A folding potential for elastic ${}^{16}\mathrm{O}{+}^{20}$Ne scattering is constructed based on the four-$\alpha$-particle model for the ${}^{16}\mathrm{O}$ nucleus and the $\alpha {+}^{16}$O model for the ${}^{20}\mathrm{Ne}$ nucleus. The elastic scattering angular distributions of the ${}^{16}\mathrm{O}{+}^{20}$Ne system in the energy range of $E_{\mathrm{c}.\mathrm{m}.}=24.5-35.5$ MeV are calculated by use of the $\alpha$-folding potential obtained. The calculations show that the experimental data can be reasonably well described. The surface term in the imaginary potential has a significant effect on the calculations of the cross section at large angles for the energies considered.

We show that the boundary between quark-dominated and hadron-dominated regions of nuclear structure may be blurred by multinucleon quark clusters arising from color percolation. Recent experiments supporting partial percolation in cold nuclei and full percolation in hot/dense nuclear matter include deep inelastic lepton-nucleus scattering, relativistic heavy-ion collisions, and the binding energy in ${}^5{\mathrm{He}}_{\Lambda }$.

The interactions of $\mathrm{D̄}{\Sigma }_c$-$\mathrm{D̄}{\Lambda }_c$, ${\mathrm{D̄}}^{*}{\Sigma }_c$-${\mathrm{D̄}}^{*}{\Lambda }_c$, and related strangeness channels, are studied within the framework of the coupled-channel unitary approach with the local hidden gauge formalism. A series of meson-baryon dynamically generated relatively narrow $N^{*}$ and ${\Lambda }^{*}$ resonances are predicted around 4.3 GeV in the hidden charm sector. We make estimates of production cross sections of these predicted resonances in $\mathrm{p̄}p$ collisions for the experiment of antiproton annihilation at Darmstadt (PANDA) at the forthcoming GSI Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research (FAIR) facility.

The neutron-rich $N=28$ nucleus ${}^{44}\mathrm{S}$ was studied using the two-proton knockout reaction from ${}^{46}\mathrm{Ar}$ at intermediate beam energy. We report the observation of four new excited states, one of which is a strongly prolate deformed 4${}^{+}$ state, as indicated by a shell-model calculation. Its deformation originates in a neutron configuration which is fundamentally different from the “intruder” configuration responsible for the ground-state deformation. Consequently, we do not have three coexisting shapes in ${}^{44}\mathrm{S}$, but three coexisting configurations, corresponding to zero-, one-, and two-neutron particle-hole excitations.

A single-folding (SF) model analysis has been performed for $\alpha$ and deuteron elastic scattering from ${}^{58}\text{Ni}$, ${}^{90}\text{Zr}$, ${}^{116}\text{Sn}$, and ${}^{208}\text{Pb}$ at incident energies between 10 and 100 MeV/nucleon with the Lane-consistent Bruyères Jeukenne-Lejeune-Mahaux model nucleon-nucleus potential. The energy dependence of a set of only three potential parameters was derived, and the resulting global optical model potentials were found to account well for $\alpha$ and deuteron elastic scattering within their studied energy ranges. The energy dependence of a real potential form factor is found to be important for describing $\alpha$-nucleus scattering within large energy ranges. Corrections due to the compositeness of projectiles to the SF potentials were studied and were compared with theoretical estimations through the renormalization factor. Systematic differences in renormalization factors between $\alpha$ particles and deuterons were observed.

The isobaric yield ratios of the fragments produced in the neutron-rich ${}^{48}\mathrm{Ca}$ and ${}^{64}\mathrm{Ni}$ projectile fragmentation are analyzed in the framework of a modified Fisher model. The correlations between the isobaric yield ratios ($R$) and the energy coefficients in the Weiszäcker-Beth semiclassical mass formula (the symmetry-energy term $a_{\mathrm{sym}}$, the Coulomb-energy term $a_c$, and the pairing-energy term $a_p$) and the difference between the chemical potentials of the neutron and proton (${\mu }_n-{\mu }_p$) are investigated. Simple correlations between $({\mu }_n-{\mu }_p)/T$, $a_c/T$, $a_{\mathrm{sym}}/T$, and $a_p/T$ (where $T$ is the temperature), and $\ln R$ are obtained. It is suggested that $({\mu }_n-{\mu }_p)/T$, $a_c/T$, $a_{\mathrm{sym}}/T$, and $a_p/T$ of neutron-rich nuclei can be extracted using isobaric yield ratios for heavy-ion collisions at intermediate energies.

We discuss several possible caveats which arise with the interpretation of measurements of fluctuations in heavy-ion collisions. We especially focus on the ratios of particle yields, which have been advocated as a possible signature of a critical point in the QCD phase diagram. We conclude that current experimental observables are not well defined and are without a proper quantitative meaning.

We study how the excitation energy of the fully accelerated fission fragments is built up. It is stressed that only the intrinsic excitation energy available before scission can be exchanged between the fission fragments to achieve thermal equilibrium. This is in contradiction with most models used to calculate prompt neutron emission, where it is assumed that the total excitation energy of the final fragments is shared between the fragments by the condition of equal temperatures. We also study the intrinsic excitation-energy partition in statistical equilibrium for different level-density descriptions as a function of the total intrinsic excitation energy of the fissioning system. Excitation energies are found to be strongly enhanced in the heavy fragment, if the level density follows a constant-temperature behavior at low energies, e.g., in the composed Gilbert-Cameron description.

We present a methodology to renormalize the nucleon-nucleon interaction in momentum space, using a recursive multiple subtraction approach that prescinds from a cutoff regularization, to construct the kernel of the scattering equation. The subtracted scattering equation is solved with the next-leading-order and next-to-next-leading-order interactions. The results are presented for all partial waves up to $j=2$, fitted to low-energy experimental data. In this renormalization group invariant approach, the subtraction energy emerges as a renormalization scale and the momentum associated with it comes to be about the QCD scale (${\Lambda }_{\mathrm{QCD}}$), irrespectively to the partial wave.

$J/\Psi$-nuclear bound state energies are calculated for a range of nuclei by solving the Proca (Klein-Gordon) equation. Critical input for the calculations, namely the medium-modified $D$ and $D^{*}$ meson masses, as well as the nucleon density distributions in nuclei, are obtained from the quark-meson coupling model. The attractive potential originates from the $D$ and $D^{*}$ meson loops in the $J/\Psi$ self-energy in the nuclear medium. It appears that $J/\Psi$-nuclear bound states should produce a clear experimental signature provided that the $J/\Psi$ meson is produced in recoilless kinematics.

The recently derived long-range two-pion exchange (TPE) contributions to the nuclear current operator that appear at next-to-leading order (NLO) of the chiral expansion are used to describe electromagnetic processes. We study their role in the photodisintegration of ${}^2\mathrm{H}$ and ${}^3\mathrm{He}$ and compare our predictions with the experimental data. The bound and scattering states are calculated using five different parametrizations of the chiral next-to-next-to-leading order (N${}^2\mathrm{L}$O) nucleon-nucleon (NN) potential, which allows us to estimate the theoretical uncertainty at a given order in the chiral expansion. For some observables the results are very close to the predictions based on the AV18 NN potential and the current operator (partly) consistent with this force. In most cases, the addition of long-range TPE currents improved the description of the experimental data.

By using a large-acceptance position-sensitive silicon detector array in coincidence with the high-resolution Munich Q3D spectrograph, unambiguous measurements have been made of the absolute $\alpha$-particle decay widths from excited states in ${}^{16}\mathrm{O}$* in the energy range 13.85 to 15.87 MeV. Carbon targets have been bombarded with 42-MeV ${}^6\mathrm{Li}$ beams to induce ${}_{\hspace{0.5em}6}^{12}$C(${}_3^6$Li, $d$)${}_{\hspace{0.5em}8}^{16}$O* reactions. The deuteron ejectiles were measured in the Q3D and the results gated by ${}^4\mathrm{He}+{}^{12}\mathrm{C}$ breakup products detected in the silicon array, the efficiency of which was modeled using Monte Carlo simulations. By comparing total population and breakup-gated spectra, the following absolute $\alpha$-decay widths have been measured with high resolution: ${\Gamma }_{\alpha 0}/{\Gamma }_{\text{tot}}$ $=\hspace{0.5em}0.87\pm 0.11$ (13.980 MeV), $1.04\pm 0.15$ (14.302 MeV), $0.92\pm 0.10$ (14.399 MeV), $0.59\pm 0.04$ (14.815 MeV), $0.88\pm 0.18$ (15.785 MeV), and ${\Gamma }_{\alpha 1}/{\Gamma }_{\text{tot}}=1.14\pm 0.08$ (14.660 MeV), $0.46\pm 0.06$ (14.815 MeV).

The inelastic neutron acceleration cross section on the long-lived metastable state of ${}^{177}\mathrm{Lu}$ has been measured using a direct method. High-energy neutrons have been detected using a specially designed setup placed on a cold neutron beam extracted from the ORPHEE reactor in Saclay. The $146\pm 19$ b inelastic neutron acceleration cross section in the ORPHEE cold neutron flux confirms the high cross section for this process on the ${}^{177}\mathrm{Lu}$${}^m$ isomer. The deviation from the $258\pm 58$ b previously published obtained for a Maxwellian neutron flux at a 323 K temperature could be explained by the presence of a low energy resonance. Resonance parameters are deduced and discussed.

The ${}^4\mathrm{He}$ microscopic optical model potential is obtained by Green’s function method through nuclear matter approximation and local density approximation based on the effective Skyrme interaction. The microscopic optical model potential is analyzed and utilized to calculate the reaction cross sections and elastic scattering angular distributions for the target nuclei in the mass range $12⩽A⩽209$ with incident ${}^4\mathrm{He}$ energy up to 400 MeV. The theoretical results are compared with the experimental data.

In supernova cores and neutron star crusts, nuclei are thought to deform to rodlike and slablike shapes, which are often called nuclear pasta. We study the equilibrium properties of the nuclear pasta by using a liquid-drop model with curvature corrections. It is confirmed that the curvature effect acts to lower the transition densities between different shapes. We also examine the gyroid structure, which was recently suggested as a different type of nuclear pasta by analogy with the polymer systems. The gyroid structure investigated in this paper is approximately formulated as an extension of the periodic minimal surface whose mean curvature vanishes. In contrast to our expectations, we find, from the present approximate formulation, that the curvature corrections act to slightly disfavor the appearance of the gyroid structure. By comparing the energy corrections in the gyroid phase and the hypothetical phases composed of $d$-dimensional spheres, where $d$ is a general dimensionality, we show that the gyroid is unlikely to belong to a family of the generalized dimensional spheres.

The decay of the extremely neutron-deficient ${}^{48}\mathrm{Ni}$ was studied by means of an imaging time-projection chamber, which allowed the recording of tracks of charged particles. The decays of six atoms were observed. Four of them clearly correspond to two-proton radioactivity, providing the first direct evidence for this decay mode in ${}^{48}\mathrm{Ni}$. Two decays represent $\beta$-delayed proton emission. The half-life of ${}^{48}\mathrm{Ni}$ is determined to be $T_{1/2}=2.1_{-0.4}^{+1.4}$ ms.

Yrast states in the neutron-rich ${}^{41}\mathrm{S}$ nucleus have been studied using binary grazing reactions produced by the interaction of a 215-MeV beam of ${}^{36}\mathrm{S}$ ions with a thin ${}^{208}\mathrm{Pb}$ target. The magnetic spectrometer, PRISMA, and the $\gamma$-ray array, CLARA, were used in the measurements. $\gamma$-ray transitions of energy 449 and 638 keV were observed. Results from published intermediate-energy Coulomb excitation measurements in combination with those from the present work have led to the construction of a new ${}^{41}\mathrm{S}$ level scheme. Proposed $J^{\pi }$ values are based on experimental observation and on model-dependent arguments. The level scheme and published electromagnetic transition probabilities are discussed within the context of state-of-art shell-model calculations using the SDPF-U effective interaction. In contrast with the excellent agreement observed in earlier published work, here there are significant discrepancies between experiment and the results of shell-model calculations.

The relativistic Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov model for axially deformed nuclei (RHFBz) is introduced. The model is based on an effective Lagrangian with density-dependent meson-nucleon couplings in the particle-hole channel, and the central part of the Gogny force is used in the pairing channel. The RHFBz quasiparticle equations are solved by expansion in the basis of a deformed harmonic oscillator. Illustrative RHFBz calculations are performed for carbon, neon, and magnesium isotopes. The effect of explicitly including the pion field is investigated for binding energies, deformation parameters, and charge radii and has an impact on the nuclei’s shape.

Measured differential elastic-scattering cross sections of 17.72-, 20.97-, and 23.72-MeV neutrons from liquid helium-4 were re-evaluated and were corrected for sample-size and multiple-scattering effects by means of a Monte Carlo technique implemented in a more recent code (mcnpx). Results indicate that earlier corrections via the code maggie-2 overestimated the size of multiple-scattering effects by an order of magnitude. The corrected differential cross sections and Legendre coefficients obtained by least-squares fits are given.