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Gabriel Martinez-Pinedo

Publications and source records attributed to Gabriel Martinez-Pinedo.

22 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

The nuclear quadrupole moment of 57Fe from microscopic nuclear and atomic calculations

The nuclear quadrupole moment of the I=3/2- excited nuclear state of 57Fe at 14.41 keV, important in Mössbauer spectroscopy, is determined from the large-scale nuclear shell-model calculations for 57Fe and also from the electronic ab initio and density functional theory calculations including solid state and electron correlation effects for the molecules Fe(CO)_5 and Fe(C_5 H_5)_2. Both independent methods yield very similar results. The recommended value is 0.16(1) eb. The NQM of the isomeric 10+ in 54Fe has also been calculated. The new value (0.5 eb), consistent with the perturbed angular distribution data, is by a factor of two larger than the currently recommended value.

nucl-th↗

The Role of Electron Captures in Chandrasekhar Mass Models for Type Ia Supernovae

The Chandrasekhar mass model for Type Ia Supernovae (SNe Ia) has received increasing support from recent comparisons of observations with light curve predictions and modeling of synthetic spectra. It explains SN Ia events via thermonuclear explosions of accreting white dwarfs in binary stellar systems, being caused by central carbon ignition when the white dwarf approaches the Chandrasekhar mass. As the electron gas in white dwarfs is degenerate, characterized by high Fermi energies for the high density regions in the center, electron capture on intermediate mass and Fe-group nuclei plays an important role in explosive burning. Electron capture affects the central electron fraction Y_e, which determines the composition of the ejecta from such explosions. Up to the present, astrophysical tabulations based on shell model matrix elements were only available for light nuclei in the sd-shell. Recently new Shell Model Monte Carlo (SMMC) and large-scale shell model diagonalization calculations have also been performed for pf-shell nuclei. These lead in general to a reduction of electron capture rates in comparison with previous, more phenomenological, approaches. Making use of these new shell model based rates, we present the first results for the composition of Fe-group nuclei produced in the central regions of SNe Ia and possible changes in the constraints on model parameters like ignition densities and burning front speeds.

astro-ph↗

Shell model calculation of the beta- and beta+ partial halflifes of 54Mn and other unique second forbidden beta decays

The nucleus 54Mn has been observed in cosmic rays. In astrophysical environments it is fully stripped of its atomic electrons and its decay is dominated by the beta- branch to the 54Fe ground state. Application of 54Mn based chronometer to study the confinement of the iron group cosmic rays requires knowledge of the corresponding halflife, but its measurement is impossible at the present time. However, the branching ratio for the related beta+ decay of 54Mn was determined recently. We use the shell model with only a minimal truncation and calculate both beta+ and beta- decay rates of 54Mn. Good agreement for the beta+ branch suggests that the calculated partial halflife of the beta- decay, (4.94 \pm 0.06) x 10^5 years, should be reliable. However, this halflife is noticeably shorter than the range 1-2 x 10^6 y indicated by the fit based on the 54Mn abundance in cosmic rays. We also evaluate other known unique second forbidden beta decays from the nuclear p and sd shells (10Be, 22Na, and two decay branches of 26Al) and show that the shell model can describe them with reasonable accuracy as well.

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Pairing and the structure of the pf-shell N ~ Z nuclei

The influence of the isoscalar and isovector L=0 pairing components of the effective nucleon-nucleon interaction is evaluated for several isobaric chains, in the framework of full pf shell model calculations. We show that the combined effect of both isospin channels of the pairing force is responsible for the appearance of T=1 ground states in N=Z odd-odd nuclei. However, no evidence is found relating them to the Wigner energy. We study the dependence of their contributions to the total energy on the rotational frecuency in the deformed nucleus 48Cr. Both decrease with increasing angular momentum and go to zero at the band termination. Below the backbending their net effect is a reduction of the moment of inertia, more than half of which comes from the proton-neutron channel.

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