Simultaneous description of $\beta$ decay and low-lying structure of neutron-rich even- and odd-mass Rh and Pd nuclei

TL;DR

This paper models the low-energy structure and beta decay of neutron-rich Pd and Rh nuclei using a density functional theory-based framework, revealing shape transitions and testing decay predictions against experimental data.

Contribution

It introduces a combined microscopic and boson-coupling approach to simultaneously describe nuclear structure and beta decay in neutron-rich nuclei.

Findings

Shape transition from prolate to spherical in Pd isotopes

Predicted beta decay log ft values match experimental trends

Spectroscopic properties support shape evolution insights

Abstract

The low-energy structure and $\beta$ decay properties of neutron-rich even- and odd-mass Pd and Rh nuclei are studied using a mapping framework based on the nuclear density functional theory and the particle-boson coupling scheme. Constrained Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov calculations using the Gogny-D1M energy density functional are performed to obtain microscopic inputs to determine the interacting-boson Hamiltonian employed to describe the even-even core Pd nuclei. The mean-field calculations also provide single-particle energies for the odd systems, which are used to determine essential ingredients of the particle-boson interactions for the odd-nucleon systems, and of the Gamow-Teller and Fermi transition operators. The potential energy surfaces obtained for even-even Pd isotopes as well as the spectroscopic properties for the even- and odd-mass systems suggest a transition from prolate deformed to $\gamma$-unstable and to nearly-spherical shapes. The predicted $\beta$ decay $\log{ft}$ values are shown to be sensitive to the details of the wave functions for the parent and daughter nuclei, and therefore serve as a stringent test of the employed theoretical approach.