arXiv subjects

S. R. Banerjee

Publications and source records attributed to S. R. Banerjee.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2018

Experimental signature of collective enhancement in nuclear level density

We present a probable experimental signature of collective enhancement in the nuclear level density (NLD) by measuring the neutron and the giant dipole resonance (GDR) $γ$ rays emitted from the rare earth $^{169}$Tm compound nucleus populated at 26.1 MeV excitation energy. An enhanced yield is observed in both neutron and $γ$ ray spectra corresponding to the same excitation energy in the daughter nuclei. The enhancement could only be reproduced by including a collective enhancement factor in the Fermi gas model of NLD to explain the neutron and GDR spectra simultaneously. The experimental results show that the relative enhancement factor is of the order of 10 and the fadeout occurs at $\sim$ 14 MeV excitation energy, much before the commonly accepted transition from deformed to spherical shape. We also explain how the collective enhancement contribution changes the inverse level density parameter ($k$) from 8 to 9.5 MeV observed recently in several deformed nuclei.

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arXiv2017

Identification of a long lived $β$ decaying isomer in $^{150}$Pm

The decay of odd-odd $^{150}$Pm has been studied by populating the nucleus with the $^{150}$Nd(p,n)$^{150}$Pm reaction at E$_{beam}$ = 8.0 MeV using 97$\%$ enriched $^{150}$Nd target. The presence of an isomeric state with $β$ decay half life of 2.2(1) h could be identified in $^{150}$Pm by following the half lives of the observed $γ$ transitions. The decay of the isomer to the excited levels of $^{150}$Sm has been confirmed by observing the $γ- γ$ coincidence with the VENUS array of six Compton suppressed Clover HPGe detectors. The $β$ decay end-point energies corresponding to the decay from the $^{150g}$Pm and $^{150m}$Pm have been measured using a $β-γ$ coincidence setup of two thin window Planar HPGe detectors and four Clover HPGe detectors of the VENUS array. The systematics of the similar isomeric states in neighboring nuclei has been studied to understand the underlying structure of these states. Shell model calculation has been performed by using OXBASH code which indicates the presence of a 5$^-$ isomeric state at very low excitation in the nucleus. The calculation also suggests hindered electromagnetic decay of this isomer and supports the possibility of its $β$ decay to the excited levels of $^{150}$Sm.

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arXiv2017

Experimental Determination of $η$/$s$ for Finite Nuclear Matter

We present, for the first time, simultaneous determination of shear viscosity ($η$) and entropy density ($s$) and thus, $η/s$ for equilibrated nuclear systems from $A$ $\sim$ 30 to $A$ $\sim$ 208 at different temperatures. At finite temperature, $η$ is estimated by utilizing the $γ$ decay of the isovector giant dipole resonance populated via fusion evaporation reaction, while $s$ is evaluated from the nuclear level density parameter (${a}$) and nuclear temperature ($T$), determined precisely by the simultaneous measurements of the evaporated neutron energy spectra and the compound nuclear angular momenta. The transport parameter $η$ and the thermodynamic parameter $s$ both increase with temperature resulting in a mild decrease of $η$/$s$ with temperature. The extracted $η$/$s$ is also found to be independent of the neutron-proton asymmetry at a given temperature. Interestingly, the measured $η$/$s$ values are comparable to that of the high-temperature quark-gluon plasma, pointing towards the fact that strong fluidity may be the universal feature of the strong interaction of many-body quantum systems.

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arXiv2017

Signature of clustering in quantum many body systems probed by the giant dipole resonance

The present experimental study illustrates how large deformations attained by nuclei due to cluster formation are perceived through the giant dipole resonance (GDR) strength function. The high energy GDR $γ$-rays have been measured from $^{32}$S at different angular momenta ($J$) but similar temperatures in the reactions $^{4}$He(E$_{lab}$=45MeV) + $^{28}$Si and $^{20}$Ne(E$_{lab}$=145MeV) + $^{12}$C. The experimental data at lower J ($\sim$ 10$\hbar$) suggests a normal deformation, similar to the ground state value, showing no potential signature of clustering. However, it is found that the GDR lineshape is fragmented into two prominent peaks at high J ($\sim$ 20$\hbar$) providing a direct measurement of the large deformation developed in the nucleus. The observed lineshape is also completely different from the ones seen for Jacobi shape transition at high $J$ pointing towards the formation of cluster structure in super-deformed states of $^{32}$S at such high spin. Thus, the GDR can be regarded as a unique tool to study cluster formation at high excitation energies and angular momenta.

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arXiv2016

Characterization of PARIS LaBr$_3$(Ce)-NaI(Tl) phoswich detectors upto $E_γ$ $\sim$ 22 MeV

In order to understand the performance of the PARIS (Photon Array for the studies with Radioactive Ion and Stable beams) detector, detailed characterization of two individual phoswich (LaBr$_3$(Ce)-NaI(Tl)) elements has been carried out. The detector response is investigated over a wide range of $E_γ$ = 0.6 to 22.6 MeV using radioactive sources and employing $^{11}B(p,γ)$ reaction at $E_p$ = 163 keV and $E_p$ = 7.2 MeV. The linearity of energy response of the LaBr$_3$(Ce) detector is tested upto 22.6 MeV using three different voltage dividers. The data acquisition system using CAEN digitizers is set up and optimized to get the best energy and time resolution. The energy resolution of $\sim$ 2.1% at $E_γ$ = 22.6~MeV is measured for the configuration giving best linearity upto high energy. Time resolution of the phoswich detector is measured with a $^{60}$Co source after implementing CFD algorithm for the digitized pulses and is found to be excellent (FWHM $\sim$ 315~ps). In order to study the effect of count rate on detectors, the centroid position and width of the $E_γ$ = 835~keV peak were measured upto 220 kHz count rate. The measured efficiency data with radioactive sources are in good agreement with GEANT4 based simulations. The total energy spectrum after the add-back of energy signals in phoswich components is also presented.

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arXiv2015

Experimental investigation on the temperature dependence of the nuclear level density parameter

The effect of temperature (T) and angular momentum (J) on the inverse level density parameter (k) has been studied by populating the compound nucleus $^{97}$Tc in the reaction $^{4}$He + $^{93}$Nb at four incident beam energies of 28, 35, 42 and 50 MeV. For all the four energies, the value of k decreases with increasing J. The T dependence of k has been compared for two angular momentum windows with different theoretical predictions as well as with FTBCS1 calculation which takes into account the quasiparticle-number fluctuations in the pairing field. Interestingly, the experimental data are in good agreement with the theoretical calculations at higher J but deviate from all the calculations at lower J.

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arXiv2014

Role of p-induced population of medium mass(A $\sim$ 150) neutron rich nuclei

Excitation functions were measured by stacked-foil activation technique for the $^{150}$Nd(p, xpyn) reaction using 97.65$%$ enriched $^{150}$Nd target. Measurement up to $\sim$50$%$ above barrier and down to 18$%$ below the barrier was performed using proton beam energy (E$_p$) of 7 - 15 MeV from VECC Cyclotron. The yield of suitable $γ$ rays emitted following the decay of relevant evaporation residues was determined using a 50$%$ High Purity Germanium (HPGe) detector.(p,n) cross section was found to follow the expected trend with a maximum value of 63.7(4.9)mb at E$_p$ $\sim$ 8.6 MeV. (p,2n) cross section gradually increased with E$_p$ and had maximum contribution to the total reaction cross section after E$_p$ $\sim$ 9.0 MeV. (p, p$^{\prime}$n) reaction channel also showed a reasonable yield with a threshold of E$_p$ $\sim$ 12.0 MeV. The experimental data were corroborated with statistical model calculations using different codes, viz., CASCADE, ALICE/91 and EMPIRE3.1. All the calculations using a suitable set of global parameters could reproduce the excitation function fairly well in the present energy range.

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arXiv2014

Examination of level density prescriptions in the interpretation of high energy gamma-ray spectra

High energy $γ$-ray spectra measured by our group involving the compound nuclei (CN) $^{63}$Cu at excitation energy ($E^*$) $\sim$ 36 MeV with average angular momentum ($J$) = 12 - 17 $\hbar$, $^{97}$Tc at $E^* \sim$ 29 - 50 MeV with $J$ = 12 - 14 $\hbar$, $^{113}$Sb at $E^*$ = 109 MeV and 121 MeV with $J$ = 49 - 59 $\hbar$ and $^{201}$Tl at $E^*$ = 39.5, 47.5 MeV with $J$ = 18 - 24 $\hbar$ have been analyzed utilizing the level density prescriptions of (i)Ignatyuk, Smirenkin and Tishin (IST), (ii)Budtz-Jorgensen and Knitter (BJK), and (iii) Kataria, Ramamurthy and Kapoor (KRK). These three prescriptions have been tested for correct statistical model description of high energy $γ$-rays in the light of extracting the giant dipole resonance (GDR) parameters at low excitation energy and spin where shell effects might play an important role as well as at high excitation energy where shell effects have melted. Interestingly, only the IST level density prescription could explain the high energy $γ$-ray spectra with reasonable GDR parameters for all the four nuclei.

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arXiv2014

Measurement of $β$-decay end point energy with Planar HPGe detector

The end point energies of nuclear $β$ decays have been measured with a segmented planar Ge LEPS detector using both singles and coincidence techniques. The $β- γ$ coincidence has been performed with a segmented planar Ge LEPS and a single 10$\%$ HPGe detector. The $γ$ ray and $β$ particle responses of the Segmented planer Ge LEPS detector were studied using monte carlo simulation code GEANT3. The experimentally obtained $β$ spectrum was in reasonably good agreement with the simulation results. The experimental end point energies are determined with substantial accuracy for some of the known $β$ decays in $^{106}$Rh, $^{210}$Bi and $^{90}$Y. The end point energies corresponding to three weak branches in $^{106}$Rh $\rightarrow$ $^{106}$Pd decay has been measured for the first time.

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arXiv2014

Probing the critical behavior in the evolution of GDR width at very low temperatures in A~100 mass region

The influence of giant dipole resonance (GDR) induced quadrupole moment on GDR width at low temperatures is investigated experimentally by measuring GDR width systematically in the unexplored temperature range $T$=0.8-1.5 MeV, for the first time, in $A$ $\sim$ 100 mass region. The measured GDR widths, using alpha induced fusion reaction, for $^{97}$Tc confirm that the GDR width remains constant at the ground state value up to a critical temperature and increases sharply thereafter with increase in $T$. The data have been compared with the adiabatic Thermal Shape Fluctuation Model (TSFM), phenomenological Critical Temperature Fluctuation Model (CTFM) and microscopic Phonon Damping Model (PDM). Interestingly, CTFM and PDM give similar results and agree with the data, whereas the TSFM differs significantly even after incorporating the shell effects.

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arXiv2013

Giant dipole resonance width and the universality of the Critical Temperature included Fluctuation Model

The universality of the Critical Temperature included Fluctuation Model (CTFM) in explaining the evolution of the giant dipole resonance (GDR) width as a function of angular momentum is examined in the light of recent experimental data on $^{144}$Sm and $^{152}$Gd. We compare both the data sets with the phenomenological formula based on the CTFM and the thermal shape fluctuation model (pTSFM). The CTFM describes both the data sets reasonably well using the actual ground state GDR width ($Γ_0$) values, whereas, the pTSFM describes the $^{144}$Sm data well but is unable to explain the $^{152}$Gd data using a single value of $Γ_0$ for two excitation energies. These interesting results clearly indicate that the phenomenological CTFM can be used universally to describe the evolution of the GDR width with both angular momentum and temperature in the entire mass region. Moreover, it should provide new insights into the modification of the TSFM.

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arXiv2013

Band structures and intruder $π$$i_{13/2}$ state in $^{197}$Tl

The excited states in the odd-$A$ $^{197}$Tl nucleus have been studied by populating them using the $^{197}$Au($α$, 4$n$)$^{197}$Tl reaction at the beam energy of 48 MeV. The $γ-γ$ coincidence data were taken using a combination of clover, LEPS and single crystal HPGe detectors. Precise spin and parity assignments of the excited states have been done through the polarization and the DCO measurements. A new band structure has been identified and the evidence for a possible intruder $πi_{13/2}$ state has been found for the first time. Possible configurations of the observed bands have been discussed. The total Routhian surface calculations have been performed to study the shape of $^{197}$Tl for different configurations.

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arXiv2013

Neutron response of the LAMBDA spectrometer and neutron interaction length in BaF2

We report on the neutron response of the LAMBDA spectrometer developed earlier for high-energy gamma-ray measurement. The energy dependent neutron detection efficiency of the spectrometer has been measured using the time-of-flight (TOF) technique and compared with that of an organic liquid scintillator based neutron detector (BC501A). The extracted efficiencies have also been compared with those obtained from Monte Carlo GEANT4 simulation. We have also measured the average interaction length of neutrons in the BaF2 crystal in a separate experiment, in order to determine the TOF energy resolution. Finally, the LAMBDA spectrometer has been tested in an in-beam-experiment by measuring neutron energy spectra in the 4He + 93Nb reaction to extract nuclear level density parameters. Nuclear level density parameters obtained by the LAMBDA spectrometer were found to be consistent with those obtained by the BC501A neutron detector, indicating that the spectrometer can be efficiently used as a neutron detector to measure the nuclear level density parameter.

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arXiv2013

Nuclear temperatures from the evaporation fragment spectra and observed anomalies

The extreme back-angle evaporation spectra of alpha, lithium, beryllium, boron and carbon from different compound nuclei near A=100 (EX=76-210 MeV) have been compared with the predictions of standard statistical model codes such as 'CASCADE' and 'GEMINI'. It was found that the shapes of the alpha spectra agree well with the predictions of the statistical models. However the spectra of lithium, beryllium, boron and carbon show significantly gentler slopes implying higher temperature of the residual nuclei, even though the spectra satisfy all other empirical criteria of statistical emissions. The observed slope anomaly was found to be largest for lithium and decreases at higher excitation energy. These results could not be understood by adjusting the parameters of the statistical models or from reaction dynamics and might require examining the statistical model from a quantum mechanical perspective.

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arXiv2013

Giant dipole resonance width as a probe for nuclear deformation at finite excitation

The systematic study of the correlation between the experimental giant dipole resonance (GDR) width and the average deformation <β> of the nucleus at finite excitation is presented for the mass region A ~ 59 to 208. We show that the width of the GDR (Γ) and the quadrupole deformation of the nucleus do not follow a linear relation, as predicted earlier, due to the GDR induced quadrupole moment and the correlation also depends on the mass of the nuclei. The different empirical values of <β> extracted from the experimental GDR width match exceptionally well with the thermal shape fluctuation model. As a result, this universal correlation between <β> and Γprovides a direct experimental probe to determine the nuclear deformation at finite temperature and angular momentum in the entire mass region.

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arXiv2013

Complex fragment emission in low energy light-ion reactions

Inclusive energy spectra of the complex fragments (3 $\leq$ Z $\leq$ 5) emitted in the reactions $^{12}$C (77 MeV)+ $^{28}$Si, $^{11}$B (64 MeV)+ $^{28}$Si and $^{12}$C (73 MeV)+ $^{27}$Al (all having the same excitation energy of $ \sim$ 67 MeV), have been measured in the angular range of 10$^\circ$ $\lesssim θ_{lab} \lesssim$ 60$^\circ$. The fully energy damped (fusion-fission) and the partially energy damped (deep inelastic) components of the fragment energy spectra have been extracted. It has been found that the yields of the fully energy damped fragments for all the above reactions are in conformity with the respective statistical model predictions. The time scales of various deep inelastic fragment emissions have been extracted from the angular distribution data. The angular momentum dissipation in deep inelastic collisions has been estimated from the data and it has been found to be close to the corresponding sticking limit value.

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arXiv2012

Critical behavior in the variation of GDR width at low temperature

We present the first experimental giant dipole resonance (GDR) width systematics, in the temperature region 0.8 $\sim$ 1.2 MeV for $^{201}$Tl, a near Pb nucleus, to investigate the evolution of the GDR width in shell effect & pairing dominated region. The extracted GDR widths are well below the predictions of shell effect corrected thermal shape fluctuation model (TSFM) and thermal pairing included phonon damping model. A similar behavior of the GDR width is also observed for $^{63}$Cu measured in the present work and $^{119}$Sb, measured earlier. This discrepancy is attributed to the GDR induced quadrupole moment leading to a critical point in the increase of the GDR width with temperature. We incorporate this novel idea in the phenomenological description based on the TSFM for a better understanding of the GDR width systematics for the entire range of mass, spin and temperature.

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arXiv2012

Onset of deformation at $N = 112$ in Bi nuclei

The high spin states in $^{195}$Bi has been studied by $γ$-ray spectroscopic method using the $^{181}$Ta($^{20}$Ne, 6n) fusion evaporation reaction at 130 MeV. The $γγ$ coincidence data were taken using an array of 8 clover HPGe detectors. The spin and parity assignments of the excited states have been made from the measured directional correlation from oriented states (DCO) ratios and integrated polarization asymmetry (IPDCO) ratios. The results show, for the first time, the evidence of a rotational like band based on a 13/2$^+$ band head in this nucleus, indicating the onset of deformation at neutron number $N = 112$ for the Bismuth isotopes. The results obtained were found to be consistent with the prediction of the total Routhian surface calculations using Woods Saxon potential. The same calculations also predict a change in shape from oblate to triaxial in $^{195}$Bi at high rotational frequency.

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