arXiv subjects

Gianluca Colò

Publications and source records attributed to Gianluca Colò.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2023

Effects of Coulomb and isospin symmetry breaking interactions on neutron-skin thickness

Both the Coulomb interaction and isospin symmetry breaking (ISB) parts of the nuclear interaction break the isospin symmetry in atomic nuclei. Effects of these two kinds of interaction on properties of atomic nuclei, especially, the mass difference of mirror nuclei and the neutron-skin thickness of $ N = Z $ and $ N \ne Z $ nuclei, are discussed. It is found that corrections to the Hartree-Fock-Slater approximation for the Coulomb interaction negligibly affect the neutron-skin thickness, while the charge-symmetry breaking term originating from the strong interaction might affect it non-negligibly. According to our calculations, the ISB terms other than the Coulomb interaction affect the estimation of the density dependence of the symmetry energy, $ L $, by about $ 0 $--$ 12 \, \mathrm{MeV} $ using the correlation with the neutron-skin thickness.

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arXiv2022

Perturbed nuclear matter studied within Density Functional Theory with a finite number of particles

Nuclear matter is studied within the Density Functional Theory (DFT) framework. Our method employs a finite number of nucleons in a box subject to periodic boundary conditions, in order to simulate infinite matter and study its response to an external static potential. We detail both the theoretical formalism and its computational implementation for pure neutron matter and symmetric nuclear matter with Skyrme-like Energy Density Functionals (EDFs). The implementation of spin-orbit, in particular, is carefully discussed. Our method is applied to the problem of the static response of nuclear matter and the impact of the perturbation on the energies, densities and level structure of the system is investigated. Our work is a crucial step in our program of ab initio-based nuclear EDFs [Phys. Rev. C 104, 024315 (2021)] as it paves the way towards the goal of constraining the EDF surface terms on ab initio calculations.

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arXiv2022

Toward ab initio charge symmetry breaking in nuclear energy density functionals

We propose a new approach to determine the strength of the charge symmetry breaking (CSB) term in the framework of nuclear density functional theory. It is shown that once ab initio calculations are available including accurate description of isospin symmetry breaking terms in medium and heavy nuclei, the mass difference of mirror nuclei as well as the neutron-skin thickness of doubly-closed-shell nuclei can be used to constrain the strength of the CSB interaction with an uncertainty less than $ 6 \, \% $, separately from other isospin symmetry breaking forces. This method opens a new vista of ab initio nuclear energy density functionals.

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arXiv2022

Isospin symmetry breaking in the charge radius difference of mirror nuclei

Isospin symmetry breaking (ISB) effects in the charge radius difference $ΔR_{\rm ch}$ of mirror nuclei are studied using the test example of ${}^{48}$Ca and ${}^{48}$Ni. This choice allows for a transparent study of ISB contributions since paring and deformation effects, commonly required for the study of mirror nuclei, can be neglected in this specific pair. The connection of $ΔR_{\rm ch}$ with the nuclear Equation of State and the effect of ISB on such a relation are discussed according to an Energy Density Functional approach. We find that nuclear ISB effects may shift the estimated value for the symmetry energy slope parameter $L$ by more than 10 MeV while Coulomb corrections can be neglected. ISB effects on the ground-state energy and charge radii in mirror nuclei have been recently predicted by {\it ab initio} calculations to be relatively small, pointing to a negligible effect for the extraction of information on the nuclear EoS. These contrasting results call for a dedicated theoretical effort to solve this overarching problem that impacts not only the neutron skin thickness or the difference in mass and charge radii of mirror nuclei but also other observables such as the Isobaric Analog State energy.

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arXiv2022

Evidence against nuclear polarization as source of fine-structure anomalies in muonic atoms

A long-standing problem of fine-structure anomalies in muonic atoms is revisited by considering the $Δ2p$ splitting in muonic $^{90}\mathrm{Zr}$, $^{120}\mathrm{Sn}$ and $^{208}\mathrm{Pb}$ and the $Δ3p$ splitting in muonic $^{208}\mathrm{Pb}$. State-of-the-art techniques from both nuclear and atomic physics are brought together in order to perform the most comprehensive to date calculations of nuclear-polarization energy shifts. Barring the more subtle case of muonic $^{208}\mathrm{Pb}$, the results suggest that the dominant calculation uncertainty is much smaller than the persisting discrepancies between theory and experiment. We conclude that the resolution to the anomalies is likely to be rooted in refined QED corrections or even some other previously unaccounted-for contributions.

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arXiv2021

Second and fourth moments of the charge density and neutron-skin thickness of atomic nuclei

A method is presented to extract the neutron-skin thickness of atomic nuclei from the second and fourth moments of the electric charge distribution. We show that the value of the proton fourth moment must be independently known in order to estimate the neutron skin thickness experimentally. To overcome this problem, we propose the use of a strong linear correlation among the second and fourth moments of the proton distribution as calculated with several energy density functionals of common use. We take special care in estimating the errors associated with the different contributions to the neutron radius and show, for the first time, the analytic expressions for the spin-orbit contribution to the charge fourth moments of neutrons and protons. To reduce the uncertainty on the extraction of the neutron radius, two neighboring even-even isotopes are used. Nevertheless, the error on the fourth moment of the proton distribution, even if determined or assumed with large accuracy, dominates and prevents the present method from being applied for a sound determination of the neutron skin thickness.

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arXiv2021

User guide for the hfbcs-qrpa(v1) code

We briefly explain the structure of the Hartree-Fock-Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (HFBCS) and Quasi-particle Random Phase Approximation (QRPA) code hfbcs-qrpa, highlighting only the differences with the code skyrme_rpa that has been previously published [G. Colò, L. Cao, N. Van Giai, and L. Capelli, Comp. Phys. Comm. 184, 142 (2013)]. The code deals with open shell spherical systems and non-spin flip, non-charge-exchange and natural parity $(-1)^l$ excitations.

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arXiv2020

Effects of finite nucleon size, vacuum polarization, and electromagnetic spin-orbit interaction on nuclear binding energies and radii in spherical nuclei

The electromagnetic effects of the finite size of the nucleon are implemented self-consistently on top of the Skyrme Hartree-Fock calculation, where the electric form factors of both protons and neutrons are considered. Furthermore, the vacuum polarization and the electromagnetic spin-orbit interaction are taken into account. The self-consistent finite-size effects give a different Coulomb potential from the conventional one and affect the neutrons as well. The contribution of the finite-size effects to the total energy reaches $ 7 \, \mathrm{MeV} $ in $ {}^{208} \mathrm{Pb} $. The vacuum polarization and the electromagnetic spin-orbit interaction are also non-negligible, especially in the heavy nuclei. These effects provide a comparable contribution of the total energy to that of the isospin symmetry-breaking terms of the nuclear interaction. The mirror nuclei mass difference in $ {}^{48} \mathrm{Ca} $--$ {}^{48} \mathrm{Ni} $ is also studied, and its value is improved by approximately one order of magnitude.

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arXiv2020

Particle-vibration coupling for giant resonances beyond the diagonal approximation

A self-consistent particle-vibration coupling (PVC) model without diagonal approximation is presented. The diagonal approximation, that neglects completely the interaction between the doorway states, has been removed by taking into account the interaction between the two particle-holes inside the doorway states. As applications, isoscalar giant monopole, dipole, and quadrupole resonances in 16O are investigated based on the use of Skyrme functionals. The diagonal approximation is found to clearly impact the strength distribution of the giant quadrupole resonance, and the description of the experimental data is improved without this approximation. The impact of the diagonal approximation is analyzed in detail, especially its effect on the eigenenergies and the induced coupling between neutron and proton particle-hole configurations. The latter is a direct and physically sound effect of the improvement on our formalism. The importance of using self-consistently the full effective interaction in the PVC vertex, and the effect of its renormalization via the subtraction method, are also discussed. For completeness, we also analyze the dependence of our results on the Skyrme parametrization.

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arXiv2019

Volution of nuclear spin-orbit splittings with Skyrme functional SAMi-T

A new Skyrme functional has been developed with tensor term guided by ab initio relativistic Brueckner-Hartree-Fock (RBHF) studies on neutron-proton drops. Instead of extracting information on the tensor force from experimental single-particle energy splittings, the RBHF calculations do not contain beyond mean-field effects such as particle-vibration coupling and therefore the information on the tensor force can be obtained without ambiguities. The new functional gives a good description of nuclear ground-state properties as well as various giant resonances. The description for the evolution of single-particle energy splittings is also improved by the new functional.

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arXiv2019

Nuclear incompressibility from spherical and deformed nuclei

We present an analysis based on the deformed Quasi Particle Random Phase Approximation, on top of a deformed Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov description of the ground state, aimed at studying the isoscalar monopole and quadrupole response in a deformed nucleus. This analysis is motivated by the need of understanding the coupling between the two modes and how it might affect the extraction of the nuclear incompressibility from the monopole distribution. After discussing this motivation, we present the main ingredients of our theoretical framework, and we show some results obtained with the SLy4 and SkM$^{*}$ interactions for the nucleus ${}^{24}$Mg.

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arXiv2019

Skyrme Functional with Tensor Terms from ab initio Calculations: Results for the Spin-Orbit Splittings

A new Skyrme functional including tensor terms is presented. The tensor terms have been determined by fitting the results of relativistic Brueckner-Hartree-Fock (RBHF) studies on neutron-proton drops. Unlike all previous studies, where the tensor terms were usually determined by fitting to experimental data of single-particle levels, the pseudodata calculated by RBHF does not contain beyond mean-field effect such as the particle-vibration coupling and, therefore, can provide information on the tensor term without ambiguities. The obtained new functional, named SAMi-T, can describe well ground-state properties such as binding energies, radii, spin-orbit splittings and, at the same time, the excited state properties such as those of the Giant Monopole Resonance (GMR), Giant Dipole Resonance (GDR), Gamow-Teller Resonance (GTR), and Spin-Dipole Resonance (SDR).

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arXiv2019

Coulomb Energy Density Functionals for Nuclear Systems: Recent Studies of Coulomb Exchange and Correlation Functionals

The Coulomb exchange and correlation energy density functionals for electron systems are applied to nuclear systems. It is found that the exchange functionals in the generalized gradient approximation provide agreements with the exact-Fock energy with one adjustable parameter within a few dozen $ \mathrm{keV} $ accuracy, whereas the correlation functionals are not directly applicable to nuclear systems due to the existence of the nuclear force.

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arXiv2019

Skyrme functional with tensor terms from \textit{ab initio} calculations of neutron-proton drops

A new Skyrme functional devised to account well for standard nuclear properties as well as for spin and spin-isospin properties is presented. The main novelty of this work relies on the introduction of tensor terms guided by \textit{ab initio} relativistic Brueckner-Hartree-Fock calculations of neutron-proton drops. The inclusion of tensor term does not decrease the accuracy in describing bulk properties of nuclei, experimental data of some selected spherical nuclei such as binding energies, charge radii, and spin-orbit splittings can be well fitted. The new functional is applied to the investigation of various collective excitations such as the Giant Monopole Resonance (GMR), the Isovector Giant Dipole Resonance (IVGDR), the Gamow-Teller Resonance (GTR), and the Spin-Dipole Resonance (SDR). The overall description with the new functional is satisfactory and the tensor terms are shown to be important particularly for the improvement of the Spin-Dipole Resonance results. Predictions for the neutron skin thickness based on the non-energy weighted sum rule of the Spin-Dipole Resonance are also given.

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arXiv2019

Coulomb exchange functional with generalized gradient approximation for self-consistent Skyrme Hartree-Fock calculations

We perform the self-consistent Skyrme Hartree-Fock calculation with the Coulomb exchange functional in the form of generalized gradient approximation (GGA). It is found that the Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof GGA (PBE-GGA) Coulomb exchange functional is able to reproduce the exact-Fock energy for the nuclei in a large region of the nuclear chart with one adjustable parameter. The remaining error of Coulomb exchange energy by the GGA with respect to the exact-Fock energy dominantly comes from the functional-driven error.

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arXiv2018

The Compression-Mode Giant Resonances and Nuclear Incompressibility

The compression-mode giant resonances, namely the isoscalar giant monopole and isoscalar giant dipole modes, are examples of collective nuclear motion. Their main interest stems from the fact that one hopes to extrapolate from their properties the incompressibility of uniform nuclear matter, which is a key parameter of the nuclear Equation of State (EoS). Our understanding of these issues has undergone two major jumps, one in the late 1970s when the Isoscalar Giant Monopole Resonance (ISGMR) was experimentally identified, and another around the turn of the millennium since when theory has been able to start giving reliable error bars to the incompressibility. However, mainly magic nuclei have been involved in the deduction of the incompressibility from the vibrations of finite nuclei. The present review deals with the developments beyond all this. Experimental techniques have been improved, and new open-shell, and deformed, nuclei have been investigated. The associated changes in our understanding of the problem of the nuclear incompressibility are discussed. New theoretical models, decay measurements, and the search for the evolution of compressional modes in exotic nuclei are also discussed.

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arXiv2014

Regularization of zero-range effective interactions in finite nuclei

The problem of the divergences which arise in beyond mean-field calculations, when a zero-range effective interaction is employed, has not been much considered so far. Some of us have proposed, quite recently, a scheme to regularize a zero-range Skyrme-type force when it is employed to calculate the total energy, at second-order perturbation theory level, in uniform matter. Although this scheme looked promising, the extension for finite nuclei is not straightforward. We introduce such procedure in the current paper, by proposing a regularization procedure that is similar, in spirit, to the one employed to extract the so-called V_{\rm low-k} from the bare force. Although this has been suggested already by B.G. Carlsson and collaborators, the novelty of our work consists in setting on equal footing uniform matter and finite nuclei; in particular, we show how the interactions that have been regularized in uniform matter behave when they are used in a finite nucleus with the corresponding cutoff. We also address the problem of the validity of the perturbative approach in finite nuclei for the total energy.

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arXiv2014

Tensor interaction in mean-field and density functional theory approaches to nuclear structure

The importance of the tensor force for nuclear structure has been recognized long ago. Recently, the interest for this topic has been revived by the study of the evolution of nuclear properties far from the stability line. However, in the context of the effective theories that describe medium-heavy nuclei, the role of the tensor force is still debated. This review focuses on ground-state properties like masses and deformation, on single-particle states, and on excited vibrational and rotational modes. The goal is to assess which properties, if any, can bring clear signatures of the tensor force within the mean-field or density functional theory framework. It will be concluded that, while evidences for a clear neutron-proton tensor force exist despite quantitative uncertainties, the role of the tensor force among equal particles is less well established.

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