A study of the energies of the first excited $0^+$ states in all even-even $Z$ $geq$ 8 nuclei reveals an anomalous behavior in some nuclei with $N$ = $Z$, $Z$ $pm$ 2. We analyze these irregularities in the framework of the shell model. It is shown that proton-neutron correlations play an important role in this phenomenon.
We present a new analysis of the pairing vibrations around 56Ni, with emphasis on odd-odd nuclei. This analysis of the experimental excitation energies is based on the subtraction of average properties that include the full symmetry energy together with volume, surface and Coulomb terms. The results clearly indicate a collective behavior of the isovector pairing vibrations and do not support any appreciable collectivity in the isoscalar channel.
An algebraic model is developed to calculate the T=0 and T=1 ground state binding energies for N=Z nuclei. The method is tested in the sd shell and is then extended to 28-50 shell which is currently the object of many experimental studies.
The pairing correlation energy for two-nucleon configurations with the spin-parity and isospin of $J^pi=0^+$, $T$=1 and $J^pi=1^+$, $T$=0 are calculated with $T$=1 and $T$=0 pairing interactions, respectively. To this end, we consider the $(1f2p)$ shell model space, including single-particle angular momenta of $l=3$ and $l=1$. It is pointed out that a two-body matrix element of the spin-triplet $T$=0 pairing is weakened substantially for the $1f$ orbits, even though the pairing strength is much larger than that for the spin-singlet $T$=1 pairing interaction. In contrast, the spin-triplet pairing correlations overcome the spin-singlet pairing correlations for the $2p$ configuration, for which the spin-orbit splitting is smaller than that for the $1f$ configurations, if the strength for the T=0 pairing is larger than that for the T=1 pairing by 50% or more. Using the Hartree-Fock wave functions, it is also pointed out that the mismatch of proton and neutron radial wave functions is at most a few % level, even if the Fermi energies are largely different in the proton and neutron mean-field potentials. These results imply that the configuration with $J^pi=0^+$, $T$=1 is likely in the ground state of odd-odd $pf$ shell nuclei even under the influence of the strong spin-triplet $T$=0 pairing, except at the middle of the $pf$ shell, in which the odd proton and neutron may occupy the $2p$ orbits. These results are consistent with the observed spin-parity $J^{pi}=0^+$ for all odd-odd $pf$ shell nuclei except for $^{58}_{29}$Cu, which has $J^{pi}=1^+$.
It is argued that there exist natural shell model spaces optimally adapted to the operation of two variants of Elliott SU3 symmetry that provide accurate predictions of quadrupole moments of deformed states. A selfconsistent Nilsson-like calculation describes the competition between the realistic quadrupole force and the central field, indicating a {em remarkable stability of the quadruplole moments}---which remain close to their quasi and pseudo SU3 values---as the single particle splittings increase. A detailed study of the $N=Z$ even nuclei from $^{56}$Ni to $^{96}$Cd reveals that the region of prolate deformation is bounded by a pair of transitional nuclei $^{72}$Kr and $^{84}$Mo in which prolate ground state bands are predicted to dominate, though coexisting with oblate ones,
We have extracted 565 neutron spectroscopic factors of sd and fp shell nuclei by systematically analyzing more than 2000 measured (d,p) angular distributions. We are able to compare 125 of the extracted spectroscopic factors to values predicted by large-basis shell-model calculations and evaluate the accuracies of spectroscopic factors predicted by different shell-model interactions in these regions. We find that the spectroscopic factors predicted for most excited states of sd-shell nuclei using the latest USDB or USDA interactions agree with the experimental values. For fp shell nuclei, the inability of the current models to account for the core excitation and fragmentation of the states leads to considerable discrepancies. In particular, the agreement between data and shell-model predictions for Ni isotopes is not better than a factor of two using either the GXPF1A or the XT interaction.