arXiv subjects

M. Centelles

Publications and source records attributed to M. Centelles.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2012

The pygmy dipole strength, the neutron radius of ${}^{208}$Pb and the symmetry energy

The accurate characterization of the nuclear symmetry energy and its density dependence is one of the outstanding open problems in nuclear physics. A promising nuclear observable in order to constrain the density dependence of the symmetry energy at saturation is the neutron skin thickness of medium and heavy nuclei. Recently, a low-energy peak in the isovector dipole response of neutron-rich nuclei has been discovered that may be correlated with the neutron skin thickness. The existence of this correlation is currently under debate due to our limited experimental knowledge on the microscopic structure of such a peak. We present a detailed analysis of Skyrme Hartree-Fock (HF) plus random phase approximation (RPA) predictions for the dipole response in several neutron-rich nuclei and try to elucidate whether models of common use in nuclear physics confirm or dismiss its possible connection with the neutron skin thickness. Finally, we briefly present theoretical results for parity violating electron scattering on ${}^{208}$Pb at the conditions of the PREx experiment and discuss the implications for the neutron skin thickness of ${}^{208}$Pb and the slope of the symmetry energy.

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arXiv2011

Influence of the nuclear symmetry energy on the structure and composition of the outer crust

We review and extend with nonrelativistic nuclear mean field calculations a previous study of the impact of the nuclear symmetry energy on the structure and composition of the outer crust of nonaccreting neutron stars. First, we develop a simple "toy model" to understand the most relevant quantities determining the structure and composition of the outer crust: the nuclear symmetry energy and the pressure of the electron gas. While the latter is a well determined quantity, the former ---specially its density dependence--- still lacks an accurate characterization. We thus focus on the influence of the nuclear symmetry energy on the crustal composition. For that, we employ different nuclear models that are accurate in the description of terrestrial nuclei. We show that those models with stiffer symmetry energies ---namely, those that generate thicker neutron skins in heavy nuclei and have smaller symmetry energies at subnormal nuclear densities--- generate more exotic isotopes in the stellar crust than their softer counterparts.

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arXiv2011

Study of the neutron skin thickness of ${}^{208}$Pb in mean field models

We study whether the neutron skin thickness $Δr_{np}$ of ${}^{208}$Pb originates from the bulk or from the surface of the neutron and proton density distributions in mean field models. We find that the size of the bulk contribution to $Δr_{np}$ of ${}^{208}$Pb strongly depends on the slope of the nuclear symmetry energy, while the surface contribution does not. We note that most mean field models predict a neutron density for ${}^{208}$Pb between the halo and skin type limits. We investigate the dependence of parity- violating electron scattering at the kinematics of the PREX experiment on the shape of the nucleon densities predicted by the mean field models for ${}^{208}$Pb. We find an approximate formula for the parity-violating asymmetry in terms of the central radius and the surface diffuseness of the nucleon densities of ${}^{208}$Pb in these models.

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arXiv2011

Neutron skin of 208Pb, nuclear symmetry energy, and the parity radius experiment

A precise determination of the neutron skin thickness of a heavy nucleus sets a basic constraint on the nuclear symmetry energy (the neutron skin thickness is the difference of the neutron and proton rms radii of the nucleus). The parity radius experiment (PREX) may achieve it by electroweak parity-violating electron scattering (PVES) on 208Pb. We investigate PVES in nuclear mean field approach to allow the accurate extraction of the neutron skin thickness of 208Pb from the parity-violating asymmetry probed in the experiment. We demonstrate a high linear correlation between the parity-violating asymmetry and the neutron skin thickness in successful mean field forces as the best means to constrain the neutron skin of 208Pb from PREX, without assumptions on the neutron density shape. Continuation of the experiment with higher precision in the parity-violating asymmetry is motivated since the present method can support it to constrain the density slope of the nuclear symmetry energy to new accuracy.

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arXiv2010

Origin of the neutron skin thickness of 208Pb in nuclear mean-field models

We study whether the neutron skin thickness (NST) of 208Pb originates from the bulk or from the surface of the nucleon density distributions, according to the mean-field models of nuclear structure, and find that it depends on the stiffness of the nuclear symmetry energy. The bulk contribution to NST arises from an extended sharp radius of neutrons, whereas the surface contribution arises from different widths of the neutron and proton surfaces. Nuclear models where the symmetry energy is stiff, as typical relativistic models, predict a bulk contribution in NST of 208Pb about twice as large as the surface contribution. In contrast, models with a soft symmetry energy like common nonrelativistic models predict that NST of 208Pb is divided similarly into bulk and surface parts. Indeed, if the symmetry energy is supersoft, the surface contribution becomes dominant. We note that the linear correlation of NST of 208Pb with the density derivative of the nuclear symmetry energy arises from the bulk part of NST. We also note that most models predict a mixed-type (between halo and skin) neutron distribution for 208Pb. Although the halo-type limit is actually found in the models with a supersoft symmetry energy, the skin-type limit is not supported by any mean-field model. Finally, we compute parity-violating electron scattering in the conditions of the 208Pb parity radius experiment (PREX) and obtain a pocket formula for the parity-violating asymmetry in terms of the parameters that characterize the shape of the 208Pb nucleon densities.

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arXiv2010

Analysis of bulk and surface contributions in the neutron skin of nuclei

The neutron skin thickness of nuclei is a sensitive probe of the nuclear symmetry energy having multiple implications for nuclear and astrophysical studies. However, precision measurements of this observable are difficult. The analysis of the experimental data may imply some assumptions about the bulk or surface nature of the formation of the neutron skin. Here, we study the bulk or surface character of neutron skins of nuclei following from calculations with Gogny, Skyrme, and covariant nuclear mean-field interactions. These interactions are successful in describing nuclear charge radii and binding energies but predict different values for neutron skins. We perform the study by fitting two-parameter Fermi distributions to the calculated self-consistent neutron and proton densities. We note that the equivalent sharp radius is a more suitable reference quantity than the half-density radius parameter of the Fermi distributions to discern between the bulk and surface contributions in neutron skins. We present calculations for nuclei in the stability valley and for the isotopic chains of Sn and Pb.

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arXiv2010

Influence of the symmetry energy on the giant monopole resonance of neutron-rich nuclei

We analyze the influence of the density dependence of the symmetry energy on the average excitation energy of the isoscalar giant monopole resonance (GMR) in stable and exotic neutron-rich nuclei by applying the relativistic extended Thomas-Fermi method in scaling and constrained calculations. For the effective nuclear interaction, we employ the relativistic mean field model supplemented by an isoscalar-isovector meson coupling that allows one to modify the density dependence of the symmetry energy without compromising the success of the model for binding energies and charge radii. The semiclassical estimates of the average energy of the GMR are known to be in good agreement with the results obtained in full RPA calculations. The present analysis is performed along the Pb and Zr isotopic chains. In the scaling calculations, the excitation energy is larger when the symmetry energy is softer. The same happens in the constrained calculations for nuclei with small and moderate neutron excess. However, for nuclei of large isospin the constrained excitation energy becomes smaller in models having a soft symmetry energy. This effect is mainly due to the presence of loosely-bound outer neutrons in these isotopes. A sharp increase of the estimated width of the resonance is found in largely neutron-rich isotopes, even for heavy nuclei, which is enhanced when the symmetry energy of the model is soft. The results indicate that at large neutron numbers the structure of the low-energy region of the GMR strength distribution changes considerably with the density dependence of the nuclear symmetry energy, which may be worthy of further characterization in RPA calculations of the response function.

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arXiv2009

Microscopic-Macroscopic Approach for Binding Energies with Wigner-Kirkwood Method

The semi-classical Wigner-Kirkwood $\hbar$ expansion method is used to calculate shell corrections for spherical and deformed nuclei. The expansion is carried out up to fourth order in $\hbar$. A systematic study of Wigner-Kirkwood averaged energies is presented as a function of the deformation degrees of freedom. The shell corrections, along with the pairing energies obtained by using the Lipkin-Nogami scheme, are used in the microscopic-macroscopic approach to calculate binding energies. The macroscopic part is obtained from a liquid drop formula with six adjustable parameters. Considering a set of 367 spherical nuclei, the liquid drop parameters are adjusted to reproduce the experimental binding energies, which yields a {\it rms} deviation of 630 keV. It is shown that the proposed approach is indeed promising for the prediction of nuclear masses.

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arXiv2009

Neutron skin thickness in droplet model with surface width dependence: indications of softness of the nuclear symmetry energy

We analyze the neutron skin thickness in finite nuclei with the droplet model and effective nuclear interactions. The ratio of the bulk symmetry energy J to the so-called surface stiffness coefficient Q has in the droplet model a prominent role in driving the size of neutron skins. We present a correlation between the density derivative of the nuclear symmetry energy at saturation and the J/Q ratio. We emphasize the role of the surface widths of the neutron and proton density profiles in the calculation of the neutron skin thickness when one uses realistic mean-field effective interactions. Next, taking as experimental baseline the neutron skin sizes measured in 26 antiprotonic atoms along the mass table, we explore constraints arising from neutron skins on the value of the J/Q ratio. The results favor a relatively soft symmetry energy at subsaturation densities. Our predictions are compared with the recent constraints derived from other experimental observables. Though the various extractions predict different ranges of values, one finds a narrow window L ~ 45-75 MeV for the coefficient L that characterizes the density derivative of the symmetry energy which is compatible with all the different empirical indications.

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arXiv2009

Symmetry coefficients and incompressibility of clusterized supernova matter

The symmetry energy coefficients, incompressibility, and single-particle and isovector potentials of clusterized dilute nuclear matter are calculated at different temperatures employing the $S$-matrix approach to the evaluation of the equation of state. Calculations have been extended to understand the aforesaid properties of homogeneous and clusterized supernova matter in the subnuclear density region. Comparison of the results in the $S$-matrix and mean-field approach reveals some subtle differences in the density and temperature region we explore.

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arXiv2009

The Smoothness of Physical Observables

The Garvey-Kelson (GK) relations are powerful algebraic expressions connecting the masses of neighboring atomic nuclei and derived under reasonable physical assumptions. In this contribution we show that these relations are even more general than originally assumed as their validity is conditioned by the smoothness of the underlying nuclear mass function and nothing else. Based on the assumed smoothness of the underlying physical function, the main conclusions from this study are: (1) the GK relations are model independent; (2) any slowly-varying physical observable satisfies the GK relations; and (3) the accuracy of the GK relations may be systematically improved. Examples from nuclear physics (charge radii) and from particle physics (baryon masses) are used to illustrate the flexibility of the approach.

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arXiv2009

Incompressibility of neutron-rich matter

The saturation properties of neutron-rich matter are investigated in a relativistic mean-field formalism using two accurately calibrated models: NL3 and FSUGold. The saturation properties - density, binding energy per nucleon, and incompressibility coefficient - are calculated as a function of the neutron-proton asymmetry alpha=(N-Z)/A to all orders in alpha. Good agreement (at the 10% level or better) is found between these numerical calculations and analytic expansions that are given in terms of a handful of bulk parameters determined at saturation density. Using insights developed from the analytic approach and a general expression for the incompressibility coefficient of infinite neutron-rich matter, i.e., K0(alpha)=K0+Ktau*alpha^{2}+..., we construct a Hybrid model with values for K0 and Ktau as suggested by recent experimental findings. Whereas the Hybrid model provides a better description of the measured distribution of isoscalar monopole strength in the Sn-isotopes relative to both NL3 and FSUGold, it significantly underestimates the distribution of strength in 208Pb. Thus, we conclude that the incompressibility coefficient of neutron-rich matter remains an important open problem.

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arXiv2009

Nuclear symmetry energy probed by neutron skin thickness of nuclei

We describe a relation between the symmetry energy coefficients c_sym(rho) of nuclear matter and a_sym(A) of finite nuclei that accommodates other correlations of nuclear properties with the low-density behavior of c_sym(rho). Here we take advantage of this relation to explore the prospects for constraining c_sym(rho) of systematic measurements of neutron skin sizes across the mass table, using as example present data from antiprotonic atoms. The found constraints from neutron skins are in harmony with the recent determinations from reactions and giant resonances.

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arXiv2008

Theoretical study of elastic electron scattering off stable and exotic nuclei

Results for elastic electron scattering by nuclei, calculated with charge densities of Skyrme forces and covariant effective Lagrangians that accurately describe nuclear ground states, are compared against experiment in stable isotopes. Dirac partial-wave calculations are performed with an adapted version of the ELSEPA package. Motivated by the fact that studies of electron scattering off exotic nuclei are intended in future facilities in the commissioned GSI and RIKEN upgrades, we survey the theoretical predictions from neutron-deficient to neutron-rich isotopes in the tin and calcium isotopic chains. The charge densities of a covariant interaction that describes the low-energy electromagnetic structure of the nucleon within the Lagrangian of the theory are used to this end. The study is restricted to medium and heavy mass nuclei because the charge densities are computed in mean field approach. Since the experimental analysis of scattering data commonly involves parameterized charge densities, as a surrogate exercise for the yet unexplored exotic nuclei, we fit our calculated mean field densities with Helm model distributions. This procedure turns out to be helpful to study the neutron-number variation of the scattering observables and allows us to identify correlations of potential interest among some of these observables within the isotopic chains.

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arXiv2008

Density dependence of symmetry free energy of hot nuclei

The density and excitation energy dependence of symmetry energy and symmetry free energy for finite nuclei are calculated microscopically in a microcanonical framework taking into account thermal and expansion effects. A finite-range momentum and density dependent two-body effective interaction is employed for this purpose. The role of mass, isospin and equation of state (EoS) on these quantities is also investigated; our calculated results are in consonance with the available experimental data.

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arXiv2007

Semiclassical Description of Exotic Nuclear Shapes

Exotic nuclear structures such as bubbles and tori are analyzed through semiclassical extended Thomas-Fermi calculations with the Skyrme force SkM$^*$. The variational equations for neutron and proton densities are solved fully self-consistently in spherical (bubbles) and cylindrical (tori) symmetries. The possible existence of bubble configurations in some astrophysical scenarios is discussed. The stability of toroidal structures against change of quadrupole moment is studied. A global minimum of the energy is found in heavy

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arXiv2007

Excitation energy dependence of symmetry energy of finite nuclei

A finite range density and momentum dependent effective interaction is used to calculate the density and temperature dependence of the symmetry energy coefficient Csym(rho,T) of infinite nuclear matter. This symmetry energy is then used in the local density approximation to evaluate the excitation energy dependence of the symmetry energy coefficient of finite nuclei in a microcanonical formulation that accounts for thermal and expansion effects. The results are in good harmony with the recently reported experimental data from energetic nucleus-nucleus collisions.

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arXiv2007

Density reorganization in hot nuclei

The density profile of a hot nuclear system produced in intermediate energy heavy ion collisions is studied in a microcanonical formulation with a momentum and density dependent finite range interaction. The caloric curve and the density evolution with excitation are calculated for a number of systems for the equilibrium mononuclear configuration; they compare favorably with the recent experimental data. The studied density fluctuations are seen to build up rapidly beyond an excitation energy of 8 MeV/u indicating the instability of the system towards nuclear disassembly. Explicit introduction of deformation in the expansion path of the heated nucleus, however, shows that the system might fragment even earlier. We also explore the effects of the nuclear equation of state and of the mass and isospin asymmetry on the nuclear equilibrium configuration and the relevant experimental observables.

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