Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 21, 2026

Spatial Separation of Molecular Conformers and Clusters
Published on: January 9, 2014
Isoscalar and isovector splitting of pygmy dipole structures
1Physics Department, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, Croatia. npaar@phy.hr
Abstract:
The electric-dipole response of 140Ce is investigated using the fully consistent relativistic quasiparticle random phase approximation. By analyzing the isospin structure of the E1 response, it is shown that the low-energy (pygmy) strength separates into two segments with different isospin character. The more pronounced pygmy structure at lower energy is composed of predominantly isoscalar states with surface-peaked transition densities. At somewhat higher energy the calculated E1 strength is primarily of isovector character, as expected for the low-energy tail of the giant dipole resonance. The results are in qualitative agreement with those obtained in recent (gamma, gamma') and (alpha, alpha'gamma) experiments, and provide a simple explanation for the splitting of low-energy E1 strength into two groups of states with different isospin structure and radial dependence of the corresponding transition densities.
Related Concept Videos
¹H NMR: Complex Splitting
Splitting diagrams or splitting tree diagrams are routinely used to depict such complex couplings. While drawing splitting diagrams, the splitting with the larger coupling constant is usually applied first.
Electric Dipoles and Dipole Moment
Theoretically, studying electric dipoles leads to understanding why the resultant electric forces around us are weak. Since electric forces are strong, remnant net charges are rare. Hence, the interaction between dipoles helps us understand electrical interactions in...
Induced Electric Dipoles
Since the absolute value of potential energy holds no physical meaning, its zero value can be chosen as per...
Molecular Geometry and Dipole Moments
Crystal Field Theory - Tetrahedral and Square Planar Complexes
Crystal field theory (CFT) is applicable to molecules in geometries other than octahedral. In octahedral complexes, the lobes of the dx2−y2 and dz2 orbitals point directly at the ligands. For tetrahedral complexes, the d orbitals remain in place, but with only four ligands located between the axes. None of the orbitals points directly at the tetrahedral ligands. However, the dx2−y2 and dz2 orbitals (along the Cartesian axes) overlap with the ligands less than the dxy,...
VSEPR Theory

