Dynamics of rotation in chiral nuclei

TL;DR

This paper presents a microscopic, self-consistent study of chiral nuclear dynamics using covariant density functional theories, revealing a new chiral precession mechanism and accurately reproducing experimental data.

Contribution

First microscopic, self-consistent analysis of chiral nuclear dynamics revealing chiral precession and explaining chiral excitations without adjustable parameters.

Findings

Reproduces experimental energies of chiral doublet bands in $^{135}$Nd.

Identifies chiral precession as a new dynamical mechanism.

Links transition from planar to aplanar rotations with increasing spin.

Abstract

The dynamics of chiral nuclei is investigated for the first time with the time-dependent and tilted axis cranking covariant density functional theories on a three-dimensional space lattice in a microscopic and self-consistent way. The experimental energies of the two pairs of the chiral doublet bands in $^{135}$Nd are well reproduced without any adjustable parameters beyond the well-defined density functional. A novel mechanism, i.e., chiral precession, is revealed from the microscopic dynamics of the total angular momentum in the body-fixed frame, whose harmonicity is associated with a transition from the planar into aplanar rotations with the increasing spin. This provides a fully microscopic and dynamical view to understand the chiral excitations in nuclei.