We present, using the dynamically constrained phase-space coalescence model, to investigate the centrality dependence of light (anti)nuclei and (anti)hypertriton production based on the $6.2\times {10}^7$ hadronic final states generated by the paciae model in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=200$ GeV in $\left|y\right|<1$ and $p_T<5$ acceptances. We found that the yields of light (anti)nuclei and (anti)hypertriton strongly depend on the centrality, i.e., their yields decrease rapidly with the increase of centrality bins; but their yield ratios are independent of centrality. These theoretical results are consistent with STAR and PHENIX data. Furthermore, we found that the yields of light (anti)nuclei and (anti)hypertriton per participant nucleon increase linearly with the increase of the number of participants, and this distribution property depends on the mass number of the matter produced.

The photoproduction processes $\gamma p\to a_0\left(980\right)p$ and $\gamma p\to f_0\left(980\right)p$ at energies close to threshold are considered. These reactions are studied in the $\pi \pi p$, $\pi \eta p$, and $K\overline{K}p$ channels. Production cross sections are estimated in different models. The role of the $a_0^0-f_0$ mixing is examined in the invariant $\pi \pi$-, $\pi \eta$-, and $K\overline{K}$-mass spectra.

Within the Dirac-Brueckner-Hartree-Fock approach, using the Bonn potentials, we investigate the properties of dense, asymmetric nuclear matter and apply it to neutron stars. In the actual calculations of the nucleon self-energies and the energy density of matter, we study in detail the validity of an angle-averaged approximation and an averaging of the total momentum squared of interacting two-nucleons in nuclear matter. For practical use, we provide convenient parametrizations for the equation of state for symmetric nuclear matter and pure neutron matter. We also parametrize the nucleon self-energies in terms of polynomials of nucleon momenta. Those parametrizations can accurately reproduce the numerical results up to high densities.

A new experimental evaluation of the quenching factor for nuclear recoils in NaI[Tl] is described. Systematics affecting previous measurements are addressed by careful characterization of the emission spectrum of the neutron source, use of a small scintillator coupled to an ultra-bialkali high-quantum-efficiency photomultiplier, and evaluation of nonlinearities in the electron recoil response via Compton scattering. A trend towards a rapidly diminishing quenching factor with decreasing sodium recoil energy is revealed. Additionally, no evidence for crystal lattice channeling of low-energy recoiling ions is found in a scintillator of known crystallographic orientation. A discussion on how these findings affect dark matter searches employing NaI[Tl] (e.g., DAMA/LIBRA) is offered.

Ab initio quantum mechanical methods based on the Hartree-Fock approach are used to study the probability of electron capture by the ${}^7$Be nucleus in the ${}^7$BeO crystal and the $\beta$ phase of the ${}^7$Be(OH)${}_2$ crystal modeled as clusters subjected to external pressure. Calculated rates of the increase of the ${}^7$Be nuclear decay constant $\lambda$ with pressure in these compounds are substantially smaller than the values found experimentally. We discuss possible reasons for discrepancy between the theory and the experiment. In particular, we demonstrate that the increase of $\lambda$ in ${}^7$BeO can be accounted for by the discussed phase transformation from the wurtzite to the rock-salt structure.

In this Brief Report we investigate excited yrast states under random interactions in the framework of the fermion dynamical symmetry model, for the ensemble with spin-0 ground states. Interesting correlations are seen between $R_6$ and $R_4$ (where $R_I\equiv E_{I_1^{+}}/E_{2_1^{+}}$) by using the Mallmann plot, for cases with both SP(6) symmetry and SO(8) symmetry.

The ${}^{20}$Ne${(p,\gamma )}^{21}$Na reaction is the starting point of the NeNa cycle, which is an important process for the production of intermediate mass elements. The $E_{\text{c.m.}}=1113$ keV resonance plays an important role in the determination of stellar rates for this reaction since it is used to normalize experimental direct capture yields at lower energies. The commonly accepted strength of this resonance, $\omega \gamma =1.13\pm 0.07$ eV, has been misinterpreted as the strength in the center-of-mass frame when it is actually the strength in the laboratory frame. This has motivated a new measurement of the $E_{\text{c.m.}}=1113$ keV resonance strength in ${}^{20}$Ne${(p,\gamma )}^{21}$Na using the DRAGON recoil mass spectrometer. The DRAGON result, $0.972\pm 0.11$ eV, is in good agreement with the accepted value when both are calculated in the same frame of reference.

By using the dinuclear system approach combined with quantum diffusion and statistical methods, the population of the yrast superdeformed band in the ${}^{152}$Dy nucleus is treated. The excitation functions are calculated and analyzed for the population of the superdeformed states in $xn$, $pxn$, and $\alpha xn$ evaporation channels of different asymmetric and almost symmetric reactions. The dependencies of the relative intensities of $E2$ transitions between the rotational states of the superdeformed band on the de-excitation channels, charge asymmetry of the entrance channel, and beam energy are established. The restrictions of the population of the superdeformed band in spin by complete fusion and quasifission processes are shown. The calculated results are compared with the available experimental data.

We show that all central rapidity hadron yields measured in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathit{NN}}}=2.76$ TeV are well described by the chemical nonequilibrium statistical hadronization model (SHM), where the chemically equilibrated quark-gluon plasma source breaks up directly into hadrons. SHM parameters are obtained as a function of centrality of colliding ions, and we compare CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) results with Brookhaven National Laboratory Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) results. We predict yields of unobserved hadrons and address antimatter production. The physical properties of the quark-gluon plasma fireball particle source show universality of hadronization conditions at LHC and RHIC.

We present a new approach to quantifying pole parameters of single-channel processes based on a Laurent expansion of partial-wave $T$ matrices in the vicinity of the real axis. Instead of using the conventional power-series description of the nonsingular part of the Laurent expansion, we represent this part by a convergent series of Pietarinen functions. As the analytic structure of the nonsingular part is usually very well known (physical cuts with branch points at inelastic thresholds, and unphysical cuts in the negative energy plane), we find that one Pietarinen series per cut represents the analytic structure fairly reliably. The number of terms in each Pietarinen series is determined by the quality of the fit. The method is tested in two ways: on a toy model constructed from two known poles, various background terms, and two physical cuts, and on several sets of realistic $\pi$N elastic energy-dependent partial-wave amplitudes (GWU/SAID [Arndt et al., Phys. Rev. C 74, 045205 (2006); Workman et al., Phys. Rev. C 86, 035202 (2012)], and Dubna-Mainz-Taipei [Chen et al., Phys. Rev. C 76, 035206 (2007); Tiator et al., Phys. Rev. C 82, 055203 (2010)]). We show that the method is robust and confident using up to three Pietarinen series, and is particularly convenient in fits to amplitudes, such as single-energy solutions, coming more directly from experiment: cases where the analytic structure of the regular part is a priori unknown.

A project of using a target consisting of the mixture of ${}^{249–252}$Cf isotopes to be bombarded with the ${}^{48}$Ca beam, aimed at synthesizing new isotopes of the heaviest known element $Z=118$, is under way at the Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions in Dubna, Russia. In the present work excitation functions for all the reactions ${}^{249}$Cf(${}^{48}$Ca,$xn$)${}^{297–x}$118, ${}^{250}$Cf(${}^{48}$Ca,$xn$)${}^{298–x}$118, ${}^{251}$Cf(${}^{48}$Ca,$xn$)${}^{299–x}$118 and ${}^{252}$Cf(${}^{48}$Ca,$xn$)${}^{300–x}$118 have been calculated in the framework of the fusion-by-diffusion model, assuming fission barriers, ground-state masses, and shell effects of the superheavy nuclei predicted by Kowal et al. Energy dependence of the effective cross sections for the synthesis of the selected new isotopes ${}^{293}$118, ${}^{294}$118, ${}^{295}$118, and ${}^{296}$118 is predicted for the particular isotopic composition of the Cf target prepared for the Dubna experiment.

The ${\gamma }^{*}N\to \Delta \left(1232\right)$ transition is a window onto hadron shape deformation, the applicability of perturbative QCD at moderate momentum transfers, and the influence of nonperturbative phenomena on hadronic observables. We explain that the Ash-convention magnetic transition form factor must fall faster than the neutron's magnetic form factor and that nonzero values for the associated quadrupole ratios reveal the impact of quark orbital angular momentum within the nucleon and $\Delta \left(1232\right)$; and we show that these quadrupole ratios do approach their predicted asymptotic limits, albeit slowly.

Radiative neutron capture reaction was measured in the resolved resonance region for ${}^{152,154,156,158}$Gd targets with the Detector for Advanced Neutron Capture Experiments $\gamma$-ray calorimeter at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center. The $\gamma$-ray energy spectra for different multiplicities were obtained for several $s$-wave resonances in each nucleus. These spectra were analyzed within the extreme statistical model to provide unique information on the photon strength functions and especially on the scissors mode in odd Gd isotopes. The main result of this analysis is that in all nuclei scissors-mode resonances are built on excited levels and not only on their ground states. The strength of the mode found in ${}^{153}$Gd and ${}^{155}$Gd is comparable to the strength observed in well-deformed even-even Gd isotopes while it is substantially higher in ${}^{157,159}$Gd. The difference in observed strengths of the scissors mode indicates an existence of an even-odd effect in this quantity.

Background: Synthesis of a doubly magic spherical nucleus beyond ${}_{82}^{208}$Pb${}_{126}$ is a key question in contemporary nuclear physics. Such nuclei can exist solely because of shell stabilization. As the formation cross section of super heavy elements is prohibitively low, attempts have been made to understand stabilizing effects of closed proton ($Z$) and neutron ($N$) shells in the vicinity of ${}_{82}^{208}$Pb${}_{126}$.

Purpose: The present work attempts to elucidate the stabilizing effect of shell closure, in general, and the same of $Z=82$, in particular.

Methods: The evaporation residue (ER) excitation function and ER-gated $\gamma$-multiplicity distribution have been measured for the reaction ${}^{31}$P + ${}^{170}$Er at a laboratory energy range of 134–172 MeV. The measurements have been carried out using the HYbrid Recoil mass Analyzer (HYRA) in gas-filled mode and a $4\pi$ spin spectrometer consisting of 29 NaI(Tl) detectors. Results of the present reaction have been compared with those of the reaction ${}^{30}$Si + ${}^{170}$Er. Statistical model calculation has been performed for both the systems.

Results: The two reactions, induced by ${}^{30}$Si and ${}^{31}$P projectiles, resulted in compound nuclei (CN) ${}^{200}$Pb ($Z=82$) and ${}^{201}$Bi ($Z=83$), respectively. To reproduce experimental ER cross sections, the liquid drop fission barrier ($B_{\mathrm{f}}$) had to be scaled in the statistical model calculation. The scaling factor ($K_{\mathrm{f}}$) varies from $0.75$ to $1.05$ and $0.90$ to $1.05$ for ${}^{30}$Si and ${}^{31}$P induced reactions, respectively. No significant differences have been found between $\gamma$-multiplicity distribution and the distribution moments of the two systems.

Conclusions: No clear signature has been observed in favor of extra stability of the ERs with closed proton shell ($Z=82$) as $K_{\mathrm{f}}$ values of the two systems match within errors. More exclusive measurements and comparison between more systems forming CN/ER around $Z=82$ are desirable.

We present measurements of three-dimensional correlation functions of like-sign, low-transverse-momentum kaon pairs from $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=200$ GeV $\mathrm{Au}+\mathrm{Au}$ collisions. A Cartesian surface-spherical harmonic decomposition technique was used to extract the kaon source function. The latter was found to have a three-dimensional Gaussian shape and can be adequately reproduced by Therminator event-generator simulations with resonance contributions taken into account. Compared to the pion one, the kaon source function is generally narrower and does not have the long tail along the pair transverse momentum direction. The kaon Gaussian radii display a monotonic decrease with increasing transverse mass $m_{\mathrm{T}}$ over the interval of $0.55\le m_{\mathrm{T}}\le 1.15$ GeV/$c^2$. While the kaon radii are adequately described by the $m_{\mathrm{T}}$ -scaling in the outward and sideward directions, in the longitudinal direction the lowest $m_{\mathrm{T}}$ value exceeds the expectations from a pure hydrodynamical model prediction.

The operator structures that can contribute to three-nucleon forces are classified in the $1/N_c$ expansion. At leading order in $1/N_c$ a spin-flavor-independent term is present, as are the spin-flavor structures associated with the Fujita-Miyazawa three-nucleon force. Modern phenomenological three-nucleon forces are thus consistent with this $\mathcal{O}\left(N_c\right)$ leading force, corrections to which are suppressed by a power series in $1/N_c^2$. A complete basis of operators for the three-nucleon force, including all independent momentum structures, is given explicitly up to next-to-leading order in the $1/N_c$ expansion.

The deformation-dependent mass Kratzer model is constructed by considering the Kratzer potential in a Bohr Hamiltonian, in which the mass is allowed to depend on the nuclear deformation, and solving it by using techniques of supersymmetric quantum mechanics (SUSYQM), involving a deformed shape invariance condition. Analytical expressions for spectra and wave functions are derived for separable potentials in the cases of $\gamma$-unstable nuclei, axially symmetric prolate deformed nuclei, and triaxial nuclei, implementing the usual approximations in each case. Spectra and $B\left(E2\right)$ transition rates are compared to experimental data. The dependence of the mass on the deformation, dictated by SUSYQM for the potential used, moderates the increase of the moment of inertia with deformation, removing a main drawback of the model.

It was recently suggested that the odd-even staggering of reaction cross sections is evidence of the pairing anti-halo effect on projectile radii. We define the dimensionless staggering parameters ${\Gamma }_{\mathrm{rds}}$ and ${\Gamma }_{\mathrm{R}}$ for projectile radii and reaction cross sections, respectively, and analyze the relation between ${\Gamma }_{\mathrm{rds}}$ and ${\Gamma }_{\mathrm{R}}$ for the scattering of ${}^{14,15,16}$C from a ${}^{12}$C target at 83 MeV/nucleon by taking account of projectile-breakup and nuclear-medium effects with the microscopic version of the continuum discretized coupled-channels method. The value of ${\Gamma }_{\mathrm{R}}$ deviates from that of ${\Gamma }_{\mathrm{rds}}$ by the projectile-breakup effect, the nuclear-medium effect, and an effect resulting from the fact that the scattering is not exactly black-sphere scattering (BSS). The projectile-breakup and nuclear medium effects nearly cancel for ${\Gamma }_{\mathrm{R}}$ at low incident energies. The remaining non-BSS effect becomes small as the incident energy decreases, indicating that nucleus-nucleus scattering at lower incident energies can be a good probe for evaluating ${\Gamma }_{\mathrm{rds}}$ from measured reaction cross sections.