Nuclear molecule of heavy nuclei

TL;DR

This paper introduces a nuclear molecule model for heavy nuclei, deriving a Hamiltonian for dinuclear systems, and demonstrates analytical and numerical agreement in describing excitations and spectra, with applications to $^{240}$Pu and $^{232}$Th.

Contribution

It presents a new theoretical model for nuclear molecules of heavy nuclei, including analytical expressions and predictions for hyperdeformed states, validated against experimental data.

Findings

Analytical expressions for excitations of deformed nuclear states.

Agreement between numerical and analytical results for $^{240}$Pu.

Predictions for hyperdeformed states in $^{232}$Th.

Abstract

The model of a nuclear molecule that composed of two heavy nuclei is proposed. To this aim the Hamiltonian of a dinuclear system is derived and diagonalized in the basis of bipolar spherical functions. Analytical expressions, describing excitations of highly deformed states of a nuclear molecule, are obtained. A remarkable agreement between numerical and analytical results is demonstrated at the description of roto-vibrational excitations in $^{240}$Pu at low energies. We provide the prediction for the spectrum of hyperdeformed states of the nucleus $^{232}$Th, considering it as a nuclear molecule that consists of $^{132}$Sn+$^{100}$Zr nuclei. The angular distribution of fission fragments for the nucleus $^{240}$Pu have been analyzed as well and compared with available experimental data.