-relativistic calculation. The origin of the linear term in RMF theory needs to be further explored.Comment: 14 pages and 6 figure

Spin-orbit term and spin-fields: extension of Skyrme-force induced local energy density approach

A systematic study of terminating states in A$\sim$50 mass region using the self-consistent Skyrme-Hartree-Fock model is presented. The objective is to demonstrate that the terminating states, due to their intrinsic simplicity, offer unique and so far unexplored opportunities to study different aspects of the effective NN interaction or nuclear local energy density functional. In particular, we demonstrate that the agreement of the calculations to the data depend on the spin fields and the spin-orbit term which, in turn, allows to constrain the appropriate Landau parameters and the strength of the spin-orbit potential.Comment: 23 pages, 9 figures, submitted to PR

Electrical polarization switching in bulk single crystal GaFeO3_{3}

The electrical polarization switching on stoichiometric GaFeO$_{3}$ single crystal was measured, and a new model of atomic displacements responsible for the polarization reverse was proposed. The widely adapted mechanism of polarization switching in GaFeO$_{3}$ can be applied to stoichiometric, perfectly ordered crystals. However, the grown single crystals, as well as thin films of Ga-Fe-O, show pronounced atomic disorder. By piezoresponse force microscopy, the electrical polarization switching on a crystal surface perpendicular to the electrical polarization direction was demonstrated. Atomic disorder in the crystal was measured by X-ray diffraction and M\"ossbauer spectroscopy. These measurements were supported by ab initio calculations. By analysis of atomic disorder and electronic structure calculations, the energies of defects of cations in foreign cationic sites were estimated. The energies of the polarization switch were estimated, confirming the proposed mechanism of polarization switching in GaFeO$_{3}$ single crystals

Beta-Decay Studies in N ≈ Z Nuclei Using No-Core Configuration-Interaction Model

The no-core configuration-interaction model based on the isospin- and angular-momentum projected density functional formalism is introduced. Two applications of the model are presented: (i) determination of spectra of 0+ states in 62Zn and (ii) determination of isospin-symmetry-breaking corrections to superallowed β-decay between isobaric-analogue 0+ states in 38Ca and 38K. It is shown that, without readjusting a single parameter of the underlying Skyrme interaction, in all three nuclei, the model reproduces the 0+ spectra surprisingly well.peerReviewe