Relativistic Coulomb excitation within the time dependent superfluid local density approximation

Area of Science:

• Nuclear Physics
• Quantum Mechanics
• Computational Physics

Background:

• Relativistic Coulomb excitation is crucial for understanding nuclear structure and dynamics.
• Heavy deformed nuclei, like Uranium-238, exhibit complex superfluid properties.
• Previous models often lack the precision to capture these dynamics fully.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze the relativistic Coulomb excitation of the heavy deformed open-shell nucleus (238)U.
• To provide a self-consistent study of superfluid dynamics for arbitrary nuclear shapes.
• To quantify energy deposition and neutron emission during the excitation process.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing unrestricted time-dependent density functional theory.
• Employing the superfluid local density approximation on a spatial lattice.
• Incorporating coupling to the continuum for self-consistent calculations.

Main Results:

• Calculated energy deposited in the target nucleus is significantly higher than Goldhaber-Teller model estimates.
• Identified excitation of isovector giant dipole resonance, dipole pygmy resonance, and giant quadrupole modes.
• Quantified one-body dissipation damping width (Γ(↓)≈0.4 MeV) and preequilibrium neutron emissions.

Conclusions:

• The employed theoretical framework accurately describes relativistic Coulomb excitation in heavy nuclei.
• The findings offer new insights into nuclear superfluidity and energy dissipation mechanisms.
• This research provides a quantitative basis for understanding nuclear reactions involving heavy deformed nuclei.