We report the low-lying spectrum and collective $\beta$ and $\gamma$ deformation of ${}^{43}$S as investigated by antisymmetrized molecular dynamics. Our result successfully explains the observed data including an isomeric $7/2_1^{-}$ state and illustrates the coexistence of the prolate-deformed ground band with a vanishing $N=28$ shell gap, a triaxially deformed isomeric state, and an oblate-deformed excited band at very low excitation energies.

Based on the Skyrme energy density functional, the spatial distribution of the symmetry energy of a finite nucleus is derived in order to examine whether the symmetry energy of a finite nucleus originates from its interior or from its surface. It is found that the surface part of a heavy nucleus contributes dominantly to its symmetry energy compared to its inner part. The symmetry energy coefficient $a_{\mathrm{sym}}\left(A\right)$ is then directly extracted and the ratio of the surface symmetry coefficient to the volume symmetry coefficient $\kappa$ is estimated. Meanwhile, with the help of experimental alpha-decay energies, a macroscopic method is developed to determine the symmetry energy coefficient of heavy nuclei. The resultant $a_{\mathrm{sym}}\left(A\right)$ is used to analyze the density dependence of the symmetry energy coefficient of nuclear matter around the saturation density, and furthermore, the neutron skin thickness of ${}^{208}\mathrm{Pb}$ is deduced which is consistent with the pygmy dipole resonance analysis. In addition, it is shown that the ratio $\kappa$ obtained from the macroscopic method is in agreement with that from the Skyrme energy density functional. Thus the two completely different approaches may validate each other to achieve more compelling results.

Electron scattering on unstable nuclei is planned in future facilities of the GSI and RIKEN upgrades. Motivated by this fact, we study theoretical predictions for elastic electron scattering in the $N=82$, $N=50$, and $N=14$ isotonic chains from very proton-deficient to very proton-rich isotones. We compute the scattering observables by performing Dirac partial-wave calculations. The charge density of the nucleus is obtained with a covariant nuclear mean-field model that accounts for the low-energy electromagnetic structure of the nucleon. For the discussion of the dependence of scattering observables at low-momentum transfer on the gross properties of the charge density, we fit Helm model distributions to the self-consistent mean-field densities. We find that the changes shown by the electric charge form factor along each isotonic chain are strongly correlated with the underlying proton shell structure of the isotones. We conclude that elastic electron scattering experiments on isotones can provide valuable information about the filling order and occupation of the single-particle levels of protons.

Using a simple model for low-lying positive-parity resonances in ${}^{13}$Be as ${}^{10}$Be $x$ ($sd$)${}^3$ and ${}^{12}$Be${}_{1p}$ $x$ ($sd$), I find that the lowest $5/2^{+}$ state is predominantly ($sd$)${}^3$. I give predictions for several additional states.

We describe and discuss various three-body decay mechanisms for ${}^9$Be(5/2${}^{-}$). We find that its decay to $n+$ ${}^8$Be(2${}^{+}$) is a small fraction of the total decay.

The barrier parameters of weakly and tightly bound nuclei on different target nuclei are obtained by the São Paulo potential, and the total reaction cross sections are obtained from analyzing the experimental elastic scattering data. In order to explore the breakup effects we systematically analyze the total reaction function F($x$) of weakly and tightly bound projectiles on light, medium-mass, and heavy target nuclei in comparison with the universal function F${}_0$($x$). From this comparison, we conclude that the breakup effect is not important for weakly bound projectiles on the light target nuclei, is suppressed on medium-mass and heavy target nuclei above the Coulomb barrier, and, oppositely, is enhanced for some weakly bound projectiles at energies near and below the Coulomb barrier. More experiments need to be performed for some unstable weakly bound nuclei on medium-mass and heavy target nuclei at low energies especially at sub-barrier energies.

The anisotropy of the azimuthal distributions of charged particles produced in $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=2.76$ TeV PbPb collisions is studied with the CMS experiment at the LHC. The elliptic anisotropy parameter, $v_2$, defined as the second coefficient in a Fourier expansion of the particle invariant yields, is extracted using the event-plane method, two- and four-particle cumulants, and Lee-Yang zeros. The anisotropy is presented as a function of transverse momentum ($p_{\mathrm{T}}$), pseudorapidity ($\eta$) over a broad kinematic range, $0.3<p_{\mathrm{T}}<20$ GeV/c, $\left|\eta \right|<2.4$, and in 12 classes of collision centrality from 0 to $80\%$. The results are compared to those obtained at lower center-of-mass energies, and various scaling behaviors are examined. When scaled by the geometric eccentricity of the collision zone, the elliptic anisotropy is found to obey a universal scaling with the transverse particle density for different collision systems and center-of-mass energies.

The reaction ${}^{17}\mathrm{O}(n,\alpha ){}^{14}\mathrm{C}$ was studied at energies from $E_{\mathrm{c}.\mathrm{m}.}=0$ to $E_{\mathrm{c}.\mathrm{m}.}=350\mathrm{keV}$ by using the quasifree deuteron breakup in the three-body reaction ${}^{17}\mathrm{O}+d\to \alpha +{}^{14}\mathrm{C}+p$, which extended the Trojan Horse indirect method (THM) to neutron-induced reactions. It is found that the ${}^{18}\mathrm{O}$ excited state at $E^{*}=8.125\pm 0.002\mathrm{MeV}$, observed in THM experiments, is absent in the direct measurement because of its high centrifugal barrier. The angular distributions of the populated resonances have been measured by using this method. The results unambiguously indicate the ability of the THM to overcome the centrifugal barrier suppression effect and to pick out the contribution of the bare nuclear interaction.

Constraint molecular dynamics (CoMD) calculations have been performed for asymmetric nuclear matter by using a simple effective interaction of the Skyrme type. The set of parameter values reproducing common accepted saturation properties of nuclear matter have been obtained for different degrees of stiffness characterizing the isovectorial potential density dependence. A comparison with results obtained in the limit of the semiclassical mean-field approximation using the same kind of interaction put in evidence the role played by the many-body correlations to explain the noticeable differences obtained in the parameter values in the two cases. Even if, from a numerical point of view, the obtained results are strictly valid for the CoMD model, some rather general feature of the discussed correlations can give a wider meaning to the obtained differences being strongly related to the spacial correlations generated in the semiclassical wave-packet dynamics.

Uncertainties in the nuclear transition matrix elements $M^{\left(0\nu \right)}$ and $M^{\left(0N\right)}$ of the double-positron emission ${\left({\beta }^{+}{\beta }^{+}\right)}_{0\nu }$ and electron-positron conversion ${\left(\varepsilon {\beta }^{+}\right)}_{0\nu }$ modes owing to the exchange of light and heavy Majorana neutrinos, respectively, are calculated for ${}^{96}$Ru, ${}^{102}$Pd, ${}^{106}$Cd, ${}^{124}$Xe, ${}^{130}$Ba, and ${}^{156}$Dy isotopes by employing the PHFB model with four different parametrizations of the pairing plus multipolar two-body interactions and three different parametrizations of the Jastrow short-range correlations. In all cases but for ${}^{130}$Ba the uncertainties are smaller than 14$\%$ for light Majorana neutrino exchange and 35$\%$ for the exchange of a heavy Majorana neutrino.

Results from the production and decay properties of element 115 nuclei observed using the reaction ${}^{243}\mathrm{Am}+{}^{48}\mathrm{Ca}$ at various beam energies between November 1, 2010, and February 26, 2012, at the Dubna Gas Filled Recoil Separator are presented. This long-running experiment with a total beam dose of $3.3\times {10}^{19}$ and carried out in the excitation energy range $E^{*}=31$–47 MeV of the ${}^{291}$115 compound nucleus resulted in observation of three isotopes of element 115 with masses 287, 288, and 289. The 28 detected decay chains of ${}^{288}$115 show that this isotope is produced with the maximum probability at $E^{*}=34.0$–38.3 MeV with a corresponding cross section of ${\sigma }_{3n}=8.5_{-3.7}^{+6.4}$ pb. The four events attributed to the isotope ${}^{289}$115 that decays via a short $\alpha \to \alpha \to \text{SF}$ chain could be detected only at the lowest excitation energy $E^{*}=31$–36 MeV, in accordance with what could be expected for the 2$n$-evaporation channel of the reaction. The decay characteristics of this nuclide were established earlier (2010) and more recently (2012) in the reaction ${}^{249}$Bk(${}^{48}$Ca,4$n$)${}^{293}$117 and following $\alpha$ decay to ${}^{289}$115. At the energy $E^{*}=44.8\pm 2.3$ MeV we observed only a single long chain of the isotope ${}^{287}$115. The decay properties of nuclei starting at ${}^{288}$115 and ${}^{287}$115 isotopes obtained in the present work reproduce in full the results of the first experiment of 2003 that reported the discovery of elements 115 and 113. The excitation functions of the production of the isotopes of element 115 and observation of the isotope ${}^{289}$115 in cross-bombardment reactions with the targets of ${}^{243}$Am and ${}^{249}$Bk provide additional evidence of the identification of the nuclei of elements 115 and 113. The experiments were carried out using the ${}^{48}$Ca beam of the U400 cyclotron of the Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions, JINR.

The Landau parameters obtained from the matrix elements of an effective interaction recently derived within the formalism of correlated basis functions are used to carry out a study of the weak response of neutron matter in the region of low momentum transfer. The proposed approach allows for a consistent description of different interaction effects and can be extended to describe matter at nonvanishing temperature. The results show that interactions lead to a sizable enhancement of the neutrino mean free path in cold neutron matter. The dependence of the mean free path on temperature and neutrino energy is also analyzed.

Background: Charged current pion production gives information on the axial form factors of nucleon resonances. It also introduces a noticeable background to quasielastic measurements on nuclear targets.

Purpose: Understand pion production in neutrino interactions with nucleons and the reaction mechanism in nuclei.

Method: The Giessen Boltzmann-Uehling-Uhlenbeck (GiBUU) model is used for an investigation of neutrino-nucleus reactions.

Results: Theoretical results for integrated and differential cross sections for the MiniBooNE neutrino flux are compared to the data. Two sets of pion production data on elementary targets are used to obtain limits for the neutrino-nucleus reactions.

Conclusions: The MiniBooNE pion production data are approximately consistent with the Brookhaven National Laboratory elementary data if a small flux renormalization is performed while the Argonne National Laboratory input data lead to significantly too low cross sections. A final determination of in-medium effects requires new data on elementary ($p$,$D$) targets.

We discuss the modification of the cumulants of the net baryon and net proton distributions due to the global conservation of baryon number in heavy-ion collisions. Corresponding probability distributions and their cumulants are derived analytically. We show that the conservation of baryon number results in a substantial decrease of higher order cumulants. Based on our studies, we propose an observable that is insensitive to the modifications due to baryon number conservation.

We perform an updated coupled-channel analysis of $\eta$-meson production including all recent photoproduction data on the proton. The dip observed in the differential cross sections at c.m. energies $W=1.68$ GeV is explained by destructive interference between the $S_{11}\left(1535\right)$ and $S_{11}\left(1560\right)$ states. The effect from $P_{11}\left(1710\right)$ is found to be small but still important to reproduce the correct shape of the differential cross section. For the ${\pi }^{-}N\to \eta N$ scattering we suggest a reaction mechanism in terms of the $S_{11}\left(1535\right)$, $S_{11}\left(1560\right)$, and $P_{11}\left(1710\right)$ states. Our conclusion on the importance of the $S_{11}\left(1535\right)$, $S_{11}\left(1560\right)$, and $P_{11}\left(1710\right)$ resonances in the $\eta$-production reactions is in line with our previous results. No strong indication for a narrow state with a width of 15 MeV and the mass of 1680 MeV is found in the analysis. $\eta N$ scattering length is extracted and discussed.

We discuss the mass modifications of $\overline{D}$ and ${\overline{D}}^{*}$ ($B$ and $B^{*}$) mesons in nuclear medium. The heavy quark symmetry for $\overline{D}$ and ${\overline{D}}^{*}$ ($B$ and $B^{*}$) mesons is adopted, and the interaction between a $\overline{D}$ or ${\overline{D}}^{*}$ ($B$ or $B^{*}$) meson and a nucleon is supplied from the pion exchange. We find negative mass shifts for $\overline{D}$ and $B$ mesons, and hence that the $\overline{D}$ and $B$ mesons are bound in the nuclear medium. As applications, we consider the atomic nuclei with a $\overline{D}$ meson, ${}_{\overline{D}}^{40}\mathrm{Ca}$ and ${}_{\overline{D}}^{208}\mathrm{Pb}$, and investigate the energy levels of the $\overline{D}$ meson in each nucleus. We also discuss the mass shifts in the isospin asymmetric nuclear medium, and present a possible phenomenon of distribution of isospin density around a $\overline{D}$ or $B$ meson in nuclear medium. We find that the mass shifts of ${\overline{D}}^{*}$ and $B^{*}$ mesons have large imaginary parts, which would prevent precise study of the energy levels of ${\overline{D}}^{*}$ and $B^{*}$ mesons in nuclei.

The influence of the initial-state structure and the reaction mechanism on three-body decays is investigated using the example of the ${}^6$Be continuum populated in neutron-knockout reactions on ${}^7$Be. The sensitivity of the ${}^6$Be excitation spectrum and the three-body correlations to the different components of the model is demonstrated. It is shown that the spin composition of the initial state may have an overwhelming effect on the three-body continuum. The characteristics and structure of the second $0_2^{+}$ and $2_2^{+}$ states in ${}^6$Be are predicted and the conditions for their reliable observations are formulated. The effects of interference and the alignment of three-body states on the three-body correlations are demonstrated.

The covariant density functional theory with the point-coupling interaction PC-PK1 is compared with new and accurate experimental masses in the element range from 50 to 91. The experimental data are from a mass measurement performed with the storage ring mass spectrometry at Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung (GSI) [Chen et al., Nucl. Phys. A 882, 71 (2012)]. Although the microscopic theory contains only 11 parameters, it agrees well with the experimental data. The comparison is characterized by a rms deviation of 0.859 MeV. For even-even nuclei, the theory agrees within about 600 keV. Larger deviations are observed in this comparison for the odd-A and odd-odd nuclei. Improvements and possible reasons for the deviations are discussed in this contribution as well.

We demonstrate a technique for transferring ${}^{226}$Ra atoms from a three-dimensional magneto-optical trap (MOT) into a standing wave optical dipole trap (ODT) in an adjacent chamber. The resulting small trapping volume (120 $\mu$m in diameter) allows for high control of the electric and magnetic fields applied to the atoms. The atoms are first transferred to a traveling-wave optical dipole trap, which is then translated 46 cm to a science chamber. The atoms are subsequently transferred into an orthogonal standing-wave ODT by application of a one-dimensional MOT along the traveling-wave axis. For each stage, transfer efficiencies exceeding 60$\%$ are demonstrated.

We have computed matter radii for the ground states of ${}^{29–35}$Mg for a variety of reasonable assumptions about the structure of the relevant states. For cases in which the dominant configuration is generally agreed, our computed radii are in good agreement with experimental ones. For cases in which the dominant configuration is unknown or ambiguous, comparisons between the calculated and experimental $R_m$ do not allow a decision as to the preferred configuration.