Damping of the isovector giant dipole resonance in $^{40,48}$Ca

TL;DR

This study investigates the damping mechanisms of the isovector giant dipole resonance in calcium isotopes using experimental wavelet analysis and compares results with various theoretical models, highlighting the importance of Landau fragmentation.

Contribution

It provides a detailed comparison of experimental fine structure scales with advanced theoretical models, including relativistic and chiral interactions, revealing the dominant damping mechanisms.

Findings

Landau fragmentation plays a key role in IVGDR damping.

Relativistic models with particle-vibration coupling match experimental scales well.

Wavelet analysis effectively probes the interplay of damping mechanisms.

Abstract

The fine structure of the IsoVector Giant Dipole Resonance (IVGDR) in the doubly-magic nuclei $^{40,48}$Ca observed in inelastic proton scattering experiments under $0^\circ$ is used to investigate the role of different mechanisms contributing to the IVGDR decay width. Characteristic energy scales are extracted from the fine structure by means of wavelet analysis. The experimental scales are compared to different theoretical approaches allowing for the inclusion of complex configurations beyond the mean-field level. Calculations are performed in the framework of RPA and beyond-RPA in a relativistic approach based on an effective meson-exchange interaction, with the UCOM effective interaction and, for the first time, with realistic two- plus three-nucleon interactions from chiral effective field theory employing the in-medium similarity renormalization group. All models highlight the role of Landau fragmentation for the damping of the IVGDR, while the differences in the coupling strength between one particle-one hole (1p-1h) and two particle-two hole (2p-2h) correlated (relativistic) and non-correlated (non-relativistic) configurations lead to very different pictures of the importance of the spreading width resulting in wavelet scales being a sensitive measure of their interplay. The relativistic approach with particle-vibration coupling, in particular, shows impressive agreement with the number and absolute values of the scales extracted from the experimental data.