A triplet of differently shaped spin-zero states in the atomic nucleus 186Pb

Understanding the fundamental excitations of many-fermion systems is of significant current interest. In atomic nuclei with even numbers of neutrons and protons, the low-lying excitation spectrum is generally formed by nucleon pair breaking and nuclear vibrations or rotations. However, for certain numbers of protons and neutrons, a subtle rearrangement of only a few nucleons among the orbitals at the Fermi surface can result in a different elementary mode: a macroscopic shape change. The first experimental evidence for this phenomenon came from the observation of shape coexistence in 16O (ref. 4). Other unexpected examples came with the discovery of fission isomers and super-deformed nuclei. Here we find experimentally that the lowest three states in the energy spectrum of the neutron deficient nucleus 186Pb are spherical, oblate and prolate. The states are populated by the alpha-decay of a parent nucleus; to identify them, we combine knowledge of the particular features of this decay with sensitive measurement techniques (a highly efficient velocity filters with strong background reduction, and an extremely selective recoil-alpha-electron coincidence tagging methods). The existence of this apparently unique shape triplet is permitted only by the specific conditions that are met around this particular nucleus.     

关于原子核形变问题的再讨论

原子核是什么形状的？它为什么会发生形变？本将通过核结构模型来讨论原子核的形变问题（指由球形核变为非球形核），并把它与普通物理学中某一力学习题所得出的结论进行比较，从而使我们能够更形象、更深刻地理解原子核的形变。     

Towards the drip lines of the nuclide landscape

In the paper we review the recent progress of studies in unstable nuclei,mainly affiliated with the facilities of radioactive ion beams in China,including both experimental and theoretical aspects of researches.Many experiments for reactions,decays and structures have been performed targeting better understandings of properties of unstable nuclei.Special experimental measurements related to nuclear astrophysics have been done to seek insights into the processes of syntheses of elements in the universe.Theoretical calculations have provided many useful predictions on the behaviors of unstable nuclei,with model developments.Studies covered many mass regions from light to superheavy nuclei,giving plenty of information about the structures of unstable nuclei,towards the limits of existence of atomic nuclei.     

Unexpected inhibition of fusion in nucleus-nucleus collisions

Unstable heavy atomic nuclei not found in nature can be created by fusing two stable nuclei, in a process analogous to colliding charged droplets of liquid. Recently, the formation of a handful of super-heavy nuclei with atomic numbers 114 (ref. 1) and 116 (ref. 2) has been achieved by fusion of heavy nuclei. The electrostatic energy of such systems is very large (which is the reason super-heavy nuclei are unstable), so although the two nuclei may initially be captured by the nuclear potential, rather than fusing, they almost always separate after transfer of mass to the lighter nucleus. This process, called quasi-fission, can inhibit fusion by many orders of magnitude. Understanding this inhibition may hold the key to forming more super-heavy elements. Theoretically, inhibition is predicted (ref. 5 and references therein) when the product Z1Z2 of the charges of the projectile and target nuclei is larger than about 1,600. Here we report measurements of three fusion reactions with Z1Z2 around half this value, each forming 216 88Ra. We find convincing model-independent evidence both of inhibition of fusion, and of the presence of quasi-fission. These results defy interpretation within the standard picture of nuclear fusion and fission.     

Discovery of 40Mg and 42Al suggests neutron drip-line slant towards heavier isotopes

A fundamental question in nuclear physics is what combinations of neutrons and protons can make up a nucleus. Many hundreds of exotic neutron-rich isotopes have never been observed; the limit of how many neutrons a given number of protons can bind is unknown for all but the lightest elements, owing to the delicate interplay between single particle and collective quantum effects in the nucleus. This limit, known as the neutron drip line, provides a benchmark for models of the atomic nucleus. Here we report a significant advance in the determination of this limit: the discovery of two new neutron-rich isotopes--40Mg and 42Al--that are predicted to be drip-line nuclei. In the past, several attempts to observe 40Mg were unsuccessful; moreover, the observation of 42Al provides an experimental indication that the neutron drip line may be located further towards heavier isotopes in this mass region than is currently believed. In stable nuclei, attractive pairing forces enhance the stability of isotopes with even numbers of protons and neutrons. In contrast, the present work shows that nuclei at the drip line gain stability from an unpaired proton, which narrows the shell gaps and provides the opportunity to bind many more neutrons.     

Electromagnetically induced transparency with resonant nuclei in a cavity

The manipulation of light-matter interactions by quantum control of atomic levels has had a profound impact on optical sciences. Such manipulation has many applications, including nonlinear optics at the few-photon level, slow light, lasing without inversion and optical quantum information processing. The critical underlying technique is electromagnetically induced transparency, in which quantum interference between transitions in multilevel atoms renders an opaque medium transparent near an atomic resonance. With the advent of high-brilliance, accelerator-driven light sources such as storage rings or X-ray lasers, it has become attractive to extend the techniques of optical quantum control to the X-ray regime. Here we demonstrate electromagnetically induced transparency in the regime of hard X-rays, using the 14.4-kiloelectronvolt nuclear resonance of the M?ssbauer isotope iron-57 (a two-level system). We exploit cooperative emission from ensembles of the nuclei, which are embedded in a low-finesse cavity and excited by synchrotron radiation. The spatial modulation of the photonic density of states in a cavity mode leads to the coexistence of superradiant and subradiant states of nuclei, respectively located at an antinode and a node of the cavity field. This scheme causes the nuclei to behave as effective three-level systems, with two degenerate levels in the excited state (one of which can be considered metastable). The radiative coupling of the nuclear ensembles by the cavity field establishes the atomic coherence necessary for the cancellation of resonant absorption. Because this technique does not require atomic systems with a metastable level, electromagnetically induced transparency and its applications can be transferred to the regime of nuclear resonances, establishing the field of nuclear quantum optics.     

有效核电荷及其应用

有效核电荷（z）是元素最重要参数之一．通过有效核电荷可计算出电子能量、电离势和电负性等原子结构参数，从而进一步理解和掌握元素的性质．本文注重探讨有效核电荷及其应用等问题．     

奇特原子核电荷半径的理论研究进展

电荷半径是描述原子核基本性质的可观测量之一,对于奇特原子核电荷半径的精确描述是核物理实验和理论研究的前沿课题．影响原子核电荷半径大小的因素有很多,例如形变、对关联、壳闭合效应等,因此需要发展一个统一的理论模型．对于奇特原子核电荷半径的精确描述,一方面可以更深层次地揭示核子-核子有效相互作用,对理论模型参数进行约束;另一方面,可靠的电荷半径数值作为输入参量,对核天体演化研究具有重要意义．本文简要介绍关于奇特原子核电荷半径的理论研究进展,分析了不同理论模型对电荷半径的壳效应和奇偶效应的描述;结合Ca和Rb同位素链电荷半径的变化趋势,分析指出中子-质子关联和自旋-轨道相互作用在精确描述原子核电荷半径中起到了很重要的作用．      

Gate-voltage control of spin interactions between electrons and nuclei in a semiconductor.

Semiconductors are ubiquitous in device electronics, because their charge distributions can be conveniently manipulated with voltages to perform logic operations. Achieving a similar level of control over the spin degrees of freedom, either from electrons or nuclei, could provide intriguing prospects for both information processing and the study of fundamental solid-state physics issues. Here we report procedures that carry out the controlled transfer of spin angular momentum between electrons-confined to two dimensions and subjected to a perpendicular magnetic field-and the nuclei of the host semiconductor, using gate voltages only. We show that the spin transfer rate can be enhanced near a ferromagnetic ground state of the electron system, and that the induced nuclear spin polarization can be subsequently stored and 'read out'. These techniques can also be combined into a spectroscopic tool to detect the low-energy collective excitations in the electron system that promote the spin transfer. The existence of such excitations is contingent on appropriate electron-electron correlations, and these can be tuned by changing, for example, the electron density via a gate voltage.     

Evidence for a spin-aligned neutron-proton paired phase from the level structure of (92)Pd

Shell structure and magic numbers in atomic nuclei were generally explained by pioneering work that introduced a strong spin-orbit interaction to the nuclear shell model potential. However, knowledge of nuclear forces and the mechanisms governing the structure of nuclei, in particular far from stability, is still incomplete. In nuclei with equal neutron and proton numbers (N = Z), enhanced correlations arise between neutrons and protons (two distinct types of fermions) that occupy orbitals with the same quantum numbers. Such correlations have been predicted to favour an unusual type of nuclear superfluidity, termed isoscalar neutron-proton pairing, in addition to normal isovector pairing. Despite many experimental efforts, these predictions have not been confirmed. Here we report the experimental observation of excited states in the N = Z = 46 nucleus (92)Pd. Gamma rays emitted following the (58)Ni((36)Ar,2n)(92)Pd fusion-evaporation reaction were identified using a combination of state-of-the-art high-resolution γ-ray, charged-particle and neutron detector systems. Our results reveal evidence for a spin-aligned, isoscalar neutron-proton coupling scheme, different from the previous prediction. We suggest that this coupling scheme replaces normal superfluidity (characterized by seniority coupling) in the ground and low-lying excited states of the heaviest N = Z nuclei. Such strong, isoscalar neutron-proton correlations would have a considerable impact on the nuclear level structure and possibly influence the dynamics of rapid proton capture in stellar nucleosynthesis.     

原子核质量的测量

质量是原子核最基本的性质之一,核质量数据在核物理、核天体物理及核技术应用等多个领域得到广泛应用.原子核质量的测量是核物理一个重要的前沿研究课题.本文简要回顾了核质量测量的发展历史,综述目前国际上的研究现状,并介绍了原子核质量数据表的评估工作.基于兰州重离子加速器大科学装置,我们建立了等时性质谱术,精确测量了一批短寿命原子核的质量.随后介绍了兰州的质量测量工作,讨论了新质量数据对原子核的同位旋对称性和天体X射线暴研究的影响.     

Effect of rare earth and alloying elements on the thermal conductivity of austenitic medium manganese steel

The influence of different contents of Cr, Mo, and rare earth element (RE) additives on the thermal conductivity of austenitic medium manganese steel was studied and discussed. The results show that the addition of Cr in medium manganese steel can improved the ordering of C-Mn atomic clusters, so as to improve the steel's thermal conductivity. However, Cr will lead to precipitation of a great deal of carbides in medium manganese steel when its content is greater than 4wt%. These carbides would aggregate around the grain boundary, and as a result, the thermal conductivity is decreased. By the addition of Mo whose content is about 2wt%, spherical carbides will be formed, thus improving the thermal conductivity of the medium manganese steel. The interaction between rare earth elements and alloying elements will raise both the thermal conductivity and the wear-resisting property of medium manganese steel.     

The limits of the nuclear landscape

In 2011, 100 new nuclides were discovered. They joined the approximately 3,000 stable and radioactive nuclides that either occur naturally on Earth or are synthesized in the laboratory. Every atomic nucleus, characterized by a specific number of protons and neutrons, occupies a spot on the chart of nuclides, which is bounded by 'drip lines' indicating the values of neutron and proton number at which nuclear binding ends. The placement of the neutron drip line for the heavier elements is based on theoretical predictions using extreme extrapolations, and so is uncertain. However, it is not known how uncertain it is or how many protons and neutrons can be bound in a nucleus. Here we estimate these limits of the nuclear 'landscape' and provide statistical and systematic uncertainties for our predictions. We use nuclear density functional theory, several Skyrme interactions and high-performance computing, and find that the number of bound nuclides with between 2 and 120 protons is around 7,000. We find that extrapolations for drip-line positions and selected nuclear properties, including neutron separation energies relevant to astrophysical processes, are very consistent between the models used.     

Quantum states of neutrons in the Earth's gravitational field.

The discrete quantum properties of matter are manifest in a variety of phenomena. Any particle that is trapped in a sufficiently deep and wide potential well is settled in quantum bound states. For example, the existence of quantum states of electrons in an electromagnetic field is responsible for the structure of atoms, and quantum states of nucleons in a strong nuclear field give rise to the structure of atomic nuclei. In an analogous way, the gravitational field should lead to the formation of quantum states. But the gravitational force is extremely weak compared to the electromagnetic and nuclear force, so the observation of quantum states of matter in a gravitational field is extremely challenging. Because of their charge neutrality and long lifetime, neutrons are promising candidates with which to observe such an effect. Here we report experimental evidence for gravitational quantum bound states of neutrons. The particles are allowed to fall towards a horizontal mirror which, together with the Earth's gravitational field, provides the necessary confining potential well. Under such conditions, the falling neutrons do not move continuously along the vertical direction, but rather jump from one height to another, as predicted by quantum theory.     

以Fe作为弹核研究合成超重核的黏连截面

超重元素的研究是目前核物理和核化学领域的前沿课题之一,随着实验设备的不断完善和各种理论模型的不断发展,人们在合成超重核的研究上取得了非常大的进展。Fe作为弹核探讨形成超重核的黏连截面,主要采用两步模型来研究超重核的形成过程。主要核反应过程具体分为2步:第1步是指弹靶的黏连阶段,第2步是指弹靶形成复合核阶段。这2个阶段的动力学过程都可以用带随机力的朗之万方程来描述,并且这2个阶段是各自独立的,即可以分别来讨论这2个阶段。主要讨论黏连阶段,根据给出的58Fe+248Cm与58Fe+208Pb激发能与黏连截面的实验值,重新拟合出以Fe作为弹核与锕系中系列核形成超重核的黏连截面的最佳C与ΔB值,及C与ΔB值对拟合出的E*-σ曲线的影响、角动量和激发能等因素对黏连截面的影响。     

How atomic nuclei cluster

Nucleonic matter displays a quantum-liquid structure, but in some cases finite nuclei behave like molecules composed of clusters of protons and neutrons. Clustering is a recurrent feature in light nuclei, from beryllium to nickel. Cluster structures are typically observed as excited states close to the corresponding decay threshold; the origin of this phenomenon lies in the effective nuclear interaction, but the detailed mechanism of clustering in nuclei has not yet been fully understood. Here we use the theoretical framework of energy-density functionals, encompassing both cluster and quantum liquid-drop aspects of nuclei, to show that conditions for cluster formation can in part be traced back to the depth of the confining nuclear potential. For the illustrative example of neon-20, we show that the depth of the potential determines the energy spacings between single-nucleon orbitals in deformed nuclei, the localization of the corresponding wavefunctions and, therefore, the degree of nucleonic density clustering. Relativistic functionals, in particular, are characterized by deep single-nucleon potentials. When compared to non-relativistic functionals that yield similar ground-state properties (binding energy, deformation, radii), they predict the occurrence of much more pronounced cluster structures. More generally, clustering is considered as a transitional phenomenon between crystalline and quantum-liquid phases of fermionic systems.     

金纳米微粒晶格畸变和结合能的尺寸形状效应

利用紧束缚分子动力学的方法,模拟了球形和立方体金纳米微粒的最近邻原子间距以及结合能. 研究表明,原子数为108, 256的立方体纳米微粒的稳定结构是非晶态,而其他尺寸的球形和立方体形微粒则是面心立方结构. 对于晶态结构,在一定的形状下,金纳米微粒的最近邻原子间距以及结合能随着微粒尺寸的减小而降低;而在微粒原子数一定时,球形金纳米微粒的最近邻原子间距以及结合能的变化量分别要小于立方体形微粒的相应变化量. 由于晶体-非晶转变对于最近邻原子间距的影响非常明显,因此最近邻原子间距可以作为晶态和非晶态纳米微粒的一个判据. 通过线性拟合模拟数据, 定量地给出了形状对于最邻近原子间距变化量的贡献为总变化量的2%,而对于结合能的贡献为总变化量的15%. 本文模拟的最近邻原子间距的数值与文献上报道的实验结果符合得很好.     

Nuclear isomers in superheavy elements as stepping stones towards the island of stability

A long-standing prediction of nuclear models is the emergence of a region of long-lived, or even stable, superheavy elements beyond the actinides. These nuclei owe their enhanced stability to closed shells in the structure of both protons and neutrons. However, theoretical approaches to date do not yield consistent predictions of the precise limits of the 'island of stability'; experimental studies are therefore crucial. The bulk of experimental effort so far has been focused on the direct creation of superheavy elements in heavy ion fusion reactions, leading to the production of elements up to proton number Z = 118 (refs 4, 5). Recently, it has become possible to make detailed spectroscopic studies of nuclei beyond fermium (Z = 100), with the aim of understanding the underlying single-particle structure of superheavy elements. Here we report such a study of the nobelium isotope 254No, with 102 protons and 152 neutrons--the heaviest nucleus studied in this manner to date. We find three excited structures, two of which are isomeric (metastable). One of these structures is firmly assigned to a two-proton excitation. These states are highly significant as their location is sensitive to single-particle levels above the gap in shell energies predicted at Z = 114, and thus provide a microscopic benchmark for nuclear models of the superheavy elements.     

球形燃料元件中基体石墨的化学分析

结合高温气冷堆对基体石墨的纯度要求，用耦合式等离子发射光谱仪对球形燃料元件基体石墨及原材料中的微量及痕量杂质元素质量分数进行了分析，并讨论了基体石墨制造过程对其杂质元素质量分数的影响。利用等离子发射光谱仪、离子选择性电极和离子色谱等对Ｂ、Ｌｉ、Ｆｅ、Ｔｉ、Ｕ、Ｔｈ、Ｇｄ、Ｅｕ、Ｓｍ 、Ｄｙ、Ｆ和Ｃｌ等十几个重要元素进行了分析。研究结果表明： 基体石墨中的杂质主要来源于原材料中的杂质，在球形燃料元件制造过程中所使用的原材料及制成的基体石墨均符合球形燃料元件的设计指标。