Relativistic Hartree-Bogoliubov theory: static and dynamic aspects of exotic nuclear structure

http://nuclearmasses.org/resources_folder/Blaum_06.pdf

High-accuracy mass spectrometry with stored ions

Shape coexistence in nuclei appears to be unique in the realm of finite many-body quantum systems It differs from the various geometrical arrangements that sometimes occur in a molecule in that in a molecule the various arrangements are of the widely separated atomic nuclei In nuclei the various ''arrangements'' of nucleons involve (sets of) energy eigenstates with different electric quadrupole properties such as moments and transition rates, and different distributions of proton pairs and neutron pairs with respect to their Fermi energies Sometimes two such structures will ''invert'' as a function of the nucleon number, resulting in a sudden and dramatic change in ground-state properties in neighboring isotopes and isotones In the first part of this review the theoretical status of coexistence in nuclei is summarized Two approaches, namely, microscopic shell-model descriptions and mean-field descriptions, are emphasized The second part of this review presents systematic data, for both even- and odd-mass nuclei, selected to illustrate the various ways in which coexistence is observed in nuclei The last part of this review looks to future developments and the issue of the universality of coexistence in nuclei Surprises continue to be discovered With the major advances in reaching to extremes of proton-neutronmore » number, and the anticipated new ''rare isotope beam'' facilities, guidelines for search and discovery are discussed« less

Shape coexistence in atomic nuclei

Nuclear magic numbers: New features far from stability

The last decades brought impressive progress in synthesizing and studying properties of nuclides located very far from the beta stability line. Among the most fundamental properties of such exotic nuclides, the ones usually established first are the half-life, possible radioactive decay modes, and their relative probabilities. When approaching limits of nuclear stability, new decay modes set in. First, beta decays are accompanied by emission of nucleons from highly excited states of daughter nuclei. Second, when the nucleon separation energy becomes negative, nucleons start being emitted from the ground state. A review of the decay modes occurring close to the limits of stability is presented. The experimental methods used to produce, identify, and detect new species and their radiation are discussed. The current theoretical understanding of these decay processes is reviewed. The theoretical description of the most recently discovered and most complex radioactive process---the two-proton radioactivity---is discussed in more detail.

Radioactive decays at limits of nuclear stability

Understanding the fundamental excitations of many-fermion systems is of significant current interest. In atomic nuclei with even numbers of neutrons and protons, the low-lying excitation spectrum is generally formed by nucleon pair breaking and nuclear vibrations or rotations. However, for certain numbers of protons and neutrons, a subtle rearrangement of only a few nucleons among the orbitals at the Fermi surface can result in a different elementary mode: a macroscopic shape change. The first experimental evidence for this phenomenon came from the observation of shape coexistence in 16O (ref. 4). Other unexpected examples came with the discovery of fission isomers and super-deformed nuclei. Here we find experimentally that the lowest three states in the energy spectrum of the neutron deficient nucleus 186Pb are spherical, oblate and prolate. The states are populated by the alpha-decay of a parent nucleus; to identify them, we combine knowledge of the particular features of this decay with sensitive measurement techniques (a highly efficient velocity filters with strong background reduction, and an extremely selective recoil-alpha-electron coincidence tagging methods). The existence of this apparently unique shape triplet is permitted only by the specific conditions that are met around this particular nucleus.

An Andreyev

Papers

A triplet of differently shaped spin-zero states in the atomic nucleus 186Pb