Nuclear shape transitions, level density, and underlying interactions

TL;DR

This paper investigates how different components of the nuclear Hamiltonian influence shape phase transitions and level density enhancements in nuclei, revealing the role of single-particle transfer matrix elements in deformation and collective phenomena.

Contribution

It demonstrates the connection between Hamiltonian parts and nuclear shape transitions, using the moments method to relate shape changes with level density variations without full diagonalization.

Findings

Level density enhancement correlates with deformation transitions.

Single-particle transfer matrix elements drive shape changes.

Deformation is linked to increased low-energy level density.

Abstract

The configuration interaction approach to nuclear structure uses the effective Hamiltonian in a finite orbital space. The various parts of this Hamiltonian and their interplay are responsible for specific features of physics including the shape of the mean field and level density. This interrelation is not sufficiently understood. We intend to study phase transitions between spherical and deformed shapes driven by different parts of the nuclear Hamiltonian and to establish the presence of the collective enhancement of the nuclear level density by varying the shell-model matrix elements. Varying the interaction matrix elements we define, for nuclei in the sd and pf shells, the sectors with spherical and deformed shapes. Using the moments method that does not require the full diagonalization we relate the shape transitions with the corresponding level density. Enhancement of the level density in the low-energy part of the spectrum is observed in clear correlation with a deformation phase transition induced mainly by the matrix elements of single-particle transfer. The single-particle transfer matrix elements in the shell model nuclear Hamiltonian are indeed the carriers of deformation, providing rotational observables and enhanced level densities.