No Arabic abstract
The main purpose of the present manuscript is to review the structural evolution along the isotonic and isotopic chains around the traditional magic numbers 8; 20; 28; 50; 82 and 126. The exotic regions of the chart of nuclides have been explored during the three last decades. Then the postulate of permanent magic numbers was de nitely abandoned and the reason for these structural mutations has been in turn searched for. General trends in the evolution of shell closures are discussed using complementary experimental information, such as the binding energies of the orbits bounding the shell gaps, the trends of the rst collective states of the even-even semi-magic nuclei, and the behavior of certain single-nucleon states. Each section is devoted to a particular magic number. It describes the underlying physics of the shell evolution which is not yet fully understood and indicates future experimental and theoretical challenges. The nuclear mean eld embodies various facets of the Nucleon- Nucleon interaction, among which the spin-orbit and tensor terms play decisive roles in the shell evolutions. The present review intends to provide experimental constraints to be used for the re nement of theoretical models aiming at a good description of the existing atomic nuclei and at more accurate predictions of hitherto unreachable systems.
Influence of magic numbers on nuclear radii is investigated via the Hartree-Fock-Bogolyubov calculations and available experimental data. With the $ell s$ potential including additional density-dependence suggested from the chiral effective field theory, kinks are universally predicted at the $jj$-closed magic numbers and anti-kinks (textit{i.e.} inverted kinks) are newly predicted at the $ell s$-closed magic numbers, both in the charge radii and in the matter radii along the isotopic and isotonic chains where nuclei stay spherical. These results seem consistent with the kinks of the charge radii observed in Ca, Sn and Pb and the anti-kink in Ca. The kinks and the anti-kinks could be a peculiar indicator for magic numbers, discriminating $jj$-closure and $ell s$-closure.
The nuclear shell model is a benchmark for the description of the structure of atomic nuclei. The magic numbers associated with closed shells have long been assumed to be valid across the whole nuclear chart. Investigations in recent years of nuclei far away from nuclear stability at facilities for radioactive ion beams have revealed that the magic numbers may change locally in those exotic nuclei leading to the disappearance of classic shell gaps and the appearance of new magic numbers. These changes in shell structure also have important implications for the synthesis of heavy elements in stars and stellar explosions. In this review a brief overview of the basics of the nuclear shell model will be given together with a summary of recent theoretical and experimental activities investigating these changes in the nuclear shell structure.
A method is proposed for the experimental measurement of neutron separation energies for nuclei far from stability. The procedure is based on determining cross sections for the production of nuclei, by projectile fragmentation, for which only protons are removed but for which the number of neutrons is left unchanged. A simple Abrasion-Ablation analysis leads to a cross section prediction which is sensitive to the neutron separation energy after a single parameter is adjusted in comparison with data. Examples which illustrate the method are presented.
With the high resolution of microcalorimeter detectors, previously unresolvable gamma-ray lines are now clearly resolvable. A careful measurement of 241Am decay with a large microcalorimeter array has yielded never before seen or predicted gamma lines at 207.72 +/- 0.02 keV and 208.21 +/- 0.01 keV. These have been made possible because of new microwave-multiplexing readout and improved analysis algorithms for microcalorimeters.
The last decades brought an impressive progress in synthesizing and studying properties of nuclides located very far from the beta stability line. Among the most fundamental properties of such exotic nuclides, usually established first, is the half-life, possible radioactive decay modes, and their relative probabilities. When approaching limits of nuclear stability, new decay modes set in. First, beta decays become accompanied by emission of nucleons from highly excited states of daughter nuclei. Second, when the nucleon separation energy becomes negative, nucleons start to be emitted from the ground state. Here, we present a review of the decay modes occurring close to the limits of stability. The experimental methods used to produce, identify and detect new species and their radiation are discussed. The current theoretical understanding of these decay processes is overviewed. The theoretical description of the most recently discovered and most complex radioactive process - the two-proton radioactivity - is discussed in more detail.