arXiv subjects

S. M. Wang

Publications and source records attributed to S. M. Wang.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2022

Recent Progress in Two-proton Radioactivity

During the last few decades, rare isotope beam facilities have provided unique data for studying the properties of nuclides located far from the beta-stability line. Such nuclei are often accompanied by exotic structures and radioactive modes, which represent the forefront of nuclear research. Among them, two-proton (2p) radioactivity is a rare decay mode found in a few highly proton-rich isotopes. The 2p decay lifetimes and properties of emitted protons hold invaluable information regarding the nuclear structures in the presence of a low-lying proton continuum; as such, they have attracted considerable research attention. In this review, we present some of the recent experimental and theoretical progress regarding the 2p decay, including technical innovations for measuring nucleon--nucleon correlations and developments in the models that connect their structural aspects with their decay properties. This impressive progress should play a significant role in elucidating the mechanism of these exotic decays, probing the corresponding components inside nuclei, and providing deep insights into the open quantum nature of dripline systems.

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2022

Deformed in-medium similarity renormalization group

We have developed an {\it ab initio} deformed in-medium similarity renormalization group (IMSRG) for open-shell nuclei. This is a single-reference IMSRG in deformed Hartree-Fock (HF) basis. Deformed wave functions are more efficient in describing deformed nuclei. The broken spherical symmetry needs to be restored by angular momentum projection, which is computational expensive. The angular momentum mainly capture the static correlations and can be estimated by the projection of the HF state. In this work, we do deformed IMSRG calculation and add the correlation energy from projected HF as a leading order approximation. As the test ground, we have calculated the deformed $^{8,10}\rm Be$ isotopes with the optimized chiral interaction NNLO$_{\rm opt}$. The results are benchmarked with the no-core shell model and valence space IMSRG calculations. Then we systematically investigated the ground-state energies and charge radii of even-even isotopes from light beryllium to medium-mass magnesium. The calculated energies are extrapolated to infinite basis space by an exponential form, and compared with the extrapolated valence-space IMSRG results and experimental data available.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2021

Spectroscopic factors in dripline nuclei

Single-nucleon knockout reaction studies of the proton-dripline nuclei $^9$C and $^{13}$O suggest an appreciable suppression of spectroscopic factors. In this work, we calculate the one-neutron and one-proton spectroscopic factors for the mirror pair $^9$C-$^9$Li and $^{13}$O using two variants of the continuum shell model: the complex-energy Gamow Shell Model and the real-energy Shell Model Embedded in the Continuum. Our results indicate that the continuum effects strongly suppress the spectroscopic factors of well-bound orbits in the dripline systems, but have less impact on the spectroscopic factors of weakly-bound states.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2021

Tensor force role in $β$ decays analyzed within the Gogny-interaction shell model

Background: The half-life of the famous $^{14}$C $β$ decay is anomalously long, with different mechanisms: the tensor force, cross-shell mixing, and three-body forces, proposed to explain the cancellations that lead to a small transition matrix element. Purpose: We revisit and analyze the role of the tensor force for the $β$ decay of $^{14}$C as well as of neighboring isotopes. Methods: We add a tensor force to the Gogny interaction, and derive an effective Hamiltonian for shell-model calculations. The calculations were carried out in a $p$-$sd$ model space to investigate cross-shell effects. Furthermore, we decompose the wave functions according to the total orbital angular momentum $L$ in order to analyze the effects of the tensor force and cross-shell mixing. Results: The inclusion of the tensor force significantly improves the shell-model calculations of the $β$-decay properties of carbon isotopes. In particular, the anomalously slow $β$ decay of $^{14}$C can be explained by the isospin $T=0$ part of the tensor force, which changes the components of $^{14}$N with the orbital angular momentum $L=0,1$, and results in a dramatic suppression of the Gamow-Teller transition strength. At the same time, the description of other nearby $β$ decays are improved. Conclusions: Decomposition of wave function into $L$ components illuminates how the tensor force modifies nuclear wave functions, in particular suppression of $β$-decay matrix elements. Cross-shell mixing also has a visible impact on the $β$-decay strength. Inclusion of the tensor force does not seem to significantly change, however, binding energies of the nuclei within the phenomenological interaction.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2021

Nucleon-nucleon correlations in the extreme oxygen isotopes

There has been an upsurge of interest in two-nucleon decays thanks to the studies of nucleon-nucleon correlations. In our previous work, based on a novel time-dependent three-body approach, we demonstrated that the energy and angular correlations of the emitted nucleons can shed light on the structure of nucleonic pairs formed inside the nucleus. In this work, we apply the new framework to study the decay dynamics and properties of some extreme proton-rich and neutron-rich oxygen isotopes, including two-proton ($2p$) decays of $^{11,12}$O and two-neutron ($2n$) decay of $^{26}$O. Here we show that the low-$\ell$ components of $^{11,12}$O wave functions, which are affected by continuum and configuration-interaction effects, strongly impact decay dynamics and asymptotic correlations. In the calculated wave functions of $^{11,12}$O, diproton and cigarlike structures merge together during the tunneling process and the resulting energy- and angular correlations are very consistent with the experimental data. The asymptotic correlations of the $2n$ decay of $^{26}$O dramatically change as the two-neutron decay energy approaches the zero-energy threshold. The small reported value of $Q_{2n}$ suggests that the $2n$ decay of this nucleus can be understood in terms of the universal phase-space limit.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2021

Magnetic structure and multiferroicity of Sc-substituted hexagonal YbFeO$_3$

Hexagonal rare-earth ferrite RFeO$_3$ family represents a unique class of multiferroics exhibiting weak ferromagnetism, and a strong coupling between magnetism and structural trimerization is predicted. However, the hexagonal structure for RFeO$_3$ remains metastable in conventional condition. We have succeeded in stabilizing the hexagonal structure of polycrystalline YbFeO$_3$ by partial Sc substitution of Yb. Using bulk magnetometry and neutron diffraction, we find that Yb$_{0.42}$Sc$_{0.58}$FeO$_3$ orders into a canted antiferromagnetic state with the Neel temperature $T_N$ ~ 165 K, below which the $Fe^{3+}$ moments form the triangular configuration in the $ab$-plane and their in-plane projections are parallel to the [100] axis, consistent with magnetic space group $P$6$_{3}$$c'm'$. It is determined that the spin-canting is aligned along the $c$-axis, giving rise to the weak ferromagnetism. Furthermore, the $Fe^{3+}$ moments reorient toward a new direction below reorientation temperature $T_R$ ~ 40 K, satisfying magnetic subgroup $P$6$_{3}$, while the $Yb^{3+}$ moments order independently and ferrimagnetically along the $c$-axis at the characteristic temperature $T_{Yb}$ ~ 15 K. Interestingly, reproducible modulation of electric polarization induced by magnetic field at low temperature is achieved, suggesting that the delicate structural distortion associated with two-up/one-down buckling of the Yb/Sc-planes and tilting of the FeO$_5$ bipyramids may mediate the coupling between ferroelectric and magnetic orders under magnetic field. The present work represents a substantial progress to search for high-temperature multiferroics in hexagonal ferrites and related materials.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2021

Intrinsic Spin Susceptibility and Pseudogap-like Behavior in Infinite-Layer LaNiO2

The recent discovery of superconductivity in doped infinite-layer nickelates has stimulated intensive interest, especially for similarities and differences compared to that in cuprate superconductors. In contrast to cuprates, although earlier magnetization measurement reveals a Curie-Weiss-like behavior in undoped infinite-layer nickelates, there is no magnetic ordering observed by elastic neutron scattering down to liquid helium temperature. Until now, the nature of the magnetic ground state in undoped infinite-layer nickelates was still elusive. Here, we perform a nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiment through 139La nuclei to study the intrinsic spin susceptibility of infinite-layer LaNiO2. First, the signature for magnetic ordering or freezing is absent in the 139La NMR spectrum down to 0.24 K, which unambiguously confirms a paramagnetic ground state in LaNiO2. Second, a pseudogap-like behavior instead of Curie-Weiss-like behavior is observed in both the temperature-dependent Knight shift and nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rate (1/T1), which is widely observed in both underdoped cuprates and iron-based superconductors. Furthermore, the scaling behavior between the Knight shift and 1/T1T has also been discussed. Finally, the present results imply a considerable exchange interaction in infinite-layer nickelates, which sets a strong constraint for the proposed theoretical models.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2021

Fermion Pair Dynamics in Open Quantum Systems

Three-body decay is a rare decay mode observed in a handful of unbound rare isotopes. The angular and energy correlations between emitted nucleons are of particular interest, as they provide invaluable information on the interplay between structure and reaction aspects of the nuclear open quantum system. To study the mechanism of two-nucleon emission, we developed a time-dependent approach that allows us to probe emitted nucleons at long times and large distances. We successfully benchmarked the new method against the Green's function approach and applied it to low-energy two-proton and two-neutron decays. In particular, we studied the interplay between initial-state nucleon-nucleon correlations and final-state interaction. We demonstrated that the time evolution of the two-nucleon wave function is strongly impacted by the diproton/dineutron dynamics and that the correlations between emitted nucleons provide invaluable information on the dinucleon structure in the initial-state.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2021

Observation of the near-threshold intruder $0^-$ resonance in $^{12}$Be

A resonant state at $3.21^{+0.12}_{-0.04}$\,MeV, located just above the one-neutron separation threshold, was observed for the first time in $^{12}$Be from the $^{11}$Be\,$(d,p)^{12}$Be one-neutron transfer reaction in inverse kinematics. This state is assigned a spin-parity of $0^-$, according to the distorted-wave Born approximation (DWBA) and decay-width analysis. Gamow coupled-channel (GCC) and Gamow shell-model (GSM) calculations show the importance of the continuum-coupling, which dramatically influences the excitation energy and ordering of low-lying states. Various exotic structures associated with cross-shell intruding configurations in $^{12}$Be and in its isotonic nucleus $^{11}$Li are comparably discussed.

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2021

Study of $s$- and $d$-wave intruder strengths in $^{13}{\rm B}_{\rm g.s.}$ via a $p(^{13}{\rm B},d)^{12}{\rm B}$ reaction

Experimental results of the $p(^{13}{\rm B},d)^{12}{\rm B}$ transfer reaction to the low-lying states in $^{12}$B are reported. The optical potential parameters for the entrance channel are extracted from the elastic scattering $p$($^{13}{\rm B}$, $p$) measured in the same experiment, while those for the exit channel are global ones. Spectroscopic factors associated with the $p$-, $s$-, and $d$-wave neutron transfer to the known $^{12}$B states, are extracted by comparing the deuteron angular distributions with the calculation results. The separated $s$- and $d$-wave intruder strengths in $^{13}{\rm B}_{\rm g.s.}$ were determined to be $10(2)\%$ and $6(1)\%$, respectively, which follow roughly the systematics for the $N$ = 8 neutron-rich isotones. The measured total intruder strength is in good agreement with the shell model calculation, while the individual ones evolve quite differently. Particularly, the sudden change of the $d$-wave intensity between $^{13}$B and $^{12}$Be needs further theoretical interpretation.

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2020

Beam test results of IHEP-NDL Low Gain Avalanche Detectors(LGAD)

To meet the timing resolution requirement of up-coming High Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC), a new detector based on the Low-Gain Avalanche Detector(LGAD), High-Granularity Timing Detector (HGTD), is under intensive research in ATLAS. Two types of IHEP-NDL LGADs(BV60 and BV170) for this update is being developed by Institute of High Energy Physics (IHEP) of Chinese Academic of Sciences (CAS) cooperated with Novel Device Laboratory (NDL) of Beijing Normal University and they are now under detailed study. These detectors are tested with $5GeV$ electron beam at DESY. A SiPM detector is chosen as a reference detector to get the timing resolution of LGADs. The fluctuation of time difference between LGAD and SiPM is extracted by fitting with a Gaussian function. Constant fraction discriminator (CFD) method is used to mitigate the effect of time walk. The timing resolution of $41 \pm 1 ps$ and $63 \pm 1 ps$ are obtained for BV60 and BV170 respectively.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2020

Particle decays of levels in $^{11,12}$N and $^{12}$O investigated with the invariant-mass method

Particle-decaying states of the light nuclei $^{11,12}$N and $^{12}$O were studied using the invariant-mass method. The decay energies and intrinsic widths of a number of states were measured, and the momentum correlations of three-body decaying states were considered. A second 2$p$-decaying 2$^+$ state of $^{12}$O was observed for the first time, and a higher energy $^{12}$O state was observed in the 4$p$+2$α$ decay channel. This 4$p$+2$α$ channel also contains contributions from fission-like decay paths, including $^6$Be$_{g.s.}$+$^{6}$Be$_{g.s.}$. Analogs to these states in $^{12}$O were found in $^{12}$N in the 2$p$+$^{10}$B and 2$p$+$α$+$^6$Li channels. The momentum correlations for the prompt 2$p$ decay of $^{12}$O$_{g.s.}$ were found to be nearly identical to those of $^{16}$Ne$_{g.s.}$, and the correlations for the new 2$^+$ state were found to be consistent with sequential decay through excited states in $^{11}$N. The momentum correlations for the 2$^+_1$ state in $^{12}$O provide a new value for the $^{11}$N ground-state energy. The states in $^{12}$N/$^{12}$O that belong to the $A$=12 isobaric sextet do not deviate from the quadratic isobaric multiplet mass equation (IMME) form.

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2020

Probing the local electronic structure of isovalent Bi atoms in InP

Cross-sectional scanning tunneling microscopy (X-STM) is used to experimentally study the influence of isovalent Bi atoms on the electronic structure of InP. We map the spatial pattern of the Bi impurity state, which originates from Bi atoms down to the sixth layer below the surface, in topographic, filled state X-STM images on the natural $\{110\}$ cleavage planes. The Bi impurity state has a highly anisotropic bowtie-like structure and extends over several lattice sites. These Bi-induced charge redistributions extend along the $\left\langle 110\right\rangle$ directions, which define the bowtie-like structures we observe. Local tight-binding calculations reproduce the experimentally observed spatial structure of the Bi impurity state. In addition, the influence of the Bi atoms on the electronic structure is investigated in scanning tunneling spectroscopy measurements. These measurements show that Bi induces a resonant state in the valence band, which shifts the band edge towards higher energies. This is in good agreement to first principles calculations. Furthermore, we show that the energetic position of the Bi induced resonance and its influence on the onset of the valence band edge depend crucially on the position of the Bi atoms relative to the cleavage plane.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2019

First observation of unbound $^{11}$O, the mirror of the halo nucleus $^{11}$Li

The structure of the extremely proton-rich nucleus $^{11}_{~8}$O$_3$, the mirror of the two-neutron halo nucleus $^{11}_{~3}$Li$_8$, has been studied experimentally for the first time. Following two-neutron knockout reactions with a $^{13}$O beam, the $^{11}$O decay products were detected after two-proton emission and used to construct an invariant-mass spectrum. A broad peak of width $\sim$3\,MeV was observed. Within the Gamow coupled-channel approach, it was concluded that this peak is a multiplet with contributions from the four-lowest $^{11}$O resonant states: $J^π$=3/2$^-_1$, 3/2$^-_2$, 5/2$^+_1$, and 5/2$^+_2$. The widths and configurations of these states show strong, non-monotonic dependencies on the depth of the $p$-$^9$C potential. This unusual behavior is due to the presence of a broad threshold resonant state in $^{10}$N, which is an analog of the virtual state in $^{10}$Li in the presence of the Coulomb potential. After optimizing the model to the data, only a moderate isospin asymmetry between ground states of $^{11}$O and $^{11}$Li was found.

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2019

Structures and decay properties of extremely proton-rich nuclei $^{11,12}$O

${\rm \bf Background:}$ The recent observation of the unbound nucleus $^{11}$O offers the unique possibility to study how the structure and dynamics of two-proton ($2p$) decay is affected by the removal of one neutron from $^{12}$O, and provides important information on the Thomas-Ehrman effect in the mirror pairs $^{11}_{~8}$O$_3$-$^{11}_{~3}$Li$_8$ and $^{12}_{~8}$O$_4$-$^{12}_{~4}$Be$_8$, which involve the $2p$ emitters $^{11}$O and $^{12}$O. ${\rm \bf Purpose:}$ We investigate how continuum effects impact the structure and decay properties of $^{11}$O and $^{12}$O, and their mirror partners. ${\rm \bf Methods:}$ We solve the three-body core-nucleon-nucleon problem using the Gamow coupled-channel (GCC) method. The GCC Hamiltonian employs a realistic finite-range valence nucleon-nucleon interaction and the deformed cores of $^{9,10}$C, $^{9}$Li, and $^{10}$Be. ${\rm \bf Results:}$ We calculate the energy spectra and decay widths of $^{11}$O and $^{12}$O as well as those of their mirror nuclei. In particular, we investigate the dynamics of the $2p$ decay in the ground state of $^{12}$O by analyzing the evolution of the $2p$ configuration of the emitted protons as well as their angular correlations in the coordinate space. We also show how the analytic structure of the resonant states of $^{10}$Li and $^{10}$N impacts the low-lying states of $^{11}$Li and $^{11}$O. ${\rm \bf Conclusions:}$ We demonstrate that, in both nuclei $^{11}$O and $^{12}$O, there is a competition between direct and "democratic" $2p$ ground-state emission. The broad structure observed in $^{11}$O is consistent with four broad resonances, with the predicted $3/2^-_1$ ground state strongly influenced by the broad threshold resonant state in $^{10}$N, which is an isobaric analog of the antibound (or virtual) state in $^{10}$Li.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2018

The puzzling two-proton decay of $^{67}$Kr

Two-proton (2$p$) radioactivity is a rare decay mode found in a few proton-unbound nuclei. The $2p$-decay lifetime and properties of emitted protons carry invaluable information on nuclear structure in the presence of low-lying proton continuum. The recently measured $2p$ decay of $^{67}$Kr [Phys. Rev. Lett. 117, 162501 (2016)] turned out to be unexpectedly fast. Since $^{67}$Kr is expected to be a deformed system, we investigate the impact of deformation effects on the $2p$ radioactivity. We apply the recently developed Gamow coupled-channel framework, which allows for a precise description of three-body systems in the presence of rotational and vibrational couplings. This is the first application of a three-body approach to a two-nucleon decay from a deformed nucleus. We show that deformation couplings significantly increase the $2p$ decay width of $^{67}$Kr; this finding explains the puzzling experimental data. The calculated angular proton-proton correlations reflect a competition between $1p$ and $2p$ decay modes in this nucleus.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2017

The extraneous eclipses on binary light curves: KIC 5255552, KIC 10091110, and KIC 11495766

Aims. We aim to find more eclipsing multiple systems and obtain their parameters, thus increasing our understanding of multiple systems. Methods. The extraneous eclipses on the \textit{kepler} binary light curves indicating extraneous bodies were searched. The binary light curves were analyzed using the binary model, and the extraneous eclipses were studied on their periodicity and shape changes. Results. Three binaries with extraneous eclipses on the binary light curves were found and studied based on the \textit{Kepler} observations. The object KIC 5255552 is an eclipsing triple system with a fast changing inner binary and an outer companion uncovered by three groups of extraneous eclipses of $862.1(\pm0.1)$ d period. The KIC 10091110 is suggested to be a double eclipsing binary system with several possible extraordinary coincidences: the two binaries share similar extremely small mass ratios ($0.060(13)$ and $0.0564(18)$), similar mean primary densities ($0.3264(42)\;ρ_\odot$ and $0.3019(28)\;ρ_\odot$), and, most notably, the ratio of the two binaries' periods is very close to integer 2 (8.5303353/4.2185174 = 2.022). The KIC 11495766 is a probable triple system with a $\sim120.73$ d period binary and (at least) one non-eclipse companion. Furthermore, very close to it in the celestial sphere, there is a blended background stellar binary of 8.3404432 d period. A first list of 25 eclipsing multiple candidates is presented, with the hope that it will be beneficial for study of eclipsing multiples.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2017

Structure and decays of nuclear three-body systems: the Gamow coupled-channel method in Jacobi coordinates

${\bf Background:}$ Weakly bound and unbound nuclear states appearing around particle thresholds are prototypical open quantum systems. Theories of such states must take into account configuration mixing effects in the presence of strong coupling to the particle continuum space. ${\bf Purpose:}$ To describe structure and decays of three-body systems, we developed a Gamow coupled-channel (GCC) approach in Jacobi coordinates by employing the complex-momentum formalism. We benchmarked the new framework against the complex-energy Gamow Shell Model (GSM). ${\bf Methods:}$ The GCC formalism is expressed in Jacobi coordinates, so that the center-of-mass motion is automatically eliminated. To solve the coupled-channel equations, we use hyperspherical harmonics to describe the angular wave functions while the radial wave functions are expanded in the Berggren ensemble, which includes bound, scattering and Gamow states. ${\bf Results:}$ We show that the GCC method is both accurate and robust. Its results for energies, decay widths, and nucleon-nucleon angular correlations are in good agreement with the GSM results. ${\bf Conclusions:}$ We have demonstrated that a three-body GSM formalism explicitly constructed in cluster-orbital shell model coordinates provides similar results to a GCC framework expressed in Jacobi coordinates, provided that a large configuration space is employed. Our calculations for $A=6$ systems and $^{26}$O show that nucleon-nucleon angular correlations are sensitive to the valence-neutron interaction. The new GCC technique has many attractive features when applied to bound and unbound states of three-body systems: it is precise, efficient, and can be extended by introducing a microscopic model of the core.

nucl-th↗