The Trojan horse method allows one to extract the cross section of a binary reaction by properly selecting the quasi-free component of a suitable surrogate reaction. A crucial point of its application is the discrimination of the quasi-free contribution to the total reaction yield, requiring the study of the experimental momentum distribution of the adopted Trojan horse nucleus. Deuteron has been largely used as Trojan horse nucleus in $p$- and $n$-induced reactions and the extracted experimental momentum distribution compared with the square of the Hulthén wave function in momentum space, which accounts for the $s$-wave component of the deuteron wave function. Here, the contribution of the $d$-wave has been evaluated, turning out to be negligibly small, thus corroborating the assumptions made so far in Trojan horse experiments where deuteron has been used.

The prompt $\gamma$-ray energy and multiplicity distributions in the spontaneous fission of ${}^{252}$Cf have been measured using a highly segmented 4$\pi$ $\gamma$-ray calorimeter. Corrections were made for both distributions according to the detector response, which is simulated numerically using a model validated with the $\gamma$-ray calibration sources. A comparison of the total $\gamma$-ray energy distribution was made between the measurement and a simulation performed by random sampling of the corrected $\gamma$-ray energy and multiplicity distributions and then transporting those $\gamma$ rays through the response of the detector array. The agreement between the measurement and simulation for the mean energy and width is markedly improved at higher multiplicities compared to the lower ones, illustrating the diminishing correlation between the $\gamma$-ray and multiplicity energy and the stochastic aspect of the prompt $\gamma$ emission in spontaneous fission at higher multiplicities.

Baryon number cumulants are invaluable tools to diagnose the primordial stage of heavy ion collisions if they can be measured. In experiments, however, proton number cumulants have been measured as substitutes. In fact, proton number fluctuations are further modified in the hadron phase and are different from those of the baryon number. We show that the isospin distribution of nucleons at kinetic freeze-out is binomial and factorized. This leads to formulas that express the baryon number cumulants solely in terms of proton number fluctuations, which are experimentally observable.

High-spin states in the ${}_{68}^{164}$Er${}_{96}$ region were studied using ${}^9$Be $+$ ${}^{160}$Gd reactions. Pulsed beam conditions were exploited for enhanced sensitivity to delayed $\gamma$-ray transitions. New isomers were identified in ${}^{161}$Dy, ${}^{163}$Ho, ${}^{162}$Er, and ${}^{165}$Er. The ${}^{162}$Er isomer is interpreted to decay by $E1$ transitions to the ground-state band with a reduced hindrance of $f_{\nu }=33$. A plot of $f_{\nu }$ values for all $\Delta K=7$, $E1$ transitions from two-quasiparticle isomers to the ground-state bands of even-even nuclei reveals only a small influence from the dynamic to kinematic moment-of-inertia ratio, which provides a measure of Coriolis $K$ mixing within the ground-state band. This is interpreted to imply that the relatively low hindrances are due to $K$ mixing in the isomer, caused by a combination of Coriolis and octupole band mixing.

Two isomeric states of ${}^{265}$Sg, i.e., ${}^{265}$Sg${}^a$ and ${}^{265}$Sg${}^b$, proposed in Ch. E. Düllmann and A. Türler [Phys. Rev. C 77, 064320 (2008)] were produced in the ${}^{248}$Cm(${}^{22}$Ne,5$n$)${}^{265}$Sg reaction. Decay properties of ${}^{265}$Sg${}^{a,b}$ were investigated with a rotating-wheel apparatus for $\alpha$ and spontaneous fission (SF) spectrometry under low background conditions attained by a gas-jet transport system coupled to the RIKEN gas-filled recoil ion separator. Based on genetically correlated $\alpha$-$\alpha$(-$\alpha$) and $\alpha$-SF decay chains, 18 and 24 events were assigned to ${}^{265}$Sg${}^a$ and ${}^{265}$Sg${}^b$, respectively. The half-life $T_{1/2}$ and $\alpha$-particle energy $E_{\alpha }$ of ${}^{265}$Sg${}^a$ were measured to be 8.5${}_{-1.6}^{+2.6}$ s and 8.84 $\pm$ 0.05 MeV, respectively, and those of ${}^{265}$Sg${}^b$ were 14.4${}_{-2.5}^{+3.7}$ s and 8.69 $\pm$ 0.05 MeV. As a daughter product of ${}^{265}$Sg${}^{a,b}$, the decay properties of the 3-s isomeric state in ${}^{261}$Rf, i.e., ${}^{261}$Rf${}^b$, were also derived: $T_{1/2}$ $=$ 2.6${}_{-0.5}^{+0.7}$ s, $E_{\alpha }$ $=$ 8.51 $\pm$ 0.06 MeV, and SF branch $b_{\mathit{SF}}$ $=$ 0.82 $\pm$ 0.09. These results confirm and refine the decay pattern suggested for the decay chain ${}^{269}$Hs $\to$ ${}^{265}$Sg${}^{a,b}$ $\to$ ${}^{261}$Rf${}^{a,b}$ $\to$ ${}^{257}$No $\to$ in Düllmann and Türler. The production cross sections for ${}^{265}$Sg${}^a$ and ${}^{265}$Sg${}^b$ were determined to be 180${}_{-60}^{+80}$ and 200${}_{-50}^{+60}$ pb at 117.8 MeV, respectively, and they are discussed by comparing with the literature data as well as the theoretical prediction.

Nuclear fission cross sections induced by deuterons of 4 GeV were measured by the solid state nuclear track detectors technique. The experiments were carried out at the Nuclotron accelerator of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) (LHE), Dubna. Heavy targets such as ${}^{232}$Th, ${}^{235}$U, and ${}^{238}$U as well as ${}^{209}$Bi and ${}^{197}$Au were irradiated by 10${}^{11}$ deuterons. The cross sections for radioactive targets were estimated as σ${}_{\mathrm{f}}$$=$1153 ($\pm$198), 1666 ($\pm$430), 1453 ($\pm$350) mb for ${}^{232}$Th, ${}^{235}$U, ${}^{238}$U, while for ${}^{209}$Bi and ${}^{197}$Au as σ${}_{\mathrm{f}}=206$ ($\pm$46), 92 ($\pm$23), respectively. The comparison of these results with proton-induced fission systematics shows higher fission cross sections when deuterons are used as projectiles. The part of the reaction cross section that fission acquires is found to be much higher for actinide targets than for targets of lower atomic numbers.

The surrogate ratio method has been tested for ($p,d$) and ($p,t$) reactions on uranium nuclei. ${}^{236}$U and ${}^{238}$U targets were bombarded with 28-MeV protons and the light ion recoils and fission fragments were detected using the Silicon Telescope Array for Reaction Studies detector array at the 88-Inch Cyclotron at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The ($p$,$df$) reaction channels on ${}^{236}$U and ${}^{238}$U targets were used as a surrogate to determine the $\sigma$[${}^{236}$U($n$,$f$)]/$\sigma$[${}^{234}$U($n$,$f$)] cross-section ratio. The ($p$,$tf$) reaction channels were also measured with the same targets as a surrogate for the $\sigma$[${}^{235}$U($n$,$f$)]/$\sigma$[(${}^{233}$U($n$,$f$)] ratio. For the ($p$,$df$) and ($p$,$tf$) surrogate measurements, there is good agreement with accepted ($n$,$f$) values over equivalent neutron energy ranges of $E_n=0$–7 MeV and $E_n=0$–5.5 MeV, respectively. An internal surrogate ratio method comparing the ($p,d$) and ($p$,$t$) reaction channels on a single target is also discussed. The $\sigma$[${}^{234}$U($n$,$f$)]/$\sigma$[${}^{233}$U($n$,$f$)] and $\sigma$[${}^{236}$U($n$,$f$)]/$\sigma$[${}^{235}$U($n$,$f$)] cross-section ratios are extracted using this method for the ${}^{236}$U and ${}^{238}$U targets, respectively. The resulting fission cross-section ratios show relatively good agreement with accepted values up to $E_n\sim 5$ MeV.

We explore the phase structure of a chiral model of constituent quarks and gluons implementing scale symmetry breaking at finite temperature and chemical potential. In this model the chiral dynamics is intimately linked to the trace anomaly saturated by a dilaton field. The thermodynamics is governed by two condensates, thermal expectation values of $\sigma$ and dilaton fields, which are the order parameters responsible for the phase transitions associated with the chiral and scale symmetries. Within the mean-field approximation, we find that with increasing temperature, a system experiences a chiral phase transition, and then a first-order phase transition of partial scale symmetry restoration characterized by a melting gluon condensate takes place at a higher temperature. There exists a region at finite chemical potential where the scale symmetry remains dynamically broken while the chiral symmetry is restored. We also give a brief discussion on the $\sigma$-meson mass constrained from lattice QCD.

The anti-$D$ meson self-energy is evaluated self-consistently, using unitarized coupled-channel theory, by computing the in-medium meson-baryon $T$ matrix in the $C=-1,S=0$ sector. The heavy pseudo-scalar and heavy vector mesons, $\overline{D}$ and ${\overline{D}}^{*}$, are treated on equal footing as required by heavy-quark spin symmetry. Results for energy levels and widths of $D^{-}$ mesic atoms in ${}^{12}\text{C}$, ${}^{40}\text{Ca}$, ${}^{118}\text{Sn}$, and ${}^{208}\text{Pb}$ are presented. The spectrum contains states of atomic and of nuclear types for all nuclei. ${\overline{D}}^0$-nucleus bound states are also obtained. We find that, after electromagnetic and nuclear cascade, these systems end up with the $\overline{D}$ bound in the nucleus, either as a meson or as part of an exotic $\overline{D}N$ (pentaquark) loosely bound state.

The $Q$ value of the double-electron capture in ${}^{108}$Cd has been determined to be (272.04 $\pm$ 0.55) keV in a direct measurement with the double-Penning trap mass spectrometer TRIGA-TRAP. Based on this result a resonant enhancement of the decay rate of ${}^{108}$Cd is excluded. We have confirmed the double-$\beta$ transition $Q$ values of ${}^{106}$Cd and ${}^{110}$Pd recently measured with the Penning-trap mass spectrometers SHIPTRAP and ISOLTRAP, respectively. Furthermore, the atomic masses of the involved nuclides (${}^{106,108,110}$Cd, ${}^{106,108,110}$Pd) have been directly linked to the atomic mass standard.

Using realistic wave functions, the proton-neutron and proton-proton momentum distributions in ${}^3$He and ${}^4$He are calculated as a function of the relative, $k_{\mathrm{rel}}$, and center of mass, $K_{\mathrm{c}.\mathrm{m}.}$, momenta and the angle between them. For large values of $k_{\mathrm{rel}}\gtrsim$ 2 fm${}^{-1}$ and small values of $K_{\mathrm{c}.\mathrm{m}.}\lesssim 1.0$ fm${}^{-1}$, both distributions are angle independent and decrease with increasing $K_{\mathrm{c}.\mathrm{m}.}$, with the $pn$ distribution factorizing into the deuteron momentum distribution times a rapidly decreasing function of $K_{\mathrm{c}.\mathrm{m}.}$, in agreement with the two-nucleon (2$N$) short-range correlation (SRC) picture. When $K_{\mathrm{c}.\mathrm{m}.}$ and $k_{\mathrm{rel}}$ are both large, the distributions exhibit a strong angle dependence, which is evidence of three-nucleon (3$N$) SRC. The predicted center of mass and angular dependence of 2N and 3N SRC should be observable in two-nucleon knock-out processes $A(e,e^{\prime }pN)X$.

For the first time, the shell structure of open-shell nuclei is described in a fully self-consistent extension of the covariant energy density functional theory. The approach implies quasiparticle-vibration coupling for superfluid systems. A one-body Dyson equation formulated in the doubled quasiparticle space of Dirac spinors is solved for nucleonic propagators in tin isotopes which represent the reference case: The obtained energies of the single-quasiparticle levels and their spectroscopic amplitudes are in agreement with data. The model is applied to describe the shell evolution in a chain of superheavy isotopes ${}^{292,296,300,304}$120 and finds a rather stable proton spherical shell closure at $Z=120$. An interplay of the pairing correlations and the quasiparticle-phonon coupling gives rise to a smooth evolution of the neutron shell gap between $N=172$ and $N=184$ neutron numbers. Vibrational corrections to the alpha-decay energies reach several hundred keV and can be either positive or negative, thus also smearing out the shell effects.

We derive equations for fluid dynamics from a non-extensive Boltzmann transport equation consistent with Tsallis’ non-extensive entropy formula. We evaluate transport coefficients employing the relaxation time approximation and investigate non-extensive effects in leading order dissipative phenomena at relativistic energies, like heat conductivity, shear, and bulk viscosity.

We reproduce the di-electron spectra in the low and intermediate mass regions in most central Au+Au collisions by the STAR Collaboration incorporation of the solenoidal tracker at RHIC (STAR) detector acceptance. We also compare our results with the Pioneering High Energy Nuclear Interaction eXperiment at RHIC (PHENIX) data constrained by the PHENIX acceptance. We include the medium modifications of vector mesons from scatterings of vector mesons by mesons and baryons in the thermal medium. The freeze-out contributions from vector mesons are also taken into account. The space-time evolution is described by a 2+1 dimensional ideal hydrodynamic model. The backgrounds from semileptonic decays of charm hadrons are simulated by the pythia event generator and corrected by the nuclear modification factor of electrons from charm decays. It is difficult to extract the thermal contributions from those from charm decays in the invariant mass spectra alone and in the current detector acceptances. Other observables,such as transverse momenta and collective flows, may provide additional tools to tag these sources.

Captures of $\alpha$ particles on the proton-richest barium isotope, ${}^{130}$Ba, have been studied in order to provide cross-section data for the modeling of the astrophysical $\gamma$ process. The cross sections of the ${}^{130}$Ba($\alpha ,\gamma$)${}^{134}$Ce and ${}^{130}$Ba$(\alpha ,n)$${}^{133}$Ce reactions have been measured with the activation technique in the center-of mass energy range between 11.6 and 16 MeV, close above the astrophysically relevant energies. As a side result, the cross section of the ${}^{132}$Ba$(\alpha ,n)$${}^{135}$Ce reaction has also been measured. The results are compared with the prediction of statistical model calculations, using different input parameters such as $\alpha +\mathrm{nucleus}$ optical potentials. It is found that the $(\alpha ,n)$ data can be reproduced by employing the standard $\alpha +\mathrm{nucleus}$ optical potential widely used in astrophysical applications. Assuming its validity also in the astrophysically relevant energy window, we present new stellar reaction rates for ${}^{130}$Ba($\alpha ,\gamma$)${}^{134}$Ce and ${}^{132}$Ba($\alpha ,\gamma$)${}^{136}$Ce and their inverse reactions calculated with the smaragd statistical model code. The highly increased ${}^{136}$Ce($\gamma ,\alpha$)${}^{132}$Ba rate implies that the $p$ nucleus ${}^{130}$Ba cannot directly receive contributions from the Ce isotopic chain. Further measurements are required to better constrain this result.

Within the density-dependent cluster model, we have systematically investigated partial $\alpha$-decay half-lives of ground-state (g.s.)-to-g.s. transitions. Emphasis is placed on the unfavored $\alpha$ transitions in the range $53\le Z\le 91$ of both odd-$A$ and odd-odd nuclei. The $\alpha$-preformation factor is estimated by means of the multiplication of the valence proton and neutron numbers $N_P{N}_N$, in addition to the constant formation factor for one kind of nuclei. By introducing a centrifugal term, the previous empirical relation for $\alpha$-decay half-lives of our group is improved to reproduce a large number of experimental data including these unfavored transitions. Whatever concerns the theoretical calculation or the analytical expression, the agreement between theory and experiment is satisfied. This indicates that these studied unfavored g.s.-to-g.s. $\alpha$ decays can be reasonably described within the present approach extended from the treatment of favored ones.

A deformed relativistic Hartree Bogoliubov (RHB) theory in continuum is developed aiming at a proper description of exotic nuclei, particularly those with a large spatial extension. In order to give an adequate consideration of both the contribution of the continuum and the large spatial distribution in exotic nuclei, the deformed RHB equations are solved in a Woods-Saxon (WS) basis in which the radial wave functions have a proper asymptotic behavior at large distance from the nuclear center. This is crucial for the proper description of a possible halo. The formalism of deformed RHB theory in continuum is presented. A stable nucleus, ${}^{20}$Mg and a weakly bound nucleus ${}^{42}$Mg are taken as examples to present numerical details and to carry out necessary numerical checks. In addition, the ground-state properties of even-even magnesium isotopes are investigated. The generic conditions of the formation of a halo in weakly bound deformed systems and the shape of the halo in deformed nuclei are discussed. We show that the existence and the deformation of a possible neutron halo depend essentially on the quantum numbers of the main components of the single particle orbitals in the vicinity of the Fermi surface.

The temperature dependence of the symmetry energy and the symmetry free energy coefficients of atomic nuclei is investigated in a finite temperature Thomas-Fermi framework employing the subtraction procedure. A substantial decrement in the symmetry energy coefficient is obtained for finite systems, contrary to those seen for infinite nuclear matter at normal and somewhat subnormal densities. The effect of the coupling of the surface phonons to the nucleonic motion is also considered; this is found to decrease the symmetry energies somewhat at low temperatures.

The structure of the ${}^{44}$S nucleus has been studied at GANIL through the one proton knock-out reaction from a ${}^{45}$Cl secondary beam at 42 A$·$MeV. The $\gamma$ rays following the de-excitation of ${}^{44}$S were detected in flight using the 70 BaF${}_2$ detectors of the Château de Cristal array. An exhaustive $\gamma \gamma$-coincidence analysis allowed an unambiguous construction of the level scheme up to an excitation energy of 3301 keV. The existence of the spherical 2${}_2^{+}$ state is confirmed and three new $\gamma$-ray transitions connecting the prolate deformed 2${}_1^{+}$ level were observed. Comparison of the experimental results to shell model calculations further supports a prolate and spherical shape coexistence with a large mixing of states built on the ground state band in ${}^{44}$S.