Strong-field atomic physics meets $^{229}$Th nuclear physics

We show how two apparently unrelated research areas, namely, strong-field atomic physics and $^{229}$Th nuclear physics, are connected. The connection is possible due to the existence of a very low-lying excited state of the $^{229}$Th nucleus, which is only about 8 eV above the nuclear ground state. The connection is physically achieved through an electron recollision process, which is the core process of strong-field atomic physics. The laser-driven recolliding electron is able to excite the nucleus, and a simple model is presented to explain this recollision-induced nuclear excitation (RINE) process. The connection of these two research areas provides novel opportunities for each area and intriguing possibilities from the direct three-partite interplay between atomic physics, nuclear physics, and laser physics.

Relativistic density functional theory in nuclear physics

Over the past decades, the relativistic density functional theory has been greatly developed and widely applied to investigate a variety of nuclear phenomena. In this paper, we briefly review the concept of covariant density functional theory in nuclear physics with a few latest applications in describing nuclear ground-state and excitation properties as well as nuclear dynamics. Moreover, attempts to build a microscopic and universal density functional are also discussed in terms of the successful fully self-consistent relativistic Brueckner–Hartree–Fock calculations.

The influence of the nuclear surface diffuseness on the transition charge densities.

Proton partial occupancies of the nuclear surface orbits are used in a modified shell model approach to study isoscalar dipole transition charge densities and form factors for self-conjugate nuclei. The energy-weighted sum-rules of Harakeh-Dieperink for both the transition form factor and transition charge density are modified so as fractional occupation probabilities of the states may be used. The partial occupancies of the surface n/j-levels are determined by fitting to the experimental inelastic scattering data and compared with those found previously in the study of nuclear ground state properties

Nuclear Structure Investigation of Some Ni-Isotopes Using Skyrme-Hartree-Fock Method

The nuclear ground-state structure of some Nickel (58-66Ni) isotopes has been investigated within the framework of the mean field approach using the self-consist Hartree-Fock calculations (HF) including the effective interactions of Skyrme. The Skyrme parameterizations SKM, SKM*, SI, SIII, SKO, SKE, SLY4, SKxs15, SKxs20 and SKxs25 have been utilized with HF method to study the nuclear ground state charge, mass, neutron and proton densities with the corresponding root mean square radii, charge form factors, binding energies and neutron skin thickness. The deduced results led to specifying one set or more of Skyrme parameterizations that used to achieve the best agreement with the available experimental data.

Evolution of nuclear spin-orbit splittings with Skyrme functional SAMi-T

A new Skyrme functional has been developed with tensor term guided by ab initio relativistic Brueckner-Hartree-Fock (RBHF) studies on neutron-proton drops. Instead of extracting information on the tensor force from experimental single-particle energy splittings, the RBHF calculations do not contain beyond mean-field effects such as particle-vibration coupling and therefore the information on the tensor force can be obtained without ambiguities. The new functional gives a good description of nuclear ground-state properties aswell as various giant resonances. The description for the evolution of single-particle energy splittings is also improved by the new functional.