Nuclear Theory

Using the nucleon coalescence model, which can naturally take into account the correlations in the nucleon density distribution, we study the effects of QCD critical point on light nuclei production in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. We find that the yield ratio N t N p / N 2 d of proton ( p ), deuteron ( d ) and triton ( t ) increases monotonically with the nucleon density correlation length, which is expected to increase significantly near the critical point in the QCD phase diagram. Our study thus demonstrates that the yield ratio N t N p / N 2 d can be used as a sensitive probe of the QCD critical phenomenon. We further discuss the relation between the QCD phase transitions in heavy-ion collisions and the possible non-monotonic behavior of \pdt~in its collision energy dependence.

Using a more reasonable separate density-dependent scenario instead of the total density-dependent scenario for in-medium nn , pp and np interactions, we examine effects of differences of in-medium nucleon-nucleon interactions in two density-dependent scenarios on isospin-sensitive observables in central 197 Au+ 197 Au collisions at 400 MeV/nucleon. Moreover, to more physically detect the differences between the nucleon-nucleon interactions in two density-dependent scenarios, we also map the nucleon-nucleon interaction in the separate density-dependent scenario into that in the total density-dependent scenario through fitting the identical constraints for symmetric nuclear matter as well as the identical slope parameter of nuclear symmetry energy at the saturation density. It is shown that two density-dependent scenarios also lead to essentially different symmetry potentials especially at high densities although they can lead to the identical equation of state for the symmetry nuclear matter as well as the identical symmetry energy for the isospin asymmetric nuclear matter. Consequently, these isospin-sensitive observables are also appreciably affected by the different density-dependent scenarios of in-medium nucleon-nucleon interactions. Therefore, according to these findings, it is suggested that effects of the separate density-dependent scenario of in-medium nucleon-nucleon interactions should be taken into account when probing the high-density symmetry energy using these isospin-sensitive observables in heavy-ion collisions.

The effects of ground-state correlations on the damping of isovector giant dipole resonances in LS closed shell nuclei 16 O and 40 Ca are studied using an extended random phase approximation (ERPA) derived from the time-dependent density-matrix theory. It is pointed out that unconventional two-body amplitudes of one particle--three hole and three particle--one hole types which are neglected in most extended RPA theories play an important role in the fragmentation of isovector dipole strength.

The effects of ground-state correlations on the magnetic dipole excitations in 40 Ca are studied using an extended random phase approximation (ERPA) derived from the time-dependent density-matrix theory. Comparison is made with other extended RPA approaches, the renormalized RPA, the self-consistent RPA and the extended second RPA which also include the effects of ground-state correlations. It is pointed out that direct excitations from two particle - two hole space which are properly treated in ERPA cause strong magnetic dipole transitions in 40 Ca.

In this note we discuss subtleties associated with the efficiency corrections for measurements of off-diagonal cumulants and factorial moments for a situation when one deals with overlapping sets of particles, such as correlations between numbers of protons and positively charged particles. In particular, we discuss the situation commonly encountered in heavy-ion experiments, where first all charges are reconstructed and then protons are selected from these charges by an additional particle identification procedure. We present the efficiency correction formulas for the case when the detection efficiencies follow a binomial distribution.

Eigenvector continuation EC has been shown to accurately and efficiently reproduce ground states for targeted sets of Hamiltonian parameters. It uses as variational basis vectors the corresponding ground-state eigensolutions from selected other sets of parameters. Here we extend the EC approach to scattering using the Kohn variational principle. We first test it using a model for S-wave nucleon-nucleon scattering and then demonstrate that it also works to give accurate predictions for non-local potentials, charged-particle scattering, complex optical potentials, and higher partial waves. These proofs-of-principle validate EC as an accurate emulator for applying Bayesian inference to parameter estimation constrained by scattering observables. The efficiency of such emulators is because the accuracy is achieved with a small number of variational basis elements and the central computations are just linear algebra calculations in the space spanned by this basis.

Physical systems characterized by a shallow two-body bound or virtual state are governed at large distances by a continuous-scale invariance, which is broken to a discrete one when three or more particles come into play. This symmetry induces a universal behavior for different systems, independent of the details of the underlying interaction, rooted in the smallness of the ratio ?? a B ?? , where the length a B is associated to the binding energy of the two-body system E 2 = ??2 /m a 2 B and ??is the natural length given by the interaction range. Efimov physics refers to this universal behavior, which is often hidden by the on-set of system-specific non-universal effects. In this work we identify universal properties by providing an explicit link of physical systems to their unitary limit, in which a B ?��? , and show that nuclear systems belong to this class of universality.

We present a theoretical formalism for scattering of the twisted neutrons by nuclei in a kinematic regime where interference between Coulomb interaction and the strong interaction is essential. Twisted neutrons have definite quantized values of an angular momentum projection along the direction of propagation, and we show that it results in novel observable effects for the scattering cross section, spin asymmetries and polarization of the scattered neutrons. We demonstrate that additional capabilities provided by beam's orbital angular momentum enable new techniques for measuring both real and imaginary parts of the scattering amplitude. Several possible observables are considered, for which the targets may be either well-localized with respect to the spatial beam profile, or the scattering occurs incoherently on nuclei in a bulk target. The developed approach can be applied to other nuclear reactions with strongly interacting twisted particles.

The determination of nuclear symmetry energy, and in particular, its density dependence, is a long-standing problem for nuclear physics community. Previous studies have found that the product of electric dipole polarizability α D and symmetry energy at saturation density J has a strong linear correlation with L , the slope parameter of symmetry energy. However, current uncertainty of J hinders the precise constraint on L . We investigate the correlations between electric dipole polarizability α D (or times symmetry energy at saturation density J ) in Sn isotopes and the slope parameter of symmetry energy L using the quasiparticle random-phase approximation based on Skyrme Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov. A strong and model-independent linear correlation between α D and L is found in neutron-rich Sn isotopes where pygmy dipole resonance (PDR) gives a considerable contribution to α D , attributed to the pairing correlations playing important roles through PDR. This newly discovered linear correlation would help one to constrain L and neutron-skin thickness $\Delta R_\textnormal{np}$ stiffly if α D is measured with high resolution in neutron-rich nuclei. Besides, a linear correlation between α D J in a nucleus around β -stability line and α D in a neutron-rich nucleus can be used to assess α D in neutron-rich nuclei.

The hot and dense QCD matter produced in nuclear collisions at ultrarelativistic energy is characterized by very intense electromagnetic fields which attain their maximal strength in the early pre-equilibrium stage and interplay with the strong vorticity induced in the plasma by the large angular momentum of the colliding system. A promising observable keeping trace of these phenomena is the directed flow of light hadrons and heavy mesons produced in symmetric and asymmetric heavy-ion collisions as well as in proton-induced reactions. In particular, the splitting of the directed flow between particles with the same mass but opposite electric charge as a function of rapidity and transverse momentum gives access to the electromagnetic response of medium in all collision stages and in the different colliding systems. The highest influence of electromagnetic fields is envisaged in the pre-equilibrium stage of the collision and therefore a significant imprint is left on the early-produced heavy quarks. The aim of this review is to discuss the current developments towards the understanding of the generation and relaxation time of the electromagnetic fields embedded in both large and small systems and their impact on the charge-odd directed flow of light and heavy particles, highlighting the experimental results and the different theoretical approaches. Since it is possible to perform realistic simulations of high-energy collisions that incorporate also the generated electromagnetic fields and vorticity, the study of the directed flow can provide unique insight into the early nonequilibrium phase and the ensuing QGP formation and transport properties.