Self-consistent calculations of the strength function and radiative neutron capture cross section for stable and unstable tin isotopes

TL;DR

This paper presents a self-consistent microscopic approach to calculate the E1 strength function and neutron capture cross sections for tin isotopes, highlighting the importance of phonon coupling and deviations from traditional systematics, especially for neutron-rich nuclei.

Contribution

The study introduces a comprehensive self-consistent method incorporating phonon coupling for accurate E1 strength and neutron capture calculations across stable and unstable tin isotopes.

Findings

Giant and pygmy resonances behave differently in distinct isotope regions.

Phonon coupling is crucial for describing low-energy pygmy resonances.

Neutron capture cross sections for neutron-rich isotopes are significantly higher than previous estimates.

Abstract

The E1 strength function for 15 stable and unstable Sn even-even isotopes from A=100 till A=176 are calculated using the self-consistent microscopic theory which, in addition to the standard (Q)RPA approach, takes into account the single-particle continuum and the phonon coupling. Our analysis shows two distinct regions for which the integral characteristics of both the giant and pygmy resonances behave rather differently. For neutron-rich nuclei, starting from $^{132}$Sn, we obtain a giant E1 resonance which significantly deviates from the widely-used systematics extrapolated from experimental data in the $\beta$-stability valley. We show that the inclusion of the phonon coupling is necessary for a proper description of the low-energy pygmy resonances and the corresponding transition densities for $A<$132 nuclei, while in the $A>132$ region the influence of phonon coupling is significantly smaller. The radiative neutron capture cross sections leading to the stable $^{124}$Sn and unstable $^{132}$Sn and $^{150}$Sn nuclei are calculated with both the (Q)RPA and the beyond-(Q)RPA strength functions and shown to be sensitive to both the predicted low-lying strength and the phonon coupling contribution. The comparison with the widely-used phenomenological Generalized Lorentzian approach shows considerable differences both for the strength function and the radiative neutron capture cross section. In particular, for the neutron-rich $^{150}$Sn, the reaction cross section is found to be increased by a factor greater than 20. We conclude that the present approach may provide a complete and coherent description of the $\gamma$-ray strength function for astrophysics applications. In particular, such calculations are highly recommended for a reliable estimate of the electromagnetic properties of exotic nuclei.