Thermal Evolution of Shape Coexistence in Mo and Ru Isotopes

TL;DR

This paper investigates how temperature affects shape coexistence and decay modes in Mo and Ru isotopes, revealing significant structural changes at high temperatures relevant to astrophysical processes.

Contribution

It provides a detailed theoretical analysis of thermal shape evolution and decay properties in Mo and Ru isotopes using a macroscopic-microscopic approach, highlighting temperature-induced structural changes.

Findings

Shape coexistence diminishes with temperature

Decay energies are affected by thermal shell quenching

Structural changes influence decay modes in hot nuclei

Abstract

The temperature-driven shape dynamics of isotopic chains of Mo and Ru elements and their impact on decay modes have been investigated in a statistical theoretical framework with macroscopic-microscopic apporach. These isotopes located at the key points in r-process path are known for the rapid structural changes, shape instabilities and shape coexistence that impact the nuclear processes, decay modes and lifetimes. At high temperatures that may exist in stars or in various nuclear reaction processes, these nuclei undergo a variety of shape and deformation changes due to thermal shell quenching effects influencing the decay energies (Q value), and eventually life-time have been studied in detail. Our findings provide insight into the observed shift in the deformation, shapes and coexisting states due to the diminishing nuclear shell effects in hot nuclei, revealing that the structural changes influence the decay processes and significantly in the astrophysically relevant Mo-Ru region especially around A = 100.