Structure and Reactions of

The exotic nucleus ^{11}Be has been extensively studied and much experimental information is available on the structure of this system. We treat, within the framework of renormalized nuclear field theory in both configuration and 3D space, the mixing of bound and continuum single-particle states through the coupling to collective vibrations of the ^{10}Be core. We also take care of the Pauli principle acting not only between the single valence particle explicitly considered and those participating in the collective states, but also between fermions involved in two-phonon virtual states dressing the single-particle motion. In this way, it is possible to simultaneously and quantitatively account for the energies of the 1/2^{+}, 1/2^{-} low-lying states, the centroid and line shape of the 5/2^{+} resonance and the one-nucleon stripping and pickup absolute differential cross sections involving ^{11}Be as either target or residual nucleus. Also for the dipole transition connecting the 1/2^{+} and 1/2^{-} parity inverted levels as well as the isotopic shift of the charge radius. Theory provides a unified and exhaustive nuclear structure and reaction characterization of the many-body effects which are at the basis of this paradigmatic one-neutron halo system.

Particle-vibration coupling effect on the ß decay of magic nuclei.

Nuclear ß decay in magic nuclei is investigated, taking into account the coupling between particles and collective vibrations, on top of self-consistent random phase approximation calculations based on Skyrme density functionals. The low-lying Gamow-Teller strength is shifted downwards and at times becomes fragmented; as a consequence, the ß-decay half-lives are reduced due to the increase of the phase space available for the decay. In some cases, this leads to a very good agreement between theoretical and experimental lifetimes: this happens, in particular, in the case of the Skyrme force SkM* that can also reproduce the line shape of the high-energy Gamow-Teller resonance as was previously shown.

Cooper pair transfer in nuclei.

The second-order distorted wave Born approximation implementation of two-particle transfer direct reactions which includes simultaneous and successive transfer, properly corrected by non-orthogonality effects, is tested with the help of controlled nuclear structure and reaction inputs against data spanning the whole mass table, and showed to constitute a quantitative probe of nuclear pairing correlations.

Calculation of the transition from pairing vibrational to pairing rotational regimes between magic nuclei ¹°°Sn and ¹³²Sn via two-nucleon transfer reactions.

Absolute values of two-particle transfer cross sections along the Sn-isotopic chain are calculated. They agree with measurements within errors and without free parameters. Within this scenario, the predictions concerning the absolute value of the two-particle transfer cross sections associated with the excitation of the pairing vibrational spectrum expected around the recently discovered closed shell nucleus(50)(132)Sn(82) and the very exotic nucleus (50)(100)Sn(50) can be considered quantitative, opening new perspectives in the study of pairing in nuclei.

Evidence for phonon mediated pairing interaction in the halo of the nucleus ¹¹Li.

With the help of a unified nuclear-structure-direct-reaction theory we analyze the reaction ¹H(¹¹Li,9Li)³H. The two halo neutrons are correlated through the bare and the induced (medium polarization) pairing interaction. By considering all dominant reaction channels leading to the population of the 1/2⁻ (2.69 MeV) first excited state of 9Li, namely, multistep transfer (successive, simultaneous, and nonorthogonality), breakup, and inelastic channels, it is possible to show that the experiment provides direct evidence of phonon mediated pairing.

Probing the order-to-chaos region in superdeformed 151Tb and 196Pb nuclei with continuum gamma transitions.

The gamma decay associated with the warm rotation of the superdeformed nuclei 151Tb and 196Pb has been measured with the EUROBALL IV array. Several independent quantities provide a stringent test of the population and decay dynamics in the superdeformed well. A Monte Carlo simulation of the gamma decay based on microscopic calculations gives remarkable agreement with the data only assuming a large enhancement of the B(E1) strength for 1-2 MeV gamma rays, which may be related to the evidence for octupole vibrations in both mass regions.

Motional narrowing and ergodic bands in excited superdeformed states of 194Hg.

The E(gamma) - E(gamma) coincidence spectra from the electromagnetic decay of excited superdeformed states in (194)Hg reveal surprisingly narrow ridges, parallel to the diagonal. A total of 100-150 excited bands are found to contribute to these ridges, which account for nearly all the unresolved E2 decay strength. Comparison with theory suggests that these excited bands have many components in their wave functions, yet they display remarkable rotational coherence. This phenomenon can be explained in terms of the combination of shell effects and motional narrowing.

Compound and rotational damping in warm deformed rare-earth nuclei.

The gamma decay in the quasicontinuum from selected configurations of the rotational nucleus 163Er has been measured with the EUROBALL array. A new analysis technique has allowed for the first time to directly measure the compound and rotational damping widths Gamma (micro) and Gamma (rot). Values of Gamma (micro) approximately 20 keV and Gamma (rot) approximately 200 keV are obtained in the spin region I approximately 30-40 variant Planck's over 2pi, in good agreement with microscopic cranked shell model calculations. A dependence of Gamma (micro) and Gamma (rot) on the K-quantum number of the nuclear states is also presented.

Folding and aggregation of designed proteins.

Protein aggregation is studied by following the simultaneous folding of two designed identical 20-letter amino acid chains within the framework of a lattice model and using Monte Carlo simulations. It is found that protein aggregation is determined by elementary structures (partially folded intermediates) controlled by local contacts among some of the most strongly interacting amino acids and formed at an early stage in the folding process.