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I. Lihtar

Publications and source records attributed to I. Lihtar.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

Rapid structural evolution of neutron-rich silicon isotopes toward N = 28

Neutron-rich Si isotopes represent a unique case of shell evolution, exhibiting a robust shell closure at $N=20$ and pronounced quadrupole collectivity at $N = 28$. We report lifetime measurements of excited states in $^{40}$Si and the first simultaneous lifetime and heavy-ion inelastic-scattering measurements in $^{41}$Si. In $^{40}$Si, the extracted lifetimes for the $2_1^+$ and $(2_2^+)$ states indicate moderate quadrupole collectivity at $N=26$, together with signatures of triaxiality. In $^{41}$Si, two near-degenerate states at 570 and 658~keV exhibit comparable $B(E2)$ strengths as extracted from inelastic scattering, while the measured lifetimes indicate dominant $M1$ decays. The combined lifetime and inelastic-scattering results suggest an evolution toward oblate shape, consistent with large-scale shell-model predictions.

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Quasi-free (p,2p) reactions in inverse kinematics for studying the fission yield dependence on temperature

Despite the recent experimental and theoretical progress in the investigation of the nuclear fission process, a complete description still represents a challenge in nuclear physics because it is a very complex dynamical process, whose description involves the coupling between intrinsic and collective degrees of freedom, as well as different quantum-mechanical phenomena. To improve on the existing data on nuclear fission, we produce fission reactions of heavy nuclei in inverse kinematics by using quasi-free (p,2p) scattering, which induce fission through particle-hole excitations that can range from few to ten's of MeV. The measurement of the four-momenta of the two outgoing protons allows to reconstruct the excitation energy of the fissioning compound nucleus and therefore to study the evolution of the fission yields with temperature. The realization of this kind of experiment requires a complex experimental setup, providing full isotopic identification of both fission fragments and an accurate measurement of the momenta of the two outgoing protons. This was realized recently at the GSI/FAIR facility and here some preliminary results are presented.

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Comprehensive investigation of fission yields by using spallation- and (p,2p)-induced fission reactions in inverse kinematics

In the last decades, measurements of spallation, fragmentation and Coulex induced fission reactions in inverse kinematics have provided valuable data to accurately investigate the fission dynamics and nuclear structure at large deformations of a large variety of stable and non-stable heavy nuclei. To go a step further, we propose now to induce fission by the use of quasi-free (p,2p) scattering reactions in inverse kinematics, which allows us to reconstruct the excitation energy of the compound fissioning system by using the four-momenta of the two outgoing protons. Therefore, this new approach might permit to correlate the excitation energy with the charge and mass distributions of the fission fragments and with the fission probabilities, given for the first time direct access to the simultaneous measurement of the fission yield dependence on temperature and fission barrier heights of exotic heavy nuclei, respectively. The first experiment based on this methodology was realized recently at the GSI/FAIR facility and a detailed description of the experimental setup is given here.

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Symmetry energy at high densities from neutron/proton flow excitation functions

Determination of the high density behavior of the symmetry energy through the simultaneous measurement of elliptic flow excitation functions of neutrons, protons and light clusters is proposed. The elliptic flow developed in relativistic heavy ion collisions has been proven theoretically and experimentally to have a unique sensitivity and robustness in probing the symmetry energy up to around $2 ρ_{o}$. The knowledge of the density dependence of the symmetry energy in a broad range of densities will provide a missing link for astrophysical predictions of the neutron star mass--radius relation. In particular, the data colud provide tighter constraints on the slope parameter L and entirely new limits on $K_{sym}$, the currently poorly constrained symmetry energy curvature parameter.

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