arXiv subjects

L. M. Robledo

Publications and source records attributed to L. M. Robledo.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2020

Enhancement of octupole strength in near spherical nuclei

The validity of the rotational formula used to compute E1 and E3 transition strengths in even-even nuclei is analyzed within the Generator Coordinate Method framework based on mean field wave functions. It turns out that those nuclei with spherical or near spherical shapes the E1 and E3 strengths computed with this formula are strongly underestimated and a sound evaluation of them requires angular momentum projected wave functions. Results for several isotopic chains with proton number equal or near magic numbers are analyzed and compared with experimental data. The use of angular momentum projected wave functions greatly improves the agreement with the scarce experimental data.

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arXiv2020

$β$ decay of even-A nuclei within the interacting boson model based on nuclear density functional theory

We compute the $β$-decay $ft$-values within the frameworks of the energy density functional (EDF) and the interacting boson model (IBM). Based on the constrained mean-field calculation with the Gogny-D1M EDF, the IBM Hamiltonian for an even-even nucleus and essential ingredients of the interacting boson-fermion-fermion model (IBFFM) for describing the neighboring odd-odd nucleus are determined in a microscopic way. Only the boson-fermion and residual neutron-proton interaction strengths are determined empirically. The Gamow-Teller (GT) and Fermi (F) transition rates needed to compute the $β$-decay $ft$-values are obtained without any additional parameter or quenching of the $g_A$ factor. The observed $\ft$ values for the $β^+$ decays of the even-even Ba into odd-odd Cs nuclei, and of the odd-odd Cs to the even-even Xe nuclei, with mass $A\approx 130$ are reasonably well described. The predicted GT and F transition rates represent a sensitive test of the quality of the IBM and IBFFM wave functions.

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arXiv2020

$β$ decay of odd-A nuclei with the interacting boson-fermion model based on the Gogny energy density functional

The low-energy excitations and $β$ decays of odd-A nuclei are studied within the interacting boson-fermion model (IBFM), based on the Gogny-D1M nuclear energy density functional (EDF). The constrained Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov (HFB) approximation is employed to compute potential energy surfaces in terms of triaxial quadrupole degrees of freedom for even-even Xe and Ba nuclei in the mass $A\approx 130$ region. The mean field approximation also provides spherical single-particle energies and occupation probabilities for the neighboring odd-A nuclei. Those quantities represent a microscopic input for spectroscopic calculations in odd-A Xe and Ba, Cs and La isotopes. The Gamow-Teller (GT) and Fermi (F) transition matrix elements, needed to compute $β$-decay $\log{ft}$ values are obtained without any phenomenological fitting. It is shown that both the low-lying states and $β$ decays of the studied odd-A systems are described reasonably well within the employed theoretical framework.

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arXiv2019

Structure of odd-odd Cs isotopes within the interacting boson-fermion-fermion model based on the Gogny-D1M energy density functional

The spectroscopic properties of the odd-odd isotopes $^{124-132}$Cs have been studied within the interacting boson-fermion-fermion model based on the Gogny-D1M energy density functional framework. Major ingredients to build the interacting boson-fermion-fermion Hamiltonian, such as the ($β,γ$)-deformation energy surfaces for the even-even core nuclei $^{124-132}$Xe as well as single-particle energies and occupation probabilities of the odd nucleons, have been computed microscopically with the constrained Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov method. A few coupling constants of the boson-fermion and residual neutron-proton interactions are fitted to reproduce with a reasonable accuracy the experimental excitation energy of the low-lying levels of the odd-mass and odd-odd nuclei. The method is applied to describe the low-energy low-spin spectra of the odd-odd Cs nuclei and the band structures of higher-spin higher-energy states, mainly based on the $(νh_{11/2})^{-1}\otimesπh_{11/2}$ configuration. Many of those odd-odd Cs nuclei have been identified as candidates for exhibiting chiral doublet bands.

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arXiv2019

Decay widths at the scission point in nuclear fission

An outstanding problem in the theory of nuclear fission is understanding the Hamiltonian dynamics at the scission point. Here we apply the Generator Coordinate Method to calculate decay widths for pre-scission configurations into the two-fragment continuum. Transitions that are allowed under diabatic dynamics can have widths up to several MeV. For non-diabatic decays through the pairing interaction, typical widths to a specific final state channel are 2-3 orders of magnitude smaller. The nucleus U-236 is taken as a representative example in the calculations.

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arXiv2019

Diabatic scission paths

An outstanding problem in the theory of nuclear fission is to understand the Hamiltonian dynamics at the scission point. In this work the fissioning nucleus is modeled in self-consistent mean-field theory as a set of Generator Coordinate (GCM) configurations passing through the scission point. In contrast to previous methods, the configurations are constructed in the Hartree-Fock approximation with axially symmetric mean fields and using the K-partition numbers as additional constraints. The goal of this work is to find paths through the scission point where the overlaps between neighboring configurations are large. A measure of distance along the path is proposed that is insensitive to the division of the path into short segments. For most of the tested K-partitions two shape degrees of freedom are adequate to define smooth paths. However, some of the configurations and candidate paths have sticking points where there are substantial changes in the many-body wave function, especially if quasiparticle excitations are present. The excitation energy deposited in fission fragments arising from thermal excitations in the pre-scission configurations is determined by tracking orbital occupation numbers along the scission paths. This allows us to assess the validity of the well-known scission-point statistical model, in which the scission process is assumed to be fully equilibrated up to the separated fission fragments. The nucleus 236U is taken as a representative example in the calculations.

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arXiv2019

Role of dynamic pairing correlations in fission dynamics

We study the role of dynamic pairing correlations in fission dynamics by considering intrinsic Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov wave functions that are obtained by minimizing the particle number projected energy. For the restricted variational space, the set of self-consistent wave functions with different values of proton and neutron number particle fluctuations are considered. The particle number projected energy is used to define potential energy surface for fission whereas collective inertias are computed within the traditional formulas for the intrinsic states. The results show that the effect of the restricted variation after particle number projection in the potential energy surface is small while collective inertias substantially decrease. On the other hand, we show that this quenching is strongly mitigated when Coulomb antipairing is considered. In the light of these beyond mean-field calculations, the validity of traditional fission calculations is discussed.

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arXiv2019

Spectroscopy of odd-odd nuclei within the interacting boson-fermion-fermion model based on the Gogny energy density functional

We present a method to calculate spectroscopic properties of odd-odd nuclei within the framework of the Interacting Boson-Fermion-Fermion Model based on the Gogny energy density functional. The $(β,γ)$-deformation energy surface of the even-even (boson-)core nucleus, spherical single-particle energies and occupation probabilities of the odd neutron and odd proton, are provided by the constrained self-consistent mean-field calculation within the Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov method with the Gogny-D1M functional. These quantities are used as a microscopic input to fix most of the parameters of the IBFFM Hamiltonian. Only a few coupling constants for the boson-fermion Hamiltonian and the residual neutron-proton interaction are specifically adjusted to reproduce experimental low-energy spectra in odd-mass and odd-odd nuclei, respectively. In this way, the number of free parameters involved in the IBFFM framework is reduced significantly. The method is successfully applied to the description of the low-energy spectra and electromagnetic transition rates in the odd-odd $^{194,196,198}$Au nuclei.

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arXiv2018

Gogny forces in the astrophysical context

The most successful Gogny interactions of the D1 family, namely D1S, D1N and D1M, suffer the common problem of a too soft neutron matter equation of state at high density, which prevents them from predicting a maximal mass of neutron stars of two solar masses, as required by recent astronomical observations. To cure this deficiency, we have proposed recently a reparametrization of the D1M force by fine tuning the slope of the symmetry energy in such a way that it preserves the ground-state properties of D1M in finite nuclei and also describes successfully the global properties of neutron stars, in particular its maximal mass, in consonance with the observational data. In this contribution we revisit this reparametrization by discussing two modified Gogny forces, dubbed D1M$^*$ and D1M$^{**}$.

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arXiv2018

Least action description of spontaneous fission in fermium and nobelium nuclei based on the Gogny energy density functional

The systematic of the spontaneous fission half-lives for the nuclei $^{242-262}$Fm and $^{250-260}$No is analyzed, within a least action scheme, with the parametrization D1M of the Gogny energy density functional. The properties of the dynamic (least action) fission paths are analyzed and compared to those of the static (minimal energy) ones. The constrained Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov approximation is used to compute deformed mean-field configurations, zero-point quantum corrections and collective inertias. It is shown that a cumbersome full variational search of the least action fission path, within the space of HFB states, might not be required if the relevant degrees of freedom are taken into account in the minimization of the Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin action. The action is minimized in terms of pairing fluctuations that explore the pairing content of the HFB states along the fission paths of the considered nuclei. It is found that, for a given shape, the minimum of the action in fermium and nobelium nuclei corresponds to a value of the pairing fluctuations larger than the one associated with the minimal energy solution for the same shape. The reduction of the action, via larger pairing correlations, has a significant impact on the predicted spontaneous fission half-lives improving their comparison with the experiment by several orders of magnitude.

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arXiv2018

Comment on the manuscript 1806.02080v1 entitled "Spurious finite-size instabilities of a new Gogny interaction suitable for astrophysical applications"

The conclusions of the manuscript 1806.02080v1 questioning the adequacy of the recently proposed Gogny D1M* interaction for finite nuclei calculations using harmonic oscillator (HO) basis are revised. Several convergence and stability studies are performed with HO basis of different sizes and oscillator parameters and the results show the robustness of the D1M* results for finite nuclei. This analysis is also extended to beyond mean-field calculations of generator-coordinate-method type with D1M*. On the other hand, the existence of a finite-size instability in finite nuclei when coordinate space methods are used to solve the HF equations (as shown in 1806.02080v1) is independently confirmed for D1M* using an in-house computer code based on a quasilocal approximation to the HF exchange potential. We confirm that the most affected quantity in the coordinate space calculation is the spatial density at the origin, but integrated quantities like binding energies or radii show a plateau against the number of iterations, where they are consistent with the values from the HO basis calculation, before diverging for a larger number of iterations. A connection between the last occupied s-orbital in the nucleus and the appearance of instabilities in coordinate space is observed.

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arXiv2018

Mean field and beyond description of nuclear structure with the Gogny force: A review

Nowadays, the Gogny force is a referent in the theoretical description of nuclear structure phenomena. Its phenomenological character manifests in a simple analytical form that allows for implementations of techniques both at the mean field and beyond all over the nuclide chart. Over the years, multiple applications of the standard many-body techniques in an assorted set of nuclear structure applications have produced results which are in a rather good agreement with experimental data. The agreement allows for a simple interpretation of those intriguing phenomena in simple terms and gives confidence on the predictability of the interaction. The present status on the implementation of different many body techniques with the Gogny force is reviewed with a special emphasis on symmetry restoration and large amplitude collective motion.

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arXiv2018

Cluster Radioactivity in Super Heavy Nuclei

Cluster radioactivity is an exotic nuclear decay observed in actinides where a light nucleus is emitted while the remaining heavy mass residue is the doubly magic $^{208}$Pb or a nucleus in its neighborhood. We have investigated this type of decay in heavier nuclei up to Lv $(Z=116)$ within a microscopic theory. It has been found that super asymmetric fission with $^{208}$Pb as heavy fragment may be dominant decay channel in some super heavy nuclei. This reaction is closely related with cluster radioactivity.

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arXiv2018

Prolate-to-oblate shape phase transitions in neutron-rich odd-mass nuclei

We investigate the prolate-to-oblate shape phase transitions in the neutron-rich Pt, Os and Ir nuclei in the mass $A\approx 190$ region. The Hamiltonian of the interacting boson-fermion model, used to describe the odd-mass $^{185-199}$Pt, $^{185-193}$Os and $^{185-195}$Ir isotopes, is partially constructed by using as a microscopic input the results of constrained self-consistent mean-field calculations within the Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov method with the Gogny force. The remaining few parameters are adjusted to experimental data in the odd systems. In this way the calculations reasonably describe the spectroscopic properties of the odd-mass systems considered. Several calculated observables for the odd-mass nuclei, especially the low-energy excitation spectra and the effective deformation parameters, point to a prolate-oblate shape transition as a function of the neutron number for all the isotopic chains considered and similar to the one already observed in the neighboring even-even systems.

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arXiv2018

Description of neutron-rich odd-mass krypton isotopes within the interacting boson-fermion model based on the Gogny energy density functional

The low-lying structure of neutron-rich odd-mass Kr isotopes is studied within the interacting boson-fermion model (IBFM) based on the Gogny-D1M energy density functional (EDF). The $(β,γ)$-deformation energy surfaces, spherical single-particle energies and occupation probabilities of the odd-mass systems are obtained using the constrained Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov (HFB) approximation. Those quantities are used as a microscopic input to determine most of the parameters of the IBFM Hamiltonian. The remaining parameters are specifically tailored to the experimental spectrum for each of the studied odd-mass nuclei. A gradual structural evolution is predicted for the odd-mass isotopes $^{87-95}$Kr as a function of the nucleon number which, agrees well with the gradual growth of collectivity observed experimentally in the neighboring even-even isotopes.

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arXiv2018

Scission Dynamics with K Partitions

We propose a framework to calculate the dynamics at the scission point of nuclear fission, based as far as possible on a discrete representation of orthogonal many-body configurations. Assuming axially symmetric scission shapes, we use the $K$ orbital quantum number to build a basis of wave functions. Pre-scission configurations are stable under mean-field dynamics while post-scission configurations evolve to separated fragments. In this first exploratory study, we analyze a typical fission trajectory through to scission in terms of these configurations. We find that there is a major rearrangement of the $K$ occupancy factors at scission. Interestingly, very different fragment shapes occur in the post-scission configurations, even starting from the same pre-scission configuration.

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arXiv2017

Microscopic description of fission in odd-mass uranium and plutonium nuclei with the Gogny energy density functional

The parametrization D1M of the Gogny energy density functional is used to study fission in the odd-mass Uranium and Plutonium isotopes with A=233,\ldots,249 within the framework of the Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov (HFB) Equal Filling Approximation (EFA). Ground state quantum numbers and deformations, pairing energies, one-neutron separation energies, barrier heights and fission isomer excitation energies are given. Fission paths, collective masses and zero point rotational and vibrational quantum corrections are used to compute the systematic of the spontaneous fission half-lives t$_{SF}$, the masses and charges of the fission fragments as well as their intrinsic shapes. Although there exits a strong variance of the predicted fission rates with respect to the details involved in their computation, it is shown that both the specialization energy and the pairing quenching effects, taken into account fully variationally within the HFB-EFA blocking scheme, lead to larger spontaneous fission half-lives in odd-mass U and Pu nuclei as compared with the corresponding even-even neighbors. It is shown that modifications of a few percent in the strengths of the neutron and proton pairing fields can have a significant impact on the collective masses leading to uncertainties of several orders of magnitude in the predicted t$_{SF}$ values. Alpha-decay lifetimes have also been computed using a parametrization of the Viola-Seaborg formula.

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arXiv2017

Shape transitions in odd-mass $γ$-soft nuclei within the interacting boson-fermion model based on the Gogny energy density functional

The interacting boson-fermion model (IBFM), with parameters determined from the microscopic Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov (HFB) approximation, based on the parametrization D1M of the Gogny energy density functional (EDF), is employed to study the structural evolution in odd-mass $γ$-soft nuclei. The deformation energy surfaces of even-even nuclei, single-particle energies and occupation probabilities of the corresponding odd-mass systems have been obtained within the constrained HFB approach. Those building blocks are then used as a microscopic input to build the IBFM Hamiltonian. The coupling constants of the boson-fermion interaction terms are taken as free parameters, fitted to reproduce experimental low-lying spectra. The diagonalization of the IBFM Hamiltonian provides the spectroscopic properties for the studied odd-mass nuclei. The procedure has been applied to compute low-energy excitation spectra and electromagnetic transition rates, in the case of the $γ$-soft odd-mass systems $^{129-137}$Ba, $^{127-135}$Xe, $^{129-137}$La and $^{127-135}$Cs. The calculations provide a reasonable agreement with the available experimental data and agree well with previous results based on the relativistic mean-field approximation.

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