Elastic electron scattering from oriented odd-A axially deformed nuclei is studied in the plane-wave Born approximation. The nuclear structure is described within a microscopic selfconsistent Skyrme ...deformed Hartree-Fock approximation with pairing correlations. The interference form factors between monopole and quadrupole Coulomb terms that characterize the nuclear response with aligned nuclear targets are shown to increase or decrease the unpolarized cross-section, depending on the sign of the quadrupole deformation. This feature provides valuable information on the nuclear deformation that can be used as a signature of the oblate or prolate character of the nuclear shape. Some selected cases of nuclei with different spins are presented that exemplify the scope of the method.
Weak decays in superheavy nuclei with proton numbers Z=118−120 and neutron numbers N=175−184 are studied within a microscopic formalism based on deformed self-consistent Skyrme Hartree-Fock ...mean-field calculations with pairing correlations. The half-lives of β+ decay and electron capture are compared with α-decay half-lives obtained from phenomenological formulas. The sensitivity of the half-lives to the unknown Q-energies is studied by comparing the results obtained from different approaches for the masses. It is shown that α-decay is always dominant in this mass region. The competition between α and β+/EC decay modes is studied in seven α-decay chains starting at different isotopes of Z=118, 119, and 120.
Weak interaction rates are studied in neutron deficient Kr and Sr waiting-point isotopes in ranges of densities and temperatures relevant for the rp process. The nuclear structure is described within ...a microscopic model (deformed QRPA) that reproduces not only the half-lives but also the Gamow–Teller strength distributions recently measured. The various sensitivities of the decay rates to both density and temperature are discussed. Continuum electron capture is shown to contribute significantly to the weak rates at rp-process conditions.
The evolution of the ground-state nuclear shapes in neutron-rich Sr, Zr, and Mo isotopes, including both even-even and odd-A nuclei, is studied within a self-consistent mean-field approximation based ...on the D1S–Gogny interaction. Neutron separation energies and charge radii are calculated and compared with available data. A correlation between a shape transition and a discontinuity in those observables is found microscopically. While in Sr and Zr isotopes the steep behavior observed in the isotopic dependence of the charge radii is a consequence of a sharp prolate–oblate transition, the smooth behavior found in Mo isotopes has its origin in an emergent region of triaxiality.
We investigate the emergence of halos and Efimov states in nuclei by use of a newly designed model that combines self-consistent mean-field and three-body descriptions. Recent interest in neutron ...heavy calcium isotopes makes ^{72}Ca (^{70}Ca+n+n) an ideal realistic candidate on the neutron dripline, and we use it as a representative example that illustrates our broadly applicable conclusions. By smooth variation of the interactions we simulate the crossover from well-bound systems to structures beyond the threshold of binding, and find that halo configurations emerge from the mean-field structure for three-body binding energy less than ∼100 keV. Strong evidence is provided that Efimov states cannot exist in nuclei. The structure that bears the most resemblance to an Efimov state is a giant halo extending beyond the neutron-core scattering length. We show that the observable large-distance decay properties of the wave function can differ substantially from the bulk part at short distances, and that this evolution can be traced with our combination of few- and many-body formalisms. This connection is vital for interpretation of measurements such as those where an initial state is populated in a reaction or by a beta decay.