Pairing and isospin symmetry in proton-rich nuclei

Pairing and isospin symmetry in proton-rich nuclei

Unlike their lighter counterparts, most odd-odd N = Z nuclei with mass A > 40 have ground states with isospin T=1, suggesting an increased role for the isovector pairing interaction. A simple SO(5) seniority-like model of this interaction reveals a striking and heretofore unnoticed interplay between likeparticle and neutron-proton isovector pairing near N = Z that is reflected in the number of ...

Isovector pairing in odd-A proton-rich nuclei

A simple model based on the group SO(5) suggests that both the likeparticle and neutron-proton components of isovector pairing correlations in odd-A nuclei are Pauli blocked. The same effect emerges from Monte Carlo Shell-model calculations of proton-rich nuclei in the full fp shell. There are small differences between the two models in their representation of the effects of an odd nucleon on t...

Isospin-rich nuclei in neutron star matter

Stability of nuclei beyond the drip lines in the presence of an enveloping gas of nucleons and electrons, as prevailing in the inner crust of a neutron star, is studied in the temperature-dependent Thomas-Fermi framework. A limiting asymmetry in the isospin space beyond which nuclei cannot exist emerges from the calculations. The ambient conditions like temperature, baryon density and neutrino ...

Isospin symmetry breaking in mirror nuclei

Isospin symmetry is one of the fundamental symmetries we can identify in nuclei. This is related to the approximate charge symmetry and charge independence of the strong interaction. On this hypothesis, the level schemes of mirror nuclei (with exchanged number of protons and neutrons) should be identical. Of course some differences appear due to the fact that the Coulomb interaction breaks isos...

Fission barriers in the neutron-proton isospin plane for heavy neutron-rich nuclei