Nuclear shape coexistence from the perspective of an algebraic many-nucleon version of the Bohr-Mottelson unified model

TL;DR

This paper introduces an algebraic, fully quantal version of the Bohr-Mottelson nuclear model, emphasizing its mathematical structure and implications for understanding nuclear shape coexistence and rotational dynamics.

Contribution

It develops a novel algebraic formulation of the unified nuclear model based on irreducible representations, improving the treatment of angular momentum and nuclear rotations.

Findings

States are uniquely defined by irreducible representations.

Transitions between rotational states are expressed as mixtures of model irreps.

The model offers new insights into nuclear shape coexistence.

Abstract

A fully quantal algebraic version of the Bohr-Mottelson unified model is presented with the important property that its quantisation is defined by its irreducible unitary representations which span the many-nucleon Hilbert space of every nucleus. The model is uniquely defined by the requirement that its Lie algebra of observables includes the nuclear quadrupole moments and kinetic energy. It then follows that there can be no non-zero isoscalar E2 transitions between any states belonging to its different irreducible representations and, as a result, the states of the model are uniquely defined with the property that observed transitions between rotational states of nuclei are to be expressed in terms of mixtures of the model irreps. The algebraic version of the unified model parallels the Bohr-Mottelson model in most respects, including the possibility of including the effects of Coriolis and centrifugal forces as subsequent perturbations. However, it corrects its treatment of angular momentum quantisation and no longer uses an over-complete set of coordinates. These changes have significant implications for the dynamics of nuclear rotations which are hidden when its moments of inertia are considered as inertial masses in the standard expression of rotational kinetic energies. Thus, the developments put a new perspective on the phenomenon of shape coexistence.