Recent Progress in Constraining the Equation of State of Dense Neutron-Rich Nuclear Matter with Heavy-Ion Reactions

The nuclear symmetry energy E-sym(rho) is the most uncertain part of the Equation of State (EOS) of dense neutron-rich nuclear matter. In this talk, we discuss the underlying physics responsible for the uncertain E-sym(rho) especially at supra-saturation densities, the circumstantial evidence for a super-soft E-sym(rho) from analyzing pi(-)/pi(+) ratio in relativistic heavy-ion collisions and its impacts on astrophysics and cosmology.

Production of Superheavy Nuclei in Massive fusion reactions

A master equation is constructed to treat the nucleon transfer process in heavy ion fusion reactions to form superheavy nucleus. The relative motion concerning the energy, the angular momentum and the fragment deformation relaxations is explicitly treated to couple with the diffusion process. The nucleon transition probabilities, which are derived microscopically, are thus time dependent. The calculated evaporation residue cross-sections for both cold and hot fusion are in good agreement with the known experimental data.

Production mechanism of superheavy nuclei in massive fusion reactions

Within the concept of the dinuclear system (DNS), a dynamical model is used for describing the formation of superheavy residues in massive fusion reactions, in which the capture of two colliding nuclei, the formation and de-excitation of the compound nucleus are described by using a barrier distribution method, solving master equations numerically and statistical approach, respectively. Using the DNS model, the production cross sections of superheavy nuclei are calculated and compared with the available experimental data. The isotopic dependence of the cross sections to produce the superheavy element Z=116 by the two types of the reactions is discussed and the possible reasons influencing the isotopic trends are analyzed systematically.

Neutron spectroscopic factors of Ar-34 and Ar-46 from (p,d) transfer reactions

Single-neutron-transfer measurements using (p,d) reactions have been performed at 33 MeV per nucleon with proton-rich Ar-34 and neutron-rich Ar-46 beams in inverse kinematics. The extracted spectroscopic factors are compared to the large-basis shell-model calculations. Relatively weak quenching of the spectroscopic factors is observed between Ar-34 and Ar-46. The experimental results suggest that neutron correlations have a weak dependence on the asymmetry of the nucleus over this isotopic region. The present results are consistent with the systematics established from extensive studies of spectroscopic factors and dispersive optical-model analyses of Ca40-49 isotopes. They are, however, inconsistent with the trends obtained in knockout-reaction measurements.

Power law behavior of the isotope yield distributions in the multifragmentation regime of heavy ion reactions

Isotope yield distributions in the multifragmentation regime were studied with high-quality isotope identification, focusing on the intermediate mass fragments (IMFs) produced in semiviolent collisions. The yields were analyzed within the framework of a modified Fisher model. Using the ratio of the mass-dependent symmetry energy coefficient relative to the temperature, a(sym)/T, extracted in previous work and that of the pairing term, a(p)/T, extracted from this work, and assuming that both reflect secondary decay processes, the experimentally observed isotope yields were corrected for these effects. For a given I = N - Z value, the corrected yields of isotopes relative to the yield of C-12 show a power law distribution Y (N, Z)/Y(C-12) similar to A(-tau) in the mass range 1 <= A <= 30, and the distributions are almost identical for the different reactions studied. The observed power law distributions change systematically when I of the isotopes changes and the extracted tau value decreases from 3.9 to 1.0 as I increases from -1 to 3. These observations are well reproduced by a simple deexcitation model, with which the power law distribution of the primary isotopes is determined to be tau(prim) = 2.4 +/- 0.2, suggesting that the disassembling system at the time of the fragment formation is indeed at, or very near, the critical point.

Isobaric yield ratios and the symmetry energy in heavy-ion reactions near the Fermi energy

The relative isobaric yields of fragments produced in a series of heavy-ion-induced multifragmentation reactions have been analyzed in the framework of a modified Fisher model, primarily to determine the ratio of the symmetry energy coefficient to the temperature, a(sym)/T, as a function of fragment mass A. The extracted values increase from 5 to similar to 16 as A increases from 9 to 37. These values have been compared to the results of calculations using the antisymmetrized molecular dynamics (AMD) model together with the statistical decay code GEMINI. The calculated ratios are in good agreement with those extracted from the experiment. In contrast, the values extracted from the ratios of the primary isobars from the AMD model calculation are similar to 4 to 5 and show little variation with A. This observation indicates that the value of the symmetry energy coefficient derived from final fragment observables may be significantly different than the actual value at the time of fragment formation. The experimentally observed pairing effect is also studied within the same simulations. The Coulomb coefficient is also discussed.

Influence of entrance channels on the formation of superheavy nuclei in massive fusion reactions

Within the framework of the dinuclear system (DNS) model, the production cross sections of superheavy nuclei Hs (Z=108) and Z=112 combined with different reaction systems are analyzed systematically. It is found that the mass asymmetries and the reaction Q values of the projectile target combinations play a very important role on the formation cross sections of the evaporation residues. Both methods to obtain the fusion probability by nucleon transfer by solving a set of microscopically derived master equations along the mass asymmetry degree of freedom (ID) and distinguishing protons and neutrons of fragments (2D) are compared with each other and also with the available experimental data. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

PROJECTILE FRAGMENTATION OF Ar-36,Ar-40 INDUCED REACTIONS

Fragment yields for Z >= 5 from projectile fragmentation using primary beams of Ar-36,Ar-40 at 50 MeV/nucleon on Ni-64 target have been measured in RIBLL fragment separator. We compare the fragment cross sections with the predictions of the empirical EPAX parametrization of fragmentation cross-sections and Statistical Abration-Ablation model (SAA) by considering the RIBLL separator transmission rate. Isotope yield ratios between these two reactions were calculated and isoscaling parameters alpha and beta are extracted, their dependences on fragment atomic number Z and neutron number N were presented.

N-arylamides from selenium-catalyzed reactions of nitroaromatics and amides in the presence of carbon monoxide and mixed organic bases

N-Arylamides were exclusively obtained in moderate to good yields from selenium-catalyzed reactions of nitroaromatics with amides in the presence of CO and mixed organic bases Et3N and DBU.

State-to-state dynamics of elementary chemical reactions using Rydberg H-atom translational spectroscopy

In this review, a few examples of state-to-state dynamics studies of both unimolecular and bimolecular reactions using the H-atom Rydberg tagging TOF technique were presented. From the H2O photodissociation at 157 nm, a direction dissociation example is provided, while photodissociation of H2O at 121.6 has provided an excellent dynamical case of complicated, yet direct dissociation process through conical intersections. The studies of the O(D-1) + H-2 --> OH+H reaction has also been reviewed here. A prototype example of state-to-state dynamics of pure insertion chemical reaction is provided. Effect of the reagent rotational excitation and the isotope effect on the dynamics of this reaction have also been investigated. The detailed mechanism for abstraction channel in this reaction has also been closely studied. The experimental investigations of the simplest chemical reaction, the H-3 system, have also been described here. Through extensive collaborations between theory and experiment, the mechanism for forward scattering product at high collision energies for the H+HD reaction was clarified, which is attributed to a slow down mechanism on the top of a quantized barrier transition state. Oscillations in the product quantum state resolved different cross sections have also been observed in the H+D-2 reaction, and were attributed to the interference of adiabatic transition state pathways from detailed theoretical analysis. The results reviewed here clearly show the significant advances we have made in the studies of the state-to-state molecular reaction dynamics.

Structural characteristics and redox behaviors of Ce1-xCuxOy solid solutions

Nanosized Ce1-xCuxOy materials were prepared by complexation-combustion method. The structural characteristics and redox behaviors were investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), temperature programmed reduction (H-2-TPR), UV-Vis, and Raman spectroscopies. In XRD patterns, no evidence of CuO diffraction peaks are observed for the Ce1-xCuxOy samples calcinated at 650 degreesC for 5 h, until the Cu/(Ce + Cu) ratio is higher than 0.4. The stepwise decrease of the 2theta value of CeO2 in Ce1-xCuxOy with the increasing of Cu concentration suggests that the CU2+ ions incorporate into the CeO2 lattice to form Ce1-xCuxOy solid solutions for low Cu/(Ce + Cu) ratios (x less than or equal to 0.1). The CuO phase begins to segregate from the solid solutions with the further increasing of Cu/(Ce+Cu) ratio. The Raman mode at 1176 cm(-1) ascribed to the enhanced defects appears for CeO2 and the Ce0.9Cu0.1Oy solid solution. Compared with CeO2 alone, the Raman mode of cubic CeO2 shifts from 462 to 443 cm(-1) for the Ce0.9Cu0.1Oy solid solution. The H-2 consumption of the fresh Ce0.95Cu0.05Oy is 1.65 times higher than that needed to reduce CuO to Cu, and it increases to 2.4 after a reoxidation of the partially reduced Ce0.95Cu0.05Oy at 300 degreesC, which indicates that the CeO2 phase is also extensively reduced. Compared with the high Cu/(Ce+Cu) ratio sample Ce0.7Cu0.3Oy, the Ce0.9Cu0.1Oy solid solution shows high and stable redox property even after different reoxidation temperatures. When the reoxidation temperature exceeds 200 degreesC, the a peak (similar to170 degreesC) ascribed to the reduction of surface oxygen disappears, and the P peak (similar to190 degreesC) ascribed to the reduction of Cu2+ species and the partial reduction of bulk CeO2 shifts to higher temperatures with the H-2 consumption 1.16 times higher than that for fresh sample. The result demonstrates that the redox property of the CeO2 is Significantly improved by forming the Ce1-xCuxOy solid solutions.