arXiv subjects

Xiang-Xiang Sun

Publications and source records attributed to Xiang-Xiang Sun.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Deformed neutron halo nuclei and soft dipole excitations in the 40<A<90 mass region

We study deformed neutron halo nuclei in the mass region $40 < A < 90$ and their soft electric dipole ($E1$) excitations based on the deformed relativistic Hartree-Bogoliubov theory in continuum (DRHBc). Three candidates, $^{43}$Si, $^{69}$Ti, and $^{75}$Cr, are selected for detailed analysis. Unique features are identified in the decoupled densities of possible $s$- and $p$-wave deformed halo nuclei in this mass region, which are influenced by large high-$l$ configurations. It is shown that the dipole response is a highly sensitive observable to detect the halo component of the single-particle wave function in deformed halo nucleus, and it helps identify the configuration and the magnitude of deformation for halo nuclei in the $40 < A < 90$ mass region. Experimental confirmation of the dipole strength in the low-energy region is highly desirable to explore possible deformed halo candidates in the medium-heavy mass region.

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arXiv2026

Impact of octupole correlation on the inverse quasifission in ${}^{160}\text{Gd}+{}^{186}\text{W}$ collisions

Multinucleon transfer (MNT) reactions offer a promising pathway to synthesize neutron-rich heavy nuclei, but the mechanism of inverse quasifission, as a key reaction channel of MNT, still remains not well understood. We employ time-dependent Hartree-Fock theory to investigate the reaction mechanism, especially the role of the octupole deformed shell in the MNT reaction of ${}^{160}\text{Gd}+{}^{186}\text{W}$. The results show that inverse quasifission occurs when the deformed projectile and target collide in near tip-tip and tip-side orientations, which favors production of neutron-rich transtarget nuclei. Interestingly, the distributions and single-particle spectra of primary products reveal that the $N=88$ octupole deformed shell in light fragments dominates inverse quasifission instead of the spherical shells of $^{208}\text{Pb}$ at a center-of-mass energy of $502.6~\text{MeV}$, thus explaining the experimental observation that the yields of the transtarget products are enhanced in the Au region. Further exploration finds that quantum shell effects in inverse quasifission exhibit energy dependence. These results demonstrate that the octupole deformed shell plays a crucial role in the inverse quasifission dynamics, significantly advancing the understanding of the MNT reaction mechanism.

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arXiv2026

Microscopic Investigation of Fusion and Quasifission Dynamics

We introduce the application of Time-Dependent Hartree-Fock (TDHF) theory to two key aspects of heavy-ion reaction dynamics for producing superheavy elements: fusion and quasi-fission (QF). For fusion reactions $^{48}$Ca+$^{238}$U, the capture cross sections, fusion probabilities, and evaporation-residue cross sections are calculated using the inputs from TDHF simulations, and the results are found to be in reasonable agreement with available experimental data. For the QF process of $^{48}$Ca+$^{249}$Bk, we show the distribution of the fragments and investigate the impact of the tensor force, significantly enhancing the role of spherical shell effects.

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arXiv2026

Ab initio charge form factors and radii of light isoscalar nuclei: Role of the two-body charge density

We make \textit{ab initio} predictions of charge form factors (FFs) and radii for the isoscalar nuclei $^6$Li and $^8$Be using the Jacobi-coordinate No-Core Shell Model. The calculations employ chiral semilocal momentum-space regularized two- and three-nucleon interactions, together with consistently regularized one- and two-nucleon electromagnetic charge operators. With the short-range charge density fixed to the $^4$He charge radius, the predicted FFs and the $^6$Li radius show good agreement with available experimental data. We find that two-nucleon charge density contributions are essential for describing the FFs, particularly at intermediate and large momentum transfers. Although their influence on the charge radii is limited, these contributions remain crucial for attaining accurate predictions. The present results highlight the importance of two-nucleon charge operators in addressing the long-standing underestimation of nuclear charge radii in \textit{ab initio} calculations based on modern chiral interactions.

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arXiv2025

Universality of nucleon short-range behavior with chiral forces

Modern advanced nuclear ab initio approaches with the similarity renormalization group (SRG) softened interactions miss high-momentum information, thus rendering them less suitable for characterizing nucleon-nucleon short-range physics. We introduce a novel framework to construct SRG-independent nuclear wave functions from No-Core Shell Model calculations. Applying our method to densities obtained with semilocal momentum-space-regularized chiral NN and NNN forces, we show key universalities of short-range behavior: (1) The two-body density ratio in the np S=1 channel, relative to the deuteron (d), is remarkably insensitive to interaction details. (2) More strikingly, while the ratio of total two-body densities to the deuteron exhibits cutoff dependence, the same ratio to the $α$-particle (4-He) is almost independent of the interactions.

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arXiv2025

Radii of light nuclei from the Jacobi No-Core Shell Model

Accurately determining the size of the atomic nucleus with realistic nuclear forces is a long outstanding issue of nuclear physics. The no-core shell model (NCSM), one of the powerful ab initio methods for nuclear structure, can achieve accurate energies of light nuclei. The extraction of converged radii is more difficult. In this work, we present a novel method to effectively extract the radius of light nuclei by restoring the long-range behavior of densities from NCSM calculations. The correct large distance asymptotic of two-body relative densities are deduced based on the NCSM densities in limited basis size. The resulting radii using the corrected densities show a nice convergence. The root-mean-square matter and charge radii of $^{4,6,8}$He and $^{6,7,8}$Li can be accurately obtained based on Jacobi-NCSM calculations with the high-precision chiral two-nucleon and three-nucleon forces combined with this new method. Our method can be straightforwardly extended to other ab initio calculations, potentially providing a better description of nuclear sizes with realistic nuclear forces.

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arXiv2024

Fission fragment distributions within time-dependent density functional theory

A notable issue, the proper description of mass and charge distributions of fission fragments within nonadiabatic descriptions of fission dynamics, is investigated by performing double particle number projection on the outcomes of time-dependent Hartree-Fock (TDHF) simulation. The induced fission process of the benchmark nucleus 240Pu is studied. In the three-dimensional Cartesian coordinate without any symmetry restrictions, we get the static fission pathway from the two-dimensional potential energy surface, and then the fission dynamics from saddle to scission point are obtained using TDHF. We show that the charge numbers of primary heavy fragments from TDHF simulation strongly depend on the deformations of initial configurations via the two asymmetric fission channels, which can be distinguished according to the dynamical fission trajectories. The charge distribution of fission fragments is well reproduced using the double particle number projection technique. After applying the Gaussian kernel estimation based on the distribution from the double particle number projection technique, the mass distribution is also consistent with the experimental results. Besides, the results of the total kinetic energy of fission fragments are reasonably consistent with the experiments.

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arXiv2024

Role of the tensor force in induced fission of 240Pu

Results: We find that the tensor force affects the height of fission barriers and the double-humped structure of fission path of 240Pu. On the PES, the fission valley becomes larger in the (Q20, Q30) plane, and the triaxial deformation is suppressed around the outer barrier after considering the tensor force. Incorporating the tensor force into the dynamical process enhances the difference in shape evolution between two asymmetric channels. More interestingly, the charge distribution from TDHF with double PNP calculations shows a strong odd-even effect after including the tensor force. In addition, the total mass and charge distributions of fission fragments show a slight shift towards larger asymmetry and are more consistent with the experiments when tensor components are included. We also find that the tensor force enhances energy gaps of the deformed shells for heavy fragments. Moreover, the TKEs of fragments are in accord with the experiments, and after incorporating the tensor force, we observe a higher concentration of the calculated TKEs for heavy fragments at Z = 52 and Z = 56. Conclusions: The tensor force plays a role in both static and dynamical processes in nuclear fission, improving the accuracy of theoretical descriptions within the current framework. Our calculations have shown that the fission-barrier height with SLy5t is closer to the empirical value than that of SLy5. Additionally, the inclusion of the tensor force not only manifests the odd-even effect in charge distribution but also improves the description of total mass and charge distributions.

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arXiv2024

Nuclear mass table in deformed relativistic Hartree-Bogoliubov theory in continuum, II: Even-$Z$ nuclei

The mass table in the deformed relativistic Hartree-Bogoliubov theory in continuum (DRHBc) with the PC-PK1 density functional has been established for even-$Z$ nuclei with $8\le Z\le120$, extended from the previous work for even-even nuclei [Zhang $\it{et.~al.}$ (DRHBc Mass Table Collaboration), At. Data Nucl. Data Tables 144, 101488 (2022)]. The calculated binding energies, two-nucleon and one-neutron separation energies, root-mean-square (rms) radii of neutron, proton, matter, and charge distributions, quadrupole deformations, and neutron and proton Fermi surfaces are tabulated and compared with available experimental data. A total of 4829 even-$Z$ nuclei are predicted to be bound, with an rms deviation of 1.477 MeV from the 1244 mass data. Good agreement with the available experimental odd-even mass differences, $α$ decay energies, and charge radii is also achieved. The description accuracy for nuclear masses and nucleon separation energies as well as the prediction for drip lines is compared with the results obtained from other relativistic and nonrelativistic density functional. The comparison shows that the DRHBc theory with PC-PK1 provides an excellent microscopic description for the masses of even-$Z$ nuclei. The systematics of the nucleon separation energies, odd-even mass differences, pairing energies, two-nucleon gaps, $α$ decay energies, rms radii, quadrupole deformations, potential energy curves, neutron density distributions, and neutron mean-field potentials are discussed.

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arXiv2023

Evolution of $N=20,28,50$ shell closures in the $ 20 \leqslant Z \leqslant 30$ region in deformed relativistic Hartree-Bogoliubov theory in continuum

Magicity, or shell closure, plays an important role in our understanding of complex nuclear phenomena. In this work, we employ one of the state-of-the-art density functional theories, the deformed relativistic Hartree-Bogoliubov theory in continuum (DRHBc) with the density functional PC-PK1, to investigate the evolution of the $N=20,28,50$ shell closures in the $ 20 \leqslant Z \leqslant 30$ region. We show how these three conventional shell closures evolve from the proton drip line to the neutron drip line by studying the charge radii, two-neutron separation energies, two-neutron gaps, quadrupole deformations, and single-particle levels. In particular, we find that in the $ 21 \leqslant Z \leqslant 27$ region, the $N=50$ shell closure disappears or becomes quenched, mainly due to the deformation effects. Similarly, both experimental data and theoretical predictions indicate that the $N=28$ shell closure disappears in the Mn isotopic chain, also predominantly due to the deformation effects. The DRHBc theory predicts the existence of the $N=20$ shell closure in the Ca, Sc, and Ti isotopic chains, but the existing data for the Ti isotopes suggests the contrary, and therefore more investigations are needed.

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arXiv2023

Deformed relativistic Hartree-Bogoliubov theory in continuum with a point-coupling functional. II. Examples of odd Nd isotopes

The aim of this work is to extend the deformed relativistic Hartree-Bogoliubov theory in continuum (DRHBc) based on the point-coupling density functionals to odd-$A$ and odd-odd nuclei and examine its applicability by taking odd-$A$ Nd isotopes as examples. In the DRHBc theory, the densities and potentials with axial deformation are expanded in terms of Legendre polynomials, and the relativistic Hartree-Bogoliubov equations are solved in a Dirac Woods-Saxon basis to include the continuum effects. For an odd-$A$ or odd-odd nucleus, the blocking effect of unpaired nucleon(s) is taken into account with the equal filling approximation. To determine its ground state, an automatic blocking procedure is adopted, in which the orbital with the lowest quasiparticle energy is blocked during the iteration. This procedure is justified by comparing with the results from the orbital-fixed blocking calculations, in which the blocked orbital near the Fermi surface is fixed during the iteration. The ground states for both light and heavy nuclei can be provided by the automatic blocking procedure as the orbital-fixed blocking procedure, but with considerably reduced computational cost. The numerical details for even-even nuclei are found to be valid for odd-$A$ and odd-odd nuclei as well. Taking Nd isotopes including both even-even and odd-$A$ ones as examples, the calculated ground-state properties with PC-PK1 are in good agreement with the available experimental data. This work paves the way to construct the DRHBc mass table including all even-even, odd-$A$ and odd-odd nuclei in the nuclear chart.

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arXiv2023

One-proton emission from 148,149,150,151Lu in the DRHBc plus WKB approach

One-proton radioactivity in 149Lu, the latest identified proton emitter, is studied in the Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin (WKB) approach with the proton-nucleus potential extracted from the deformed relativistic Hartree-Bogoliubov theory in continuum (DRHBc) for the first time. The predicted half-life turns out to be consistent with the experimental measurement within uncertainties and (almost) independent of the density functionals in the DRHBc theory. Such a microscopic self-consistent calculation reveals that 149Lu is oblately deformed with a quadrupole deformation -0.18, and rules out the possibility of a prolate quadrupole deformation suggested in the nonadiabatic quasiparticle model. We also check the validity of this approach in the description of 150,151Lu and their isomeric states. The deviations of the predicted half-lives from their experimental counterparts are mostly smaller than those of the theoretical studies without considering deformation effects. Furthermore, we predict 148Lu to be a more oblately deformed proton-emitter with a longer half-life than that of 149Lu, which can be checked in the future. Our studies show that the DRHBc plus WKB approach provides a new alternative method to evaluate the half-lives of well-deformed proton emitters.

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arXiv2022

Models for Pairing Phenomena

Pairing effects manifests themselves in many aspects in nuclear systems ranging from finite nuclei to nuclear matter and compact stars. Although with some specific features for nuclear systems, the mechanism of pairing between nucleons in these systems resembles that of electrons in superconductors. The Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) theory, the first successful and microscopic theory for superconductivity, and the Bogoliubov transformation, the generalization of the BCS theory, have been widely used to describe pairing correlations in nuclear systems. To deal with the problem of particle number non-conservation in the BCS method and generalized Bogoliubov transformation, particle number projection techniques as well as several approaches which keep the particle number conserved, have been proposed. In the study of exotic nuclei, which are quantum open systems, the continuum contributions have to be taken into account. In this chapter, a thorough but brief discussion of pairing effects in nuclear systems will be introduced. Then nuclear models dealing with pairing correlations in nuclear structure properties will be presented to different extent of details. Although formulas are given, the emphasis is mainly put on the basic ideas concerning these models.

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arXiv2022

Microscopic study on fusion reactions $^{40,48}\mathrm{Ca}+{}^{78}\mathrm{Ni}$ and the effect of tensor force

We provide a microscopic description of the fusion reactions between $^{40,48}$Ca and $^{78}$Ni. The internuclear potentials are obtained using the density-constrained (DC) time-dependent Hartree-Fock (TDHF) approach and fusion cross sections are calculated via the incoming wave boundary condition method. By performing DC-TDHF calculations at several selected incident energies, the internuclear potentials for both systems are obtained and the energy-dependence of fusion barrier are revealed. The influence of tensor force on internuclear potentials of $^{48}\mathrm{Ca}+{}^{78}\mathrm{Ni}$ is more obvious than those of $^{40}\mathrm{Ca}+{}^{78}\mathrm{Ni}$. By comparing the calculated fusion cross sections between $^{40}\mathrm{Ca}+{}^{78}\mathrm{Ni}$ and $^{48}\mathrm{Ca}+{}^{78}\mathrm{Ni}$, an interesting enhancement of sub-barrier fusion cross sections for the former system is found, which can be explained by the narrow width of internuclear potential for $^{40}\mathrm{Ca}+{}^{78}\mathrm{Ni}$ while the barrier heights and positions are very close to each other. The tensor force suppresses the sub-barrier fusion cross sections of both two systems.

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arXiv2022

Effects of the tensor force on low-energy heavy-ion fusion reactions: A mini review

In recent several years, the tensor force, one of the most important components of the nucleon-nucleon force, has been implemented in time-dependent density functional theories and it has been found to influence many aspects of low-energy heavy-ion reactions, such as dissipation dynamics, sub-barrier fusions, low-lying vibration states of colliding partners. Especially, the effects of tensor force on fusion reactions have been investigated from the internuclear potential to fusion cross sections systematically. In this work we present a mini review on the recent progresses on this topic. Considering the recent progress of low-energy reaction theories, we will also mention more possible effects of the tensor force on reaction dynamics.

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arXiv2022

Microscopic study of the compound nucleus formation in cold-fusion reactions

The understanding of the fusion probability is of particular importance to reveal the mechanism of producing superheavy elements. We present a microscopic study of the compound nucleus formation by combining time-dependent density functional theory, coupled-channels approach, and dynamical diffusion models. The fusion probability and compound nucleus formation cross sections for cold-fusion reactions $^{48}$Ca+$^{208}$Pb, $^{50}$Ti+$^{208}$Pb, and $^{54}$Cr+$^{208}$Pb are investigated and it is found that the deduced capture barriers, capture cross sections for these reactions are consistent with experimental data. Above the capture barrier, our calculations reproduce the measured fusion probability reasonably well. Our studies demonstrate that the restrictions from the microscopic dynamic theory improve the predictive power of the coupled-channels and diffusion calculations.

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arXiv2022

Nuclear mass table in deformed relativistic Hartree-Bogoliubov theory in continuum: I. even-even nuclei

Ground-state properties of even-even nuclei with $8\le Z\le120$ from the proton drip line to the neutron drip line have been investigated using the deformed relativistic Hartree-Bogoliubov theory in continuum (DRHBc) with the density functional PC-PK1. With the effects of deformation and continuum included simultaneously, 2583 even-even nuclei are predicted to be bound. The calculated binding energies, two-nucleon separation energies, root-mean-square (rms) radii of neutron, proton, matter, and charge distributions, quadrupole deformations, and neutron and proton Fermi surfaces are tabulated and compared with available experimental data. The rms deviation from the 637 mass data is 1.518 MeV, providing one of the best microscopic descriptions for nuclear masses. The drip lines obtained from DRHBc calculations are compared with other calculations, including the spherical relativistic continuum Hartree-Bogoliubov (RCHB) and triaxial relativistic Hartree-Bogoliubov (TRHB) calculations with PC-PK1. The deformation and continuum effects on the limits of the nuclear landscape are discussed. Possible peninsulas consisting of bound nuclei beyond the two-neutron drip line are predicted. The systematics of the two-nucleon separation energies, two-nucleon gaps, rms radii, quadrupole deformations, potential energy curves, neutron densities, neutron mean-field potentials, and pairing energies in the DRHBc calculations are also discussed. In addition, the $α$ decay energies extracted are in good agreement with available data.

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arXiv2021

Microscopic study of higher-order deformation effects on the ground states of superheavy nuclei around $^{270}$Hs

We study the effects of higher-order deformations $β_λ$ ($λ=4,6,8,$ and $10$) on the ground state properties of superheavy nuclei (SHN) near the doubly magic deformed nucleus $^{270}$Hs by using the multidimensionally-constrained (MDC) relativistic mean-field (RMF) model with five effective interactions PC-PK1, PK1, NL3$^{*}$, DD-ME2, and PKDD. The doubly magic properties of $^{270}$Hs are featured by the large energy gaps at $N=162$ and $Z=108$ in the single-particle spectra. By investigating the binding energies and single-particle levels of $^{270}$Hs in multidimensional deformation space, we find that the deformation $β_6$ has the greatest impact on the binding energy among these higher-order deformations and influences the shell gaps considerably. Similar conclusions hold for other SHN near $^{270}$Hs. Our calculations demonstrate that the deformation $β_6$ must be considered when studying SHN by using MDC-RMF.

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