On the mass formula and Wigner and curvature energy terms

The efficiency of different mass formulas derived from the liquid drop model including or not the curvature energy, the Wigner term and different powers of the relative neutron excess $I$ has been determined by a least square fitting procedure to the experimental atomic masses assuming a constant R$_{0,charge}$/A$^{1/3}$ ratio. The Wigner term and the curvature energy can be used independently to improve the accuracy of the mass formula. The different fits lead to a surface energy coefficient of around 17-18 MeV, a relative sharp charge radius r$_0$ of 1.22-1.23 fm and a proton form-factor correction to the Coulomb energy of around 0.9 MeV

On the double and triple-humped fission barriers and half-lives of actinide elements

The deformation barriers standing in the quasi-molecular shape path have been determined in the actinide region within a macroscopic-microscopic energy derived from a generalized liquid drop model, the algebraic droplet model shell corrections and analytic expressions for the pairing energies. Double and triple-humped fission barriers appear. The second barrier corresponds to the transition from one-body shapes to two touching ellipsoids. The third minimum and third peak, when they exist, come from shell rearrangements in the deformed fragment. The shape of the other almost magic one is close to the sphere. The barrier heights agreewith the experimental results, the energy of the second minimum being a little too high. The predicted half-lives follow the experimental data trend

Ternary cluster decay within the liquid drop model

Longitudinal ternary and binary fission barriers of $^{36}$Ar, $^{56}$Ni and $^{252}$Cf nuclei have been determined within a rotational liquid drop model taking into account the nuclear proximity energy. For the light nuclei the heights of the ternary fission barriers become competitive with the binary ones at high angular momenta since the maximum lies at an outer position and has a much higher moment of inertia.Comment: Talk presented at the 9th International Conference on Clustering Aspects of Nuclear Structure and Dynamics (CLUSTERS'07

Coefficients and terms of the liquid drop model and mass formula

The coefficients of different combinations of terms of the liquid drop model have been determined by a least square fitting procedure to the experimental atomic masses. The nuclear masses can also be reproduced using a Coulomb radius taking into account the increase of the ratio $R\_0/A^{1/3}$ with increasing mass, the fitted surface energy coefficient remaining around 18 MeV

On the coefficients of the liquid drop model mass formulae and nuclear radii

The coefficients of different mass formulae derived from the liquid drop model and including or not the curvature energy, the diffuseness correction to the Coulomb energy, the charge exchange correction term, different forms of the Wigner term and different powers of the relative neutron excess $I=(N-Z)/A$ have been determined by a least square fitting procedure to 2027 experimental atomic masses. The Coulomb diffuseness correction $Z^2/A$ term or the charge exchange correction $Z^{4/3}/A^{1/3}$ term plays the main role to improve the accuracy of the mass formula. The Wigner term and the curvature energy can also be used separately for the same purpose. The introduction of an $|I|$ dependence in the surface and volume energies improves slightly the efficiency of the expansion and is more effective than an $I^4$ dependence. Different expressions reproducing the experimental nuclear charge radius are provided. The different fits lead to a surface energy coefficient of around 17-18 MeV and a relative equivalent rms charge radius r$_0$ of 1.22-1.23 fm.Comment: 19 pages, 1 figure, accepted for publication in Nuclear Physics

Spontaneous fission half-lives of heavy and superheavy nuclei within a generalized liquid drop model

We systematically calculate the spontaneous fission half-lives for heavy and superheavy nuclei between U and Fl isotopes. The spontaneous fission process is studied within the semi-empirical WKB approximation. The potential barrier is obtained using a generalized liquid drop model, taking into account the nuclear proximity, the mass asymmetry, the phenomenological pairing correction, and the microscopic shell correction. Macroscopic inertial-mass function has been employed for the calculation of the fission half-life. The results reproduce rather well the experimental data. Relatively long half-lives are predicted for many unknown nuclei, sufficient to detect them if synthesized in a laboratory.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figures, 2 tables, accepted version by Nucl. Phys.

Compact star clusters of the LMC HII region N11C

Based on imaging and spectroscopy obtained at the ESO NTT telescope and using an efficient image analysis algorithm, we study the core of the LMC OB association LH13, particularly the two compact stellar clusters Sk-6641 and HNT in the HII, region N11C. We resolve Sk-6641 into 15 components and for the first time the HNT cluster into 70 stars, and derive photometry for the members. Moreover, from medium resolution spectroscopy we determine the spectral types for sixteen stars in N11C. We compare the color-magnitude diagrams of the clusters with that of the field stars and discuss the cluster ages. With an age of ~100 Myr, the HNT cluster appears significantly older than the very young (< 5 Myr) Sk-6641 starburst. We suggest that most of the `field' O-stars in the core of N11C have actually been ejected from Sk-6641 through dynamical interactions in the compact cluster. The properties of the Sk-6641 and HNT clusters suggest that we are viewing different star formation regions lying at different distances along the same line of sight.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figure

The atypical emission-line star Hen3-209

We analyse observations, spanning 15 years, dedicated to the extreme emission-line object Hen3-209. Our photometric data indicate that the luminosity of the star undergoes marked variations with a peak-to-peak amplitude of 0.65mag. These variations are recurrent, with a period of 16.093+-0.005d. The spectrum of Hen3-209 is peculiar with many different lines (HI, HeI, FeII,...) showing P Cygni profiles. The line profiles are apparently changing in harmony with the photometry. The spectrum also contains [OIII] lines that display a saddle profile topped by three peaks, with a maximum separation of about 600km/s. Hen3-209 is most likely an evolved luminous object suffering from mass ejection events and maybe belonging to a binary system.Comment: 6p, 5 fig, accepted for publication in MNRAS (www.blackwell-synergy.com

Charm and Beauty in Particle Physics

The spectra of states containing charmed and beauty quarks, and their regularities, are reviewed.Comment: 29 pages, LaTeX, 10 EPSF figures submitted separately. Presented at CERN in September, 1994 at a symposium in honor of Andre Martin To be submitted to Comments on Nuclear and Particle Physic