A review is given of our present knowledge of collective spin-isospin excitations in nuclei. Most of this knowledge comes from intermediate-energy charge-exchange reactions and from inelastic electron- and proton-scattering experiments. The nuclear-spin dynamics is governed by the spin-isospin-dependent two-nucleon interaction in the medium. This interaction gives rise to collective spin modes such as the giant Gamow-Teller resonances. An interesting phenomenon is that the measured total Gamow-Teller transition strength in the resonance region is much less than a model-independent sum rule predicts. Two physically different mechanisms have been discussed to explain this so-called quenching of the total Gamow-Teller strength: coupling to subnuclear degrees of freedom in the form of $\ensuremath{\Delta}$-isobar excitation and ordinary nuclear configuration mixing. Both detailed nuclear structure calculations and extensive analyses of the scattering data suggest that the nuclear configuration mixing effect is the more important quenching mechanism, although subnuclear degrees of freedom cannot be ruled out. The quenching phenomenon occurs for nuclear-spin excitations at low excitation energies ($\ensuremath{\omega}\ensuremath{\sim}10\ensuremath{-}20$ MeV) and small-momentum transfers ($q\ensuremath{\le}0.5$ ${\mathrm{fm}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$). A completely opposite effect is anticipated in the high ($\ensuremath{\omega}$, $q$)-transfer region ($0\ensuremath{\le}\ensuremath{\omega}\ensuremath{\le}500$ MeV, $0.5\ensuremath{\le}q\ensuremath{\le}3$ ${\mathrm{fm}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$). The nuclear spin-isospin response might be enhanced due to the attractive pion field inside the nucleus. Charge-exchange reactions at GeV incident energies have been used to study the quasifree peak region and the $\ensuremath{\Delta}$-resonance region. An interesting result of these experiments is that the $\ensuremath{\Delta}$ excitation in the nucleus is shifted downwards in energy relative to the $\ensuremath{\Delta}$ excitation of the free proton. The physical origin of this shift is discussed, and it is shown that it may be related to the energy-dependent, attractive one-pion exchange interaction in the medium.

Nuclear spin and isospin excitations

The concept of boson realization (or mapping) of Lie algebras appeared first in nuclear physics in 1962 as the idea of expanding bilinear forms in fermion creation and annihilation operators in Taylor series of boson operators, with the object of converting the study of nuclear vibrational motion into a problem of coupled oscillators. The physical situations of interest are quite diverse, depending, for instance, on whether excitations for fixed- or variable-particle number are being studied, on how total angular momentum is decomposed into orbital and spin parts, and on whether isotopic spin and other intrinsic degrees of freedom enter. As a consequence, all of the semisimple algebras other than the exceptional ones have proved to be of interest at one time or another, and all are studied in this review. Though the salient historical facts are presented in the introduction, in the body of the review the progression is (generally) from the simplest algebras to the more complex ones. With a sufficiently broad view of the physics requirements, the mathematical problem is the realization of an arbitrary representation of a Lie algebra in a subspace of a suitably chosen Hilbert space of bosons (Heisenberg-Weyl algebra). Indeed, if one includes the study of odd nuclei, one is forced to consider the mappings to spaces that are direct-product spaces of bosons and (quasi)fermions. Though all the methods that have been used for these problems are reviewed, emphasis is placed on a relatively new algebraic method that has emerged over the past decade. Many of the classic results are rederived, and some new results are obtained for odd systems. The major application of these ideas is to the derivation, starting from the shell model, of the phenomenological models of nuclear collective motion, in particular, the geometric model of Bohr and Mottelson and the more recently developed interacting boson model of Arima and Iachello. A critical discussion of those applications is interwoven with the theoretical developments on which they are based; many other applications are included, some of practical interest, some simply to illustrate the concepts, and some to suggest new lines of inquiry.

Boson realizations of Lie algebras with applications to nuclear physics

Sum rules and giant resonances in nuclei

The quasielastic (QE) contribution of the nuclear inclusive electron scattering model developed by Gil, Nieves, and Oset [Nucl. Phys. A627, 543 (1997); A627, 599 (1997)] is extended to the study of electroweak charged current (CC) induced nuclear reactions, at intermediate energies of interest for future neutrino oscillation experiments. The model accounts for, among other nuclear effects, long range nuclear [random phase approximation (RPA)] correlations, final state interaction (FSI), and Coulomb corrections. Predictions for the inclusive muon capture in $^{12}\mathrm{C}$ and the reaction $^{12}\mathrm{C}$ $({\ensuremath{\nu}}_{\ensuremath{\mu}},{\ensuremath{\mu}}^{\ensuremath{-}})X$ near threshold are also given. RPA correlations are shown to play a crucial role and their inclusion leads to one of the best existing simultaneous description of both processes, with accuracies of the order of 10\char21{}15 % for the muon capture rate and even better for the Liquid Scintillating Neutrino Detector (LSND) measurement.

https://arxiv.org/pdf/nucl-th/0408005.pdf

E Werner

Papers

Theory of finite Fermi systems and application to the lead region