Chiral dynamics in soft triaxial nuclei

TL;DR

This paper uses advanced covariant density functional theories to investigate chiral phenomena in soft triaxial nuclei, successfully reproducing experimental data and revealing a new chiral mode, thus opening new research avenues.

Contribution

It introduces a microscopic, self-consistent approach to study chirality in soft triaxial nuclei and uncovers a novel chiral mode from the dynamics of total angular momentum.

Findings

Successfully reproduces experimental energies of nearly degenerate bands in $^{106}$Ag

Reveals a new chiral mode in soft triaxial nuclei from microscopic dynamics

Opens new research directions in nuclear chirality and shape studies

Abstract

The chirality in soft triaxial 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. Taking the puzzling chiral nucleus $^{106}$Ag as an example, the experimental energies of the observed nearly degenerate bands are well reproduced without any free parameters beyond the well-defined density functional. A novel chiral mode in soft triaxial nuclei is newly revealed from the microscopic dynamics of the total angular momentum. This opens a new research area for the study of chirality, particularly in relation to soft nuclear shapes.