Nuclear Excitation by a Zeptosecond Multi--MeV Laser Pulse

TL;DR

This paper investigates how ultra-short, high-energy laser pulses can excite nuclear matter, either creating a nucleon plasma or triggering collective modes, by analyzing conditions using nuclear resonance models and statistical methods.

Contribution

It introduces a theoretical framework to determine laser parameters that induce specific nuclear excitations, applying random-matrix theory and perturbation analysis.

Findings

Conditions for plasma excitation identified

Criteria for collective mode excitation established

Application to nuclear Giant Dipole Resonance demonstrated

Abstract

A zeptosecond multi--MeV laser pulse may either excite a "plasma" of strongly interacting nucleons or a collective mode. We derive the conditions on laser energy and photon number such that either of these scenarios is realized. We use the nuclear Giant Dipole Resonance as a representative example, and a random--matrix description of the fine--structure states and perturbation theory as tools.