In this work, we study the elastic scattering of some light particles, such as ${}^2\mathrm{H}, {}^3\mathrm{H}, {}^3\mathrm{He}$, and ${}^4\mathrm{He}$, by heavy target nuclei with an extended Watanabe model, which uses as input the neutron-nucleus and proton-nucleus optical potentials and the ground-state wave functions of the projectile. The nucleon-nucleus optical potential used in this work was obtained within a semimicroscopic nuclear matter approach, whose real and imaginary parts are provided by the first- and second-order terms, respectively, of the Taylor expansion of the Brueckner-Hartree-Fock mass operator obtained with the reaction $G$ matrix built up with the Gogny force [J. Lopez Moraña and X. Viñas, J. Phys. G 48, 035104 (2021)]. The angular distributions of the scattering of ${}^2\mathrm{H}, {}^3\mathrm{H}, {}^3\mathrm{He}$, and ${}^4\mathrm{He}$ from different target nuclei and at different incident energies of the projectile computed with this model are analyzed. The reaction cross sections corresponding to some of these scattering processes are also calculated. Our results are compared with the experimental values as well as with another Watanabe calculation where the nucleon-nucleus optical potential is provided by the phenomenological Köning-Delaroche model. The limitations of the extended Watanabe model used in this work are also discussed.

The α-decay properties of the two isotopes ${}^{298}120$ and ${}^{299}120$ are studied in the paper. The decay energies are calculated using five different mass tables and are compared with the experimental results. The discrepancy between experimental and the calculated $Q$ value is found to be minimum while using the purely microscopic Hartree-Fock-Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer mass model. The α-decay half-lives of the isotopes are calculated using the Coulomb and proximity potential model for deformed nuclei and other theoretical formalisms. The sensitivity of half-lives to the $Q$ value is evident from the study. The length of the decay chain for the isotopes is found out by comparing the α half-lives with the corresponding spontaneous fission half-lives calculated using the shell-effect-dependent formula. The paper shows that the isotopes ${}^{298}120$ and ${}^{299}120$ will decay via the 4α chain followed by spontaneous fission. The predicted half-lives are well within the experimental limit.

The decay properties of ${}^{133}\mathrm{In}$ were studied in detail at the ISOLDE Decay Station. The implementation of the Resonance Ionization Laser Ion Source allowed separate measurements of its $9/2^{+}$ ground state (${}^{133g}\mathrm{In}$) and $1/2^{-}$ isomer (${}^{133m}\mathrm{In}$). With the use of $\beta$-delayed neutron and $\gamma$ spectroscopy, the decay strengths above the neutron separation energy were quantified in this neutron-rich nucleus for the first time. The allowed Gamow-Teller transition $9/2^{+}\to 7/2^{+}$ was located at 5.93 MeV in the ${}^{133g}\mathrm{In}$ decay with a $\log ft=4.7\left(1\right)$. In addition, several neutron-unbound states were populated at lower excitation energies by the first-forbidden decays of ${}^{133g,m}\mathrm{In}$. We assigned spins and parities to those neutron-unbound states based on the $\beta$-decay selection rules, the $\log ft$ values, and systematics.

The ${}^{111,112,113}\mathrm{Sn}$ isotopes have been studied with ($p,d\gamma$), ($p,p^{\prime }\gamma$), and ($d,p\gamma$) reactions to extract the nuclear level densities (NLDs) and $\gamma$-ray strength functions (GSFs) of these nuclei below the neutron separation energy by means of the Oslo method. The experimental NLDs for all three nuclei demonstrate a trend compatible with the constant-temperature model below the neutron separation energy while also being in good agreement with the NLDs of neighboring Sn isotopes, obtained previously with the Oslo-type and neutron evaporation experiments. The extracted microcanonical entropies yield $\approx 1.5 k_B$ entropy of a valence neutron in both ${}^{111}\mathrm{Sn}$ and ${}^{113}\mathrm{Sn}$. Moreover, the deduced microcanonical temperatures indeed suggest a clear constant-temperature behavior above $\approx 3$ MeV in ${}^{111,113}\mathrm{Sn}$ and above $\approx 4.5$ MeV in ${}^{112}\mathrm{Sn}$. We observe signatures for the first broken neutron pairs between 2 and 4 MeV in all three nuclei. The GSFs obtained with the Oslo method are found to be in good agreement below the neutron threshold with the strengths of ${}^{112,114}\mathrm{Sn}$ extracted in the ($p,p^{\prime }$) Coulomb excitation experiments.

The chiral magnetic wave (CMW) has been theorized to propagate in the deconfined nuclear medium formed in high-energy heavy-ion collisions and to cause a difference in elliptic flow ($v_2$) between negatively and positively charged hadrons. Experimental data consistent with the CMW have been reported by the STAR Collaboration at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), based on the charge asymmetry dependence of the pion $v_2$ from $\mathrm{Au}+\mathrm{Au}$ collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=27$ to 200 GeV. In this comprehensive study, we present the STAR measurements of elliptic flow and triangular flow of charged pions, along with the $v_2$ of charged kaons and protons, as a function of charge asymmetry in $\mathrm{Au}+\mathrm{Au}$ collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=27$, 39, 62.4, and 200 GeV. The slope parameters extracted from the linear dependence of the $v_2$ difference on charge asymmetry for different particle species are reported and compared in different centrality intervals. In addition, the slopes of $v_2$ for charged pions in small systems, i.e., $p+\mathrm{Au}$ and $d+\mathrm{Au}$ at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=200$ GeV, are also presented and compared with those in large systems, i.e., $\mathrm{Au}+\mathrm{Au}$ at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=200$ GeV and $\text{U}+\text{U}$ at 193 GeV. Our results provide new insights for the possible existence of the CMW and further constrain the background contributions in heavy-ion collisions at RHIC energies.

A common alternative to the standard assumption of nucleonic composition of matter in the interior of a neutron star is to include strange baryons, particularly hyperons. Any change in composition of the neutron star core has an effect on $g$-mode oscillations of neutron stars, through the compositional dependence of the equilibrium and adiabatic sound speeds. We study the core $g$ modes of a neutron star containing hyperons, using a variety of relativistic mean field models of dense matter that satisfy observational constraints on global properties of neutron stars. Our selected models predict a sharp rise in the $g$-mode frequencies upon the onset of strange baryons. Should $g$ modes be observed in the near future, their frequency could be used to test the presence of hyperonic matter in the core of neutron stars.

The nuclear absorption of antiprotons from atomic states is discussed. The formation of $\pi$ mesons and measurements of mesonic charge distributions yield information on the structure of nuclear surface in particular on neutron skin thickness in some nuclei. Our purpose is to develop a procedure for analyzing the results of the PUMA experiment, envisaged to study the nuclear surface of unstable nuclei. The procedure is tested on old experiments in stable nuclei. The first step is to extract, from charge distributions, the parameters describing final state absorption and charge-exchange interactions of the mesons. In parallel, these parameters are calculated in terms of pion optical potentials. In this way one learns the atomic states from which the absorption happens. This information, together with the knowledge of initial mesonic spectra, make it possible to extract the neutron skin thickness. Pionization studies may become a powerful method for studying nuclear surface because pionic charge measurements offer data that complement standard x-ray measurements.

The correlation between the charge radii differences in mirror nuclei pairs and the neutron skin thickness has been studied with the so-called finite range simple effective interaction over a wide mass region. The so far precisely measured charge radii difference data within their experimental uncertainty ranges in the ${}^{34}\mathrm{Ar}\text{−}{}^{34}\mathrm{S}$, ${}^{36}\mathrm{Ca}\text{−}{}^{36}\mathrm{S}$, ${}^{38}\mathrm{Ca}\text{−}{}^{38}\mathrm{Ar}$, and ${}^{54}\mathrm{Ni}\text{−}{}^{54}\mathrm{Fe}$ mirror pairs are used to ascertain an upper limit for the slope parameter of the nuclear symmetry energy $L\approx 100$ MeV. This limiting value of $L$ is found to be consistent with the upper bound of the NICER PSR $\mathrm{J}0740+6620$ constraint at $1\sigma$ level for the radius $R_{1.4}$ of $1.4M_{\odot }$ neutron stars. The lower bound of the NICER $R_{1.4}$ data constrains the lower limit of $L$ to $\approx 70$ MeV. Within the range for $L=70–100$ MeV the tidal deformability ${\mathrm{\Lambda }}^{1.4}$ constraint, which is extracted from the GW170817 event at $2\sigma$ level, and the recent PREX-2 and CREX data on the neutron skin thickness are discussed.

Evaporation residue cross sections (ERCSs) for heavy-ion fusion reactions are calculated by using the dinuclear system model combined with the statistical model. The calculated results reproduce well the experimental trends of the $3n$ and $4n$ channel cross sections of ${}^{48}\mathrm{Ca}+{}^{238}\mathrm{U}$, ${}^{48}\mathrm{Ca}+{}^{244}\mathrm{Pu}$, and ${}^{48}\mathrm{Ca}+{}^{248}\mathrm{Cm}$. To synthesize a new element $Z=120$, we predicted evaporation residue cross sections for four reaction systems $({}^{54}\mathrm{Cr}+{}^{248}\mathrm{Cm},$ ${}^{58}\mathrm{Fe}+{}^{244}\mathrm{Pu},$ ${}^{64}\mathrm{Ni}+{}^{238}\mathrm{U}, \mathrm{and} {}^{50}\mathrm{Ti}+{}^{249}\mathrm{Cf})$ to select the most promising projectile-target combinations. From detailed analysis of the evaporation residue cross section of synthetic superheavy nuclei, we found that the ${}^{54}\mathrm{Cr}+{}^{248}\mathrm{Cm}$ reaction is optimal and the maximum cross sections of the $3n$ and $4n$ channels are 17.58 and 1.09 fb. However, we also noticed that the ERCSs for the ${}^{54}\mathrm{Cr}+{}^{248}\mathrm{Cm}$ reaction channel predicted by our model and various other approaches are all in the range of a few femtobarns, which appears to be below the detectable limit of the currently available facilities. Thus, an increase of beam intensities, detection techniques, and efficient separation are needed to synthesize $Z=120$ superheavy nuclei.

In relativistic heavy-ion collisions, the longitudinal fluctuations of the fireball density caused, e.g., by fluctuations in the number of stopped baryons result in event-by-event modifications of the shape of the proton rapidity density distribution. The multiparticle rapidity correlation functions due to the varying distribution width of the proton rapidity density in central $\text{Au}+\text{Au}$ collisions at low energies are derived. The cumulant ratios are calculated and discussed in the context of the recent STAR Collaboration results. We find that for small fluctuations in the width of the proton rapidity distribution, the cumulant ratios are independent of the underlying width distribution. It is also emphasized that the cumulant ratios strongly depend on the size of the rapidity interval.

Parity-violating electron scattering (PVES) serves as an effective and model-independent method to investigate the spatial distributions of neutrons in nuclei. The existing PVES model assumes spherical neutron density distributions, while many nuclei show deformation. In this paper, we develop a deformed PVES model, which combines the deformed relativistic mean-field model and the distorted wave Born approximation, to evaluate how the deformation of the neutron density affects the parity-violating asymmetry $A_{\text{PV}}$. Our calculations demonstrate that the deformed PVES model is capable of recovering the $A_{\text{PV}}$ results for spherical nuclei. Moreover, for deformed odd-$A$ nuclei, the deformed PVES model provides larger $A_{\text{PV}}$ calculations around the diffraction minima. These findings suggest that PVES can be used to extract the neutron deformation and construct a comprehensive understanding of the neutron structure in nuclei.

The $Q=4.4398$ MeV ${}^{12}\mathrm{C}(n,n\text{'}\gamma )$ cross section was measured using a white incident neutron source through the detection of $\gamma$ rays only and $n\text{−}\gamma$ coincidences using a segmented liquid scintillator detector array. While the $n\text{−}\gamma$ technique utilized here is more generally applicable to a wide variety of neutron scattering measurements, the $\gamma$-only technique was successfully applied to this reaction to exploit the precise time resolution and high efficiency of this detection system to yield results with unprecedented statistical precision and total uncertainties $<2\%$ from reaction threshold up to 16 MeV incident neutron energy, clearly resolving many features in this reaction that were previously not well known. The $\gamma$-only and $n\text{−}\gamma$ results are consistent with each other for the majority of the incident energy range covered in this paper, thereby lending validation to the $n\text{−}\gamma$ technique for future measurements, though significant disagreements are observed between both results and with the ENDF/B-VIII.0 nuclear data evaluation. These differences are particularly noticeable in the recently evaluated energy range below 6.5 MeV, and also near 14 MeV where a “sawtooth”-like feature is observed similar to that in other ${}^{12}\mathrm{C}+n$ reaction channels. Both $\gamma$-only and $n\text{−}\gamma$ results are presented here with thorough covariance derivations.

We investigate the effect of flow fluctuations, incorporated in non-boost-invariant blast-wave model, on kinetic freeze-out parameters of identified hadrons in low energy relativistic heavy-ion collisions. For the purpose of this study, we use the transverse momentum spectra of the identified hadrons produced in central Pb–Pb collisions, at CERN Super Proton Synchrotron energies ranging from $E_{\mathrm{lab}}=20A\text{–}158A$ GeV, and analyze them within a modified non-boost-invariant blast wave model. We perform simultaneous fits of the transverse momentum spectra for light hadrons $({\pi }^{-}$, $K^{\pm },$ $p)$ and heavy strange hadrons $(\mathrm{\Lambda },$ $\overline{\mathrm{\Lambda }},$ $\varphi ,$ ${\mathrm{\Xi }}^{\pm },$ ${\mathrm{\Omega }}^{\pm })$ separately. We also fit the transverse momentum spectra of charmonia $(J/\mathrm{\Psi },$ ${\mathrm{\Psi }}^{\prime })$ at $E_{\mathrm{lab}}=158A$ GeV. Our findings suggest that the inclusion of flow fluctuations enhances kinetic freeze-out temperature in case of light and heavy strange hadrons and reduces the corresponding transverse flow velocities. Moreover, we find that the kinetic freeze-out parameters of the charmonia at $E_{\mathrm{lab}}=158A$ GeV are least affected by inclusion of flow fluctuations. Based on this, we make predictions which can provide further insights on the role of flow fluctuations in relativistic heavy-ion collisions.

Two triaxial states of the proton-decaying nucleus ${}^{147}\mathrm{Tm}$ were studied via a comparison of experimental data to results obtained through nonadiabatic quasiparticle calculations. The experimental data were collected in a recoil-decay tagging study using the vacuum-mode recoil separator MARA coupled with the JUROGAM3 $\gamma$-ray spectrometer. The previously proposed level scheme above the triaxial $11/2^{-}$ $\left(\pi h_{11/2}\right)$ ground state was confirmed, and the level structure was expanded to cover the states above the weakly populated proton-emitting $5/2^{+}$ $\left(\pi d_{5/2}\right)$ isomeric state. It was found that the isomeric state is also triaxial, and possibly more deformed than the ground state.

More than 200 states up to 4.1 MeV excitation have been populated in ${}^{168}\mathrm{Er}$ with the ${}^{170}\mathrm{Er}(p,t)$ reaction at 25 MeV incident energy. About 80 of these states, with $0^{+}$ and $2^{+}$ assignments, were reported in a previous publication [D. Bucurescu et al., Phys. Rev. C 73, 064309 (2006)]. The present work considerably enriches the knowledge of this nucleus. A multistep coupled-channels analysis of the angular distributions is now presented for all the states observed in this experiment. Spin and parity values between $0^{+}$ and $7^{-}$ are newly assigned for more than 100 states. For the states already reported in the ENSDF database with $J^{\pi }$ values there is a good agreement with our values. The ${}^{168}\mathrm{Er}$ nucleus remains one of the best experimentally known nuclei for states with low and medium spins below 4 MeV excitation energy, representing a challenge for future microscopic structure model calculations aiming to disentangle the contributions of different excitation degrees of freedom.

The degree of collectivity of the pygmy dipole resonance (PDR) is an open question. Recently, Ries et al. suggested the onset of the PDR beyond $N=28$ based on the observation of a significant $E1$ strength increase in the Cr isotopes and proposed that the PDR has its origin in a few-nucleon effect. Earlier, Inakura et al. had predicted by performing systematic calculations using the random-phase approximation (RPA) with the Skyrme functional SkM* that the $E1$ strength of the PDR strongly depends on the position of the Fermi level and that it displays a clear correlation with the occupation of orbits with orbital angular momenta less than $3\hslash (l\le 2)$. To further investigate the microscopic structures causing the possible formation of a PDR beyond the $N=28$ neutron shell closure, we performed a ${}^{61}\mathrm{Ni}(d,p){}^{62}\mathrm{Ni}$ experiment at the John D. Fox Superconducting Linear Accelerator Laboratory of Florida State University. To determine the angular momentum transfer populating possible $J^{\pi }=1^{-}$ states and other excited states of ${}^{62}\mathrm{Ni}$, angular distributions and associated single-neutron transfer cross sections were measured with the Super-Enge Split-Pole Spectrograph. A number of $J^{\pi }=1^{-}$ states were observed below the neutron-separation threshold after being populated through $l=2$ angular momentum transfers. A comparison to available $(\gamma ,{\gamma }^{\prime })$ data for ${}^{58,60}\mathrm{Ni}$ provides evidence that the $B\left(E1\right)$ strength shifts further down in energy. The $(d,p)$ data clearly prove that $l=0$ strength, i.e., the neutron ${\left(2p_{3/2}\right)}^{-1}{\left(3s_{1/2}\right)}^{+1}$ one-particle–one-hole configuration, plays only a minor role for $1^{-}$ states below the neutron-separation threshold in ${}^{62}\mathrm{Ni}$.

Transitions between different states of matter and their thermodynamic properties are described by the Equation of State (EoS). A universal representation of the EoS of quantum chromodynamics for the wide range of phase diagrams has yet to be determined. The expectation of the systems to undergo various types of transitions depending on the temperature ($T$), the chemical potential (${\mu }_B$), and other thermodynamic features make solving that puzzle challenging. Furthermore, it needs to be apparent which experimentally measurable observables could provide helpful information for determining EoS. The application of different EoS for hydrodynamical evolution was introduced in the EPOS3 generator, which allows one to study its changing effect on the experimental observables. The family of EoS proposed by the BEST Collaboration was implemented. The critical point location and the strength of criticality variations were investigated with particle yield, transverse momentum spectra, flow, and moments of the net-proton distributions.

The interior of mature neutron stars is expected to contain superfluid neutrons and superconducting protons. The influence of temperature and currents on superfluid properties is studied within the self-consistent time-dependent nuclear energy-density functional theory. We find that this theory predicts the existence of a regime in which nucleons are superfluid (the order parameter remains finite) even though the energy spectrum of quasiparticle excitations exhibits no gap. We show that the disappearance of the gap leads to a specific heat that is not exponentially suppressed at low temperatures as in the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer regime but can be comparable to that in the normal phase. Introducing some dimensionless effective superfluid velocity, we show that the behavior of the specific heat is essentially universal and we derive general approximate analytical formulas for applications to neutron-star cooling simulations.

Experimental studies of nuclear matrix elements (NMEs) for neutrinoless double-$\beta$ decays (DBDs) and astro-neutrino $\left(\nu \right)$ inverse $\beta$ decays (IBDs) are crucial for $\nu$ studies beyond the standard model and the astro-$\nu$ studies since accurate theoretical calculations of the NMEs are hard due to the high sensitivity of the NMEs to the nuclear models and the nuclear parameters used for the models. Some of the important NMEs of electromagnetic transition operators associated with DBD and IBD, including the effective weak couplings, are found to be experimentally obtained by measuring the corresponding electromagnetic gamma (EM:$\gamma )$ transitions from the isobaric analog states (IASs) of the DBD and IBD nuclei. Then the experimental NMEs and the couplings are used for evaluating the DBD and IBD NMEs and for checking the model calculations. The EM-NMEs, the cross sections, and the event rates for the IAS-$\gamma$ transitions are estimated for DBD and IBD nuclei to show the feasibility of the experiments.

We investigate the weak decay of one-neutron halo nuclei into the proton-core continuum, i.e., $\beta$-delayed proton emission from the halo nucleus using a cluster effective field theory for halo nuclei. On the one hand, we calculate the direct decay into the continuum. On the other hand, we consider the case of resonant final state interactions between the proton and the core. We present our formalism and discuss the application to the decay of ${}^{11}\mathrm{Be}$ in detail. Moreover, we compare to recent experimental results for the branching ratio and resonance parameters. As another example, we consider the case of ${}^{19}\mathrm{C}$ and predict the branching ratio for $\beta$-delayed proton emission.