No Arabic abstract
We consider the rigid body quantization of Skyrmions with topological charges 1 to 8, as approximated by the rational map ansatz. Novel, general expressions for the elements of the inertia tensors, in terms of the approximating rational map, are presented and are used to determine the kinetic energy contribution to the total energy of the ground and excited states of the quantized Skyrmions. Our results are compared to the experimentally determined energy levels of the corresponding nuclei, and the energies and spins of a few as yet unobserved states are predicted.
In the Skyrme model atomic nuclei are modelled as quantized soliton solutions in a nonlinear field theory of pions. The mass number is given by the conserved topological charge $B$ of the solitons. Conventionally, Skyrmions are semiclassically quantized within the rigid body approach. In this approach Skyrmions are effectively treated as rigid rotors in space and isospace that is it is assumed that Skyrmions do not deform at all when they spin and isospin. This approximation resulted in qualitative and encouraging quantitative agreement with experimental nuclear physics data. In this talk, we point out that the theoretical agreement could be further improved by allowing classical Skyrmion solutions to deform as they spin and isospin. As a first step towards a better understanding of how nuclei can be approximated by classically spinning and isospinning soliton solutions, we study how classical Skyrmion solutions of topological charges $B=1-4,8$ deform when classical isospin is added.
Nuclear binding energies are investigated in two variants of the Skyrme model: the first replaces the usual Skyrme term with a term that is sixth order in derivatives, and the second includes a potential that is quartic in the pion fields. Solitons in the first model are shown to deviate significantly from ansatze previously assumed in the literature. The binding energies obtained in both models are lower than those obtained from the standard Skyrme model, and those obtained in the second model are close to the experimental values.
We compute the nuclear spin-orbit coupling from the Skyrme model. Previous attempts to do this were based on the product ansatz, and as such were limited to a system of two well-separated nuclei. Our calculation utilises a new method, and is applicable to the phenomenologically important situation of a single nucleon orbiting a large nucleus. We find that, to second order in perturbation theory, the coefficient of the spin-orbit coupling induced by pion field interactions has the wrong sign, but as the strength of the pion-nucleon interactions increases the correct sign is recovered non-perturbatively.
Thanks to the unnaturally small value of the QCD vacuum angle $bartheta < 10^{-10}$, time-reversal ($T$) violation offers a window into physics beyond the Standard Model (SM) of particle physics. We review the effective-field-theory framework that establishes a clean connection between $T$-violating mechanisms, which can be represented by higher-dimensional operators involving SM fields and symmetries, and hadronic interactions, which allow for controlled calculations of low-energy observables involving strong interactions. The chiral properties of $T$-violating mechanisms leads to a pattern that should be identifiable in measurements of the electric dipole moments of the nucleon and light nuclei.
We review recent studies of the cluster structure of light nuclei within the framework of the algebraic cluster model (ACM) for nuclei composed of k alpha-particles and within the framework of the cluster shell model (CSM) for nuclei composed of k alpha-particles plus x additional nucleons. The calculations, based on symmetry considerations and thus for the most part given in analytic form, are compared with experiments in light cluster nuclei. The comparison shows evidence for Z_2, D_{3h} and T_d symmetry in the even-even nuclei 8Be (k=2), 12C (k=3) and 16O (k=4), respectively, and for the associated double groups Z_2 and D_{3h} in the odd nuclei 9Be, 9B (k=2, x=1) and 13C (k=3, x=1), respectively.