arXiv subjects

Georgios Palkanoglou

Publications and source records attributed to Georgios Palkanoglou.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Interplay between Nuclear Shell Structure and Pairing around Doubly Magic $^{132}$Sn

Shell structure in finite quantum systems gives rise to sudden changes in observable properties, while pairing correlations often compete against such discontinuities. The region near the doubly magic nucleus $^{132}$Sn provides a fertile ground for testing the combined effect of shell structure and pairing. Here, we provide a novel phenomenological interpretation of existing mass data in the vicinity of the $Z=50$ and $N=82$ shell closures, which we further investigate by performing original Hartree-Fock-Bogolyubov (HFB) mean-field calculations for even-$Z$ nuclei: we find that the proton shell structure enhances an asymmetry of the neutron odd-even staggering in binding energies. We also report mass measurements of $^{137,138}$Sb, including the first experimental mass determination of $^{138}$Sb, performed using TRIUMF's Ion Trap for Atomic and Nuclear Science (TITAN). Together with existing experimental data, our results reveal an interplay between shell structure and pairing in odd-$Z$ nuclei which is more challenging to interpret phenomenologically or using HFB, thereby motivating future experimental and theoretical pairing studies in heavy neutron-rich nuclides.

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arXiv2026

Evidence for Multimodal Superfluidity of Neutrons

We present theoretical and experimental evidence for a new phase of matter in neutron-rich systems that we call multimodal superfluidity. Using ab initio lattice calculations, we show that the condensate consists of coexisting s-wave pairs, p-wave pairs in entangled double pair combinations, and quartets composed of bound states of two s-wave pairs. We identify multimodal superfluidity as a general feature of single-flavor spin-1/2 fermionic systems with attractive s-wave and p-wave interactions, provided the system is stable against collapse into a dense droplet. Beyond neutrons at sub-saturation densities, we demonstrate that this phase appears in generalized attractive extended Hubbard models in one, two, and three dimensions. We elucidate the mechanism for this coexistence using self-consistent few-body Cooper models and compare with Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer theory. We also derive the form of the effective action and show that spin, rotational, and parity symmetries remain unbroken. Finally, we analyze experimental data to show that p-wave pair gaps and quartet gaps are present in atomic nuclei, and we discuss the consequences of this new phase for the structure and dynamics of neutron star crusts.

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arXiv2025

A novel way of recasting the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer gap equations

The gap equations lie at the core of the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) theory, a standard tool in the description of superfluidity. As a set of non-linear integral equations, the gap equations' inherent difficulties oftentimes hinder even the crudest descriptions of superfluid states. Hard-core potentials, high-density superfluids, and coupled-channel pairing are all reasons that have historically required one to provide special treatment to the gap equations to get a solution. In this paper we present a new method for solving the gap equations that holds the promise of being an efficient universal solver that requires the minimum amount of \textit{a priori} knowledge of the targeted solutions. With theoretical evidence of exotic nuclear superfluidity posing new questions to our understanding of this fundamental property of nuclear systems, the presented method can be a valuable tool when exploring new pairing states, finite-temperature properties, or the development of sophisticated descriptions of nuclear superfludity.

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arXiv2021

Superfluid neutron matter with a twist

Superfluid neutron matter is a key ingredient in the composition of neutron stars. The physics of the inner crust is largely dependent on that of its $S$-wave neutron superfluid which has made its presence known through pulsar glitches and modifications on the neutron star cooling. Moreover, with recent gravitational-wave observations of neutron star mergers, the need for an equation of state for the matter of these compact stars is further accentuated and a model-independent treatment of neutron superfluidity is important. \textit{Ab initio} techniques developed for finite systems can be guided to perform extrapolations to the thermodynamic limit and attain this model-independent extraction of various quantities of infinite superfluid neutron matter. To inform such an extrapolation scheme, we performed calculations of the neutron $^1S_0$ pairing gap using the model-independent odd-even staggering in the context of the particle-conserving, projected BCS theory under twisted boundary conditions. While the practice of twisted boundary conditions is standard in solid state physics and has been used repeatedly in the past to reduce finite-size effects, this is the first time it is employed in the context of pairing. We find that a twist-averaging approach results in a substantial reduction of the finite-size effects, bringing systems with $N\gtrapprox 50$ within a $2\%$ error margin from the infinite system. This can significantly reduce extrapolation-related errors in the extraction of superfluid neutron matter quantities.

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arXiv2021

From odd-even staggering to the pairing gap in neutron matter

The properties of neutron matter are integral to the correct description of neutron stars as well as the description of neutron-rich nuclei. One key property of neutron matter is its superfluid behaviour in a range of densities relevant to the inner crust of neutron stars. This work investigates the finite-size effects in the pairing gap of a pure neutron matter superfluid system at densities found in the inner crust of cold neutron stars. The BCS (Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer) treatment of superfluidity gives rise to the mean-field pairing gap while a projection after variation (PBCS Theory) can provide a beyond-mean-field pairing gap through an odd-even staggering formula. While these two pairing gap results should agree in the thermodynamic limit, in this work we demonstrate that this is the case for systems far from the thermodynamic limit as well. This is a first step towards a model-independent extraction of the pairing gap in neutron matter.

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