Heart - Shaped Nuclei: Condensation of Rotational Aligned Octupole Phonons

TL;DR

This paper interprets strong octupole correlations in certain nuclei as a rotation-induced condensation of aligned octupole phonons, leading to unique energy oscillations and a rotating heart-shaped nuclear deformation.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of rotation-induced octupole phonon condensation and explains the resulting energy oscillations and shape phenomena in nuclei around mass 226.

Findings

Observation of energy oscillations due to parity conservation

Identification of rotation-induced octupole phonon condensation

Prediction of a rotating heart-shaped nuclear deformation

Abstract

The strong octupole correlations in the mass region $A\approx 226$ are interpreted as rotation-induced condensation of octupole phonons having their angular momentum aligned with the rotational axis. Discrete phonon energy and parity conservation generate oscillations of the energy difference between the lowest rotational bands with positive and negative parity. Anharmonicities tend to synchronize the the rotation of the condensate and the quadrupole shape of the nucleus forming a rotating heart shape.