Open Access

We present results for calculating fusion cross-sections using a new microscopic approach based on a time-dependent density-constrained DFT calculations. The theory is implemented by using densities and other information obtained from TDDFT time-evolution of the nuclear system as a constraint on the density for DFT calculations.

Within a relativistic mean-field theory (RMFT) experimental data on the single-particle spectra of lambda hypernuclei are well reproduced. It is shown that the coupling constants cannot be fixed unambiguously from the single-particle spectra. The stability and structure of multi-lambda hypernuclei is explored on the basis of the RMFT using the coupling constants as determined from the observed single lambda hypernuclear levels. It is predicted that multistrange nuclei exhibit an enhanced interaction radius, which further increases in the case of finite temperatures. We suggest that multi-lambda hypernuclei could be produced in high-energy heavy ions and observed in secondary noncharge-changing reactions. The equation of state of lambda matter and the possibility of pure lambda droplets are also discussed.

We study the extrapolation of nuclear shell structure to the region of superheavy nuclei in self-consistent mean-field models—the Skyrme-Hartree-Fock approach and the relativistic mean-field model—using a large number of parametrizations which give similar results for stable nuclei but differ in detail. Results obtained with the folded-Yukawa potential which is widely used in macroscopic-macroscopic models are shown for comparison. We focus on differences in the isospin dependence of the spin-orbit interaction and the effective mass between the models and their influence on single-particle spectra. The predictive power of the mean-field models concerning single-particle spectra is discussed for the examples of 208Pb and the spin-orbit splittings of selected neutron and proton levels in 16O, 132Sn, and 208Pb. While all relativistic models give a reasonable description of spin-orbit splittings, all Skyrme interactions show a wrong trend with mass number. The spin-orbit splitting of heavy nuclei might be overestimated by 40%–80%, which exposes a fundamental deficiency of the current nonrelativistic models. In most cases the occurrence of spherical shell closures is found to be nucleon-number dependent. Spherical doubly magic superheavy nuclei are found at 184298114, 172292120, or 184310126 depending on the parametrization. The Z=114 proton shell closure, which is related to a large spin-orbit splitting of proton 2f states, is predicted only by forces which by far overestimate the proton spin-orbit splitting in 208Pb. The Z=120 and N=172 shell closures predicted by the relativistic models and some Skyrme interactions are found to be related to a central depression of the nuclear density distribution. This effect cannot appear in macroscopic-microscopic models or semiclassical approaches like the extended Thomas-Fermi-Strutinski integral approach which have a limited freedom for the density distribution only. In summary, our findings give a strong argument for 172292120 to be the next spherical doubly magic superheavy nucleus.

We investigate the structure of the potential energy surfaces of the superheavy nuclei 158258Fm100, 156264Hs108, 166278112, 184298114, and 172292120 within the framework of self-consistent nuclear models, i.e., the Skyrme-Hartree-Fock approach and the relativistic mean-field model. We compare results obtained with one representative parametrization of each model which is successful in describing superheavy nuclei. We find systematic changes as compared to the potential energy surfaces of heavy nuclei in the uranium region: there is no sufficiently stable fission isomer any more, the importance of triaxial configurations to lower the first barrier fades away, and asymmetric fission paths compete down to rather small deformation. Comparing the two models, it turns out that the relativistic mean-field model gives generally smaller fission barriers.