Circumstantial Evidence for a Soft Nuclear Symmetry Energy at Suprasaturation Densities

Within an isospin- and momentum-dependent hadronic transport model, it is shown that the recent FOPI data on the pi(-)/pi(+) ratio in central heavy-ion collisions at SIS/GSI energies [Willy Reisdorf , Nucl. Phys. A 781, 459 (2007)] provide circumstantial evidence suggesting a rather soft nuclear symmetry energy E-sym(rho) at rho >= 2 rho(0) compared to the Akmal-Pandharipande-Ravenhall prediction. Some astrophysical implications and the need for further experimental confirmations are discussed.

Collective Transverse Flow in Intermediate Energy Heavy-Ion Collisions

Within the hadronic transport model IBUU04, we study the density-dependent symmetry energy by using the neutron-proton differential flow from the Sn-132+Sn-124 reactions at beam energies of 200, 400, 600 and 800MeV per nucleon. The strong effect of the symmetry energy is shown at the incident beam energy of 400 MeV/A. The small medium-effect of the neutron-proton differential flow is also found. We also study the neutron-proton differential flows with impact parameters of 3, 5, 7 fm. It is found that in semi-central collisions the sensitivity of the neutron-proton differential flow to the symmetry energy is larger.

Shell-model Hamiltonian from self-consistent mean-field model: N = Z nuclei

We propose a procedure to determine the effective nuclear shell-model Hamiltonian in a truncated space from a self-consistent mean-field model, e.g., the Skyrme model. The parameters of pairing plus quadrupole-quadrupole interaction with monopole force are obtained so that the potential energy surface of the Skyrme Hartree-Fock + BCS calculation is reproduced. We test our method for N = Z nuclei in the fpg- and sd-shell regions. It is shown that the calculated energy spectra with these parameters are in a good agreement with experimental data, in which the importance of the monopole interaction is discussed. This method may represent a practical way of defining the Hamiltonian for general shell-model calculations. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Triton-He-3 relative and differential flows as probes of the nuclear symmetry energy at supra-saturation densities

Using a transport model coupled with a phase-space coalescence afterburner, we study the triton-He-3 (t-He-3) ratio with both relative and differential transverse flows in semicentral Sn-132 + Sn-124 reactions at a beam energy of 400 MeV/nucleon. The neutron-proton ratios with relative and differential flows are also discussed as a reference. We find that similar to the neutron-proton pairs, the t-He-3 pairs also carry interesting information regarding the density dependence of the nuclear symmetry energy. Moreover, the nuclear symmetry energy affects more strongly the t-He-3 relative and differential flows than the pi(-)/pi(+) ratio in the same reaction. The t-He-3 relative flow can be used as a particularly powerful probe of the high-density behavior of the nuclear symmetry energy.

Nuclear matter at a HIRFL-CSR energy regime

We report some recent progress in constraining the symmetry energy E-sym(rho) at high densities using high-energy heavy-ion collisions. Circumstantial evidence of a soft E-sym(rho) at supra-saturation density is obtained by comparing the pion ratio pi(-)/pi(+) measured recently with FOPI at GSI and the IBUU04 model calculations. Detailed studies indicate that the power of determining the E-sym(rho)from pi(-)/pi(+) is enhanced with decreasing the beam energy to near the pion production threshold, showing a correlation to the increasing nuclear stopping. Among several heavy-ion reaction facilities in the world, the cooling storage ring (HIRFL-CSR), newly commissioned at Lanzhou, delivering heavy-ion beams up to 1 A GeV, to be coupled with advanced detectors will contribute significantly to further studies of the equation of state of asymmetric nuclear matter.

Alpha decay half-lives of heavy nuclei within a generalized liquid drop model

Theoretical alpha-decay half-lives of the heaviest nuclei are calculated using the experimental Q value. The barriers in the quasi-molecular shape path is determined within a Generalized Liquid Drop Model (GLDM) and the WKB approximation is used. The results are compared with calculations using the Density-Dependent, M3Y (DDM3Y) effective interaction and the Viola-Seaborg-Sobiczewski (VSS) formulae. The calculations provide consistent estimates for the half-lives of the a decay chains of these superheavy elements. The experimental data stand between the GLDM calculations and VSS ones in the most time.

Neutron-proton bremsstrahlung from intermediate energy heavy-ion reactions as a probe of the nuclear symmetry energy?

Hard photons from neutron-proton bremsstrahlung in intermediate energy heavy-ion reactions are examined as a potential probe of the nuclear symmetry energy within a transport model. Effects of the symmetry energy on the yields and spectra of hard photons are found to be generally smaller than those due to the currently existing uncertainties of both the in-medium nucleon-nucleon cross sections and the photon production probability in the elementary process pn -> pn gamma. Very interestingly, nevertheless, the ratio of hard photon spectra R-1/2(gamma) from two reactions using isotopes of the same element is not only approximately independent of these uncertainties but also quite sensitive to the symmetry energy. For the head-on reactions of Sn-132 + Sn-124 and Sn-112 + Sn-112 at E-beam/A = 50 MeV, for example, the R-1/2(gamma) displays a rise up to 15% when the symmetry energy is reduced by about 20% at rho = 1.3 rho(0) which is the maximum density reached in these reactions. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

eta photoproduction on the proton in a chiral constituent quark approach via a one-gluon-exchange model

A formalism based on a chiral quark model (chi QM) approach complemented with a one-gluon-exchange model, to take into account the breakdown of the SU(6)circle times O(3) symmetry, is presented. The configuration mixing of wave functions for nucleon and resonances are derived. With few adjustable parameters, differential cross-section and polarized-beam asymmetry for the gamma p -> eta p process are calculated and successfully compared with the data in the center-of-mass energy range from threshold to 2 GeV. The known resonances S-11(1535), S-11(1650), P-13(1720), D-13(1520), and F-15(1680), as well as two new S-11 and D-15 resonances, are found to be dominant in the reaction mechanism. Moreover, connections among the scattering amplitudes of the chi QM approach and the helicity amplitudes, as well as decay widths of resonances, are established. Possible contributions from the so-called missing resonances are investigated and found to be negligible.

Shell model study of single-particle and collective structure in neutron-rich Cr isotopes

The structure of neutron-rich Cr isotopes is systematically investigated by using the spherical shell model. The calculations reproduce well the known energy levels for the even-even Cr52-62 and odd-mass Cr53-59 nuclei, and predict a lowering of excitation energies around neutron number N = 40. The calculated B(E2; 2(1)(+) -> 0(1)(+)) systematics shows a pronounced collectivity around N = 40; a similar characteristic behavior has been suggested for Zn and Ge isotopes. Causes for the sudden drop of the 9/2(1)(+) energy in Cr-59 and the appearance of very low 0(2)(+) states around N = 40 are discussed. We also predict a new band with strong collectivity built on the 0(2)(+) state in the N = 40 isotope Cr-64.

Isospin effects of the Skyrme potential and the momentum dependent interaction at intermediate energy heavy ion collisions

We improve the isospin dependent quantum molecular dynamical model by including isospin effects in the Skyrme potential and the momentum dependent interaction to obtain an isospin dependent Skyrme potential and an isospin dependent momentum interaction. We investigate the isospin effects of Skyrme potential and momentum dependent interaction on the isospin fractionation ratio and the dynamical mechanism in intermediate energy heavy ion collisions. It is found that the isospin dependent Skyrme potential and the isospin dependent momentum interaction produce some important isospin effects in the isospin fractionation ratio

Crossing the phantom divide in brane cosmology with curvature corrections and brane-bulk energy transfer

We consider the Randall-Sundrum brane-world model with bulk-brane energy transfer where the Einstein-Hilbert action is modified by curvature correction terms: a four-dimensional scalar curvature from induced gravity on the brane, and a five-dimensional Gauss-Bonnet curvature term. It is remarkable that these curvature terms will not change the dynamics of the brane universe at low energy. Parameterizing the energy transfer and taking the dark radiation term into account, we find that the phantom divide of the equation of state of effective dark energy could be crossed, without the need of any new dark energy components. Fitting the two most reliable and robust SNIa datasets, the 182 Gold dataset and the Supernova Legacy Survey (SNLS), our model indeed has a small tendency of phantom divide crossing for the Gold dataset, but not for the SNLS dataset. Furthermore, combining the recent detection of the SDSS baryon acoustic oscillations peak (BAO) with lower matter density parameter prior, we find that the SNLS dataset also mildly favors phantom divide crossing.

Shell correction and pairing energies in the dinuclear system model

We investigate the dependences of the potential energy surfaces (PES) and the fusion probabilities for some cold fusion reactions leading to super-heavy elements on the nuclear shell effect and pairing energy. It is found that the shell effect plays an important role in the fusion of the super-heavy element while pairing energy's contribution is insignificant. The fusion probabilities and evaporation residue cross sections as functions of the Ge-isotope projectile bombarding Pb-208 are also investigated. It is found that evaporation residue cross sections do not always increase with the increasing neutron number of Ge-isotope

Measurement of total reaction cross section for neutron-rich nucleus Li-11 on Si-28 target at medium energy

The neutron-rich nucleus Li-11 is separated by the radioactive ion beam line RIBLL at HIRFL from the breakup of 50MeV/u C-13 on Be target. The total reaction cross sections for Li-11 at energies range from 25 to 45MeV/u on Si target have been measured by using the transmission method. The experimental data at high and low energies can be fitted well by Glauber model using two Gauss density distribution. The matter radius of Li-11 was also deduced.

Probing the high density behavior of the symmetry energy by using the free neutron-proton ratio

Based on the isospin- and momentum-dependent transport model IBUU04, the transverse momentum distributions of the free neutron-proton ratio in the Sn-132+(124) Sn reaction system at mid-central collisions with beam energies of 400/A MeV, 600/A MeV and 800/A MeV are studied by using two different symmetry energies. It is found that the free neutron-proton ratio as a function of the transverse momentum at the mid-rapidity is very sensitive to the density dependency of the symmetry energy especially at incident energies around 400/AMeV.