Test of the Brink-Axel Hypothesis for the Pygmy Dipole Resonance

Photon strength functions and nuclear level densities: invaluable input for nucleosynthesis

The pivotal role of nuclear physics in nucleosynthesis processes is being investigated, in particular the intricate influence of photon strength functions (PSFs) and nuclear level densities (NLDs) on shaping the outcomes of the i-, r- and p-processes. Exploring diverse NLD and PSF model combinations uncovers large uncertainties for (p,[Formula: see text]), (n,[Formula: see text]) and ([Formula: see text],[Formula: see text]) rates across many regions of the nuclear chart. These lead to potentially significant abundance variations of the nucleosynthesis processes and highlight the importance of accurate experimental nuclear data. Theoretical insights and advanced experimental techniques lay the ground work for profound understanding that can be gained of nucleosynthesis mechanisms and the origin of the elements. Recent results further underscore the effect of PSF and NLD data and its contribution to understanding abundance distributions and refining knowledge of the intricate nucleosynthesis processes. This article is part of the theme issue 'The liminal position of Nuclear Physics: from hadrons to neutron stars'.

Comprehensive Test of the Brink-Axel Hypothesis in the Energy Region of the Pygmy Dipole Resonance

The validity of the Brink-Axel hypothesis, which is especially important for numerous astrophysical calculations, is addressed for ^{116,120,124}Sn below the neutron separation energy by means of three independent experimental methods. The γ-ray strength functions (GSFs) extracted from primary γ-decay spectra following charged-particle reactions with the Oslo method and with the shape method demonstrate excellent agreement with those deduced from forward-angle inelastic proton scattering at relativistic beam energies. In addition, the GSFs are shown to be independent of excitation energies and spins of the initial and final states. The results provide a critical test of the generalized Brink-Axel hypothesis in heavy nuclei, demonstrating its applicability in the energy region of the pygmy dipole resonance.

Accessing the Single-Particle Structure of the Pygmy Dipole Resonance in ^{208}Pb

New experimental data on the neutron single-particle character of the Pygmy Dipole Resonance (PDR) in ^{208}Pb are presented. They were obtained from (d,p) and resonant proton scattering experiments performed at the Q3D spectrograph of the Maier-Leibnitz Laboratory in Garching, Germany. The new data are compared to the large suite of complementary, experimental data available for ^{208}Pb and establish (d,p) as an additional, valuable, experimental probe to study the PDR and its collectivity. Besides the single-particle character of the states, different features of the strength distributions are discussed and compared to large-scale shell model (LSSM) and energy-density functional plus quasiparticle-phonon model theoretical approaches to elucidate the microscopic structure of the PDR in ^{208}Pb.

How do we infer shell effects at high-excitation energies? A new spectroscopic probe to search for magic numbers

The nuclear dipole polarizability is mainly governed by the dynamics of the giant dipole resonance and, assuming validity of the brink-Axel hypothesis, has been investigated along with the effects of the low-energy enhancement of the photon strength function for nuclides in medium- and heavy-mass nuclei. Cubic-polynomial fitsto both data sets extrapolated down to a gamma-ray energy of 0.1 MeV show a significantreduction of the nuclear dipole polarizability for semi-magic nuclei, with magic numbers N =28, 50 and 82, which supports shell effects at high-excitation energies in the the quasi-continuum region. This work assigns σ-2 values as sensitive measures of long-range correlations of the nuclear force and provides a new spectroscopic probe to search for “old” and “new” magic numbers at high-excitation energies.

Systematics of the electric dipole response in stable tin isotopes

The electric dipole is an important property of heavy nuclei. Precise information on the electric dipole response provides information on the electric dipole polarisability which in turn allows to extract important constraints on neutron-skin thickness in heavy nuclei and parameters of the symmetry energy. The tin isotope chain is particularly suited for a systematic study of the dependence of the electric dipole response on neutron excess as it provides a wide mass range of accessible isotopes with little change of the underlying structure. Recently an inelastic proton scattering experiment under forward angles including 0º on 112,116,124Sn was performed at the Research Centre for Nuclear Physics (RCNP), Japan with a focus on the low-energy dipole strength and the polarisability. First results are presented here. Using data from an earlier proton scattering experiment on 120Sn the gamma strength function and level density are determined for this nucleus.

Gamma Strength Functions and Level Densities from High-Resolution Proton Scattering under 0°

Inelastic proton scattering at energies of a few 100 MeV and forward angles including 0° provides a novel method to measure gamma strength functions (GSF) in nuclei in an energy range of about 5 – 20 MeV. The experiments provide not only the E1 but also the M1 part of the GSF. The latter is poorly known in heavy nuclei. Comparison with gamma decay data (e.g. from the Oslo method) allows to test the generalised Brink-Axel (BA) hypothesis in the energy region of the pygmy dipole resonance (PDR) crucial for the modelling of (n,γ) and (γ,n) reactions in astrophysical reaction networks. From the two test cases studied, 208Pb remains inconclusive in the energy region of the PDR because of large Porter-Thomas fluctuations due to the small level density (LD), while the BA hypothesis seems to hold in case of 96Mo. A fluctuation analysis of the high-resolution data also provides a direct measure of the LD in the energy region of the isovector giant dipole resonance (IVGDR) well above the neutron threshold, where hardly any experimental information is available. This permits an independent test of the decomposition of GSF and LD in Oslo-type experiments.