We introduce the basic concepts of catastrophe theory needed to derive analytically the phase diagram of the proton-neutron interacting boson model (IBM-2). Previous studies [1,2,3] were based on numerical solutions. We here explain the whole IBM-2 p
hase diagram including the precise order of the phase transitions in terms of the cusp catastrophe.
The evolution of the total energy surface and the nuclear shape in the isotopic chain $^{172-194}$Pt are studied in the framework of the interacting boson model, including configuration mixing. The results are compared with a self-consistent Hartree-
Fock-Bogoliubov calculation using the Gogny-D1S interaction and a good agreement between both approaches shows up. The evolution of the deformation parameters points towards the presence of two different coexisting configurations in the region 176 $leq$ A $leq$ 186.
Background: The Po, Pb, Hg, and Pt region is known for the presence of coexisting structures that correspond to different particle-hole configurations in the Shell Model language or equivalently to nuclear shapes with different deformation. Purpose
: We intend to study the configuration mixing phenomenon in the Hg isotopes and to understand how different observables are influenced by it. Method: We study in detail a long chain of mercury isotopes, $^{172-200}$Hg, using the interacting boson model with configuration mixing. The parameters of the Hamiltonians are fixed through a least square fit to the known energies and absolute B(E2) transition rates of states up to $3$ MeV. Results: We obtained the IBM-CM Hamiltonians and we calculate excitation energies, B(E2)s, quadrupole shape invariants, wave functions, isotopic shifts, and mean field energy surfaces. Conclusions: We obtain a fairly good agreement with the experimental data for all the studied observables and we conclude that the Hamiltonian and the states we obtain constitute a good approximation to the Hg isotopes.
The connections between the X(5)-models (the original X(5) using an infinite square well, X(5)-$beta^8$, X(5)-$beta^6$, X(5)-$beta^4$, and X(5)-$beta^2$), based on particular solutions of the geometrical Bohr Hamiltonian with harmonic potential in th
e $gamma$ degree of freedom, and the interacting boson model (IBM) are explored. This work is the natural extension of the work presented in [1] for the E(5)-models. For that purpose, a quite general one- and two-body IBM Hamiltonian is used and a numerical fit to the different X(5)-models energies is performed, later on the obtained wave functions are used to calculate B(E2) transition rates. It is shown that within the IBM one can reproduce well the results for energies and B(E2) transition rates obtained with all these X(5)-models, although the agreement is not so impressive as for the E(5)-models. From the fitted IBM parameters the corresponding energy surface can be extracted and it is obtained that, surprisingly, only the X(5) case corresponds in the moderate large N limit to an energy surface very close to the one expected for a critical point, while the rest of models seat a little farther.
