We present a parametrization and two fits to proton nucleus scattering data from 20 to 1040 MeV and mass ranges from ${}^4\mathrm{He}$ to ${}^{208}\mathrm{Pb}$. We show that ${}^4\mathrm{He}$ can be included with the other nuclei instead of having to be treated separately as previously [B. C. Clark, E. D. Cooper, and S. Hama, Phys. Rev. C 73, 024608 (2006)]. An interesting change of sign in the imaginary potentials at low energies and high densities is noted. This may be an indicator of density dependence in the relativistic $g$ matrix.

The half-life, the branching ratio, and the decay $Q$ value of the superallowed $\beta$ emitter ${}^{42}\mathrm{Ti}$ were measured in an experiment performed at the JYFLTRAP facility of the Accelerator Laboratory of the University of Jyväskylä. ${}^{42}\mathrm{Ti}$ is the heaviest $T_z=-1$ nucleus for which high-precision measurements of these quantities have been tried. The half-life ($T_{1/2}=208.14\pm 0.45$ ms) and the $Q$ value [$Q_{\mathrm{EC}}=7016.83(25)$ keV] are close to or reach the required precision of about 0.1%. The branching ratio for the superallowed decay branch [$\mathrm{BR}=47.7(12)\%$], a by-product of the half-life measurement, does not reach the necessary precision yet. Nonetheless, these results allow one to determine the experimental $\mathit{ft}$ value and the corrected $\mathcal{F}t$ value to be 3114(79) and 3122(79) s, respectively.

We examine a potential role of the neutrino deuteron reactions in the mechanism of supernovae explosion by evaluating the energy transfer cross section for the neutrino heating. We calculate the energy loss rate due to the neutrino absorptions through the charged-current process as well as the neutrino scattering through the neutral-current process. In so doing, we adopt a detailed evaluation of cross sections for the neutrino deuteron reactions with the phenomenological Lagrangian approach. We find the energy transfer cross section for the deuteron is larger than those for ${}^3\mathrm{H}$, ${}^3\mathrm{He}$, and ${}^4\mathrm{He}$ for neutrino temperatures ($T_{\nu }~4$ MeV) relevant to the supernovae core. Because of the low-energy threshold for the deuteron breakup, the energy transfer rate rapidly increases from low temperature, $T_{\nu }~1$ MeV. This suggests that the neutrino deuteron reactions may contribute effectively to the heating mechanism during the dissociation of irons into light elements and nucleons in the shocked material of the supernovae core.

Excited states in ${}^{159}\mathrm{Sm}$, populated following the spontaneous fission of ${}^{252}\mathrm{Cf}$ have been studied by means of $\gamma$ spectroscopy, using the Gammasphere array. In ${}^{159}\mathrm{Sm}$ we have identified an isomeric level with a half-life of $T_{1/2}=116(8)$ ns at an excitation energy of 1276.8 keV and observed a rotational band on top of this isomer. On the basis of the observed properties of the isomer and the band on top of it we propose that the 1276.8-keV level in ${}^{159}\mathrm{Sm}$ corresponds to the $11/2^{-}[505]$ neutron extruder configuration. The new excitation scheme of ${}^{159}\mathrm{Sm}$ is compared to quasiparticle rotor model calculations.

In this article we will discuss the previously proposed quantity ${\nu }_{\mathrm{dyn}}$ [C. Pruneau, S. Gavin, and S. Voloshin, Phys. Rev. C 66, 044904 (2002)], as a measure of the number-ratio fluctuations in high-energy particle production. We will show that ${\nu }_{\mathrm{dyn}}$ has pleasing mathematical properties making it ideal for the purpose. We will demonstrate its relation to two-particle correlations and how this measure can be generalized to higher-order correlations.

We investigate photoproduction of ϕ mesons off protons within a coupled-channel effective-Lagrangian method which is based on the $K$-matrix approach. Since the threshold energy of the $K\Lambda (1520)$ channel is close to that of $\varphi N$, the contribution of this channel to ϕ photoproduction near the threshold energy region may give rise to some unexpected structures. In the transition amplitude $K\Lambda (1520)\to \varphi N$, the kinematics allows an intermediate kaon to be on-shell. This happens in the energy region where a peak structure has been observed in ϕ photoproduction. In our calculations, the on-shell kaon effect indeed reproduces a peak structure, though with a magnitude that is far too small to explain the observed effect. As a following step, we introduce a nucleon resonance in our model. The coupling of the resonance to the $K\Lambda (1520)$ and $\varphi N$ channels is not suppressed by the Okubo-Zweig-Iizuka (OZI) rule if the resonance contains a dominant hidden strangeness component. We find that the resonance can reproduce a peak structure of the correct magnitude at the right energy. We also investigate the effects of coupled channels and the resonance on the angular distribution and the spin-density matrices for ϕ photoproduction.

Within the framework of the improved isospin-dependent quantum molecular dynamics (ImIQMD) model, the fusion dynamics of symmetric reaction systems are investigated systematically. Calculations show that the number of nucleon transfer in the neck region is appreciably dependent on the incident energies, but strongly on the reaction systems. A comparison of the neck dynamics is performed for the symmetric reactions ${}^{58}\mathrm{Ni}+{}^{58}\mathrm{Ni}$ and ${}^{64}\mathrm{Ni}+{}^{64}\mathrm{Ni}$ at energies in the vicinity of the Coulomb barrier. An increase of the ratios of the neutron to proton in the neck region at initial collision stage is observed and obvious for the latter system, which reduces the fusion barrier of two colliding nuclei. The distribution of the dynamical fusion barriers and the fusion excitation functions are calculated and compared with the available experimental data.

The half-life for double-$\beta$ decay of ${}^{150}\mathrm{Nd}$ has been measured by the NEMO-3 experiment at the Modane Underground Laboratory. Using 924.7 days of data recorded with $36.55$ g of ${}^{150}\mathrm{Nd}$, we measured the half-life for $2\nu \beta \beta$ decay to be $T_{1/2}^{2\nu }=(9.{11}_{-0.22}^{+0.25}(\mathrm{stat}.)\pm 0.63(\mathrm{syst}.))\times {10}^{18}$ yr. The observed limit on the half-life for neutrinoless double-$\beta$ decay is found to be $T_{1/2}^{0\nu }>1.8\times {10}^{22}$ yr at $90\%$ confidence level. This translates into a limit on the effective Majorana neutrino mass of $\langle m_{\nu }\rangle <4.0\text{−}6.3$ eV if the nuclear deformation is taken into account. We also set limits on models involving Majoron emission, right-handed currents, and transitions to excited states.

The $N=82$ nuclei ${}^{140}\mathrm{Ce}$ and ${}^{138}\mathrm{Ba}$ have been investigated by means of the $(\alpha ,{\alpha }^{\prime }\gamma )$ coincidence method to study the pygmy dipole resonance (PDR). The experiments have been performed at the AGOR cyclotron at KVI, Groningen, at a primary beam energy of $E_{\alpha }=136$ MeV. The Big-Bite Spectrometer and seven large-volume high-purity germanium detectors were used in coincidence to perform a simultaneous spectroscopy of the scattered $\alpha$ particles and the $\gamma$ decay. The comparison with results of nuclear resonance fluorescence experiments reveals a splitting of the PDR into two components. Up to about 6 MeV the same states that could be observed in $(\gamma ,{\gamma }^{\prime })$ are also excited in $\alpha$-scattering experiments, whereas the higher-lying states are missing in the $(\alpha ,{\alpha }^{\prime }\gamma )$ reaction. This indicates a structural splitting of the PDR into two modes with different underlying structure.

High-spin states in ${}^{189}\mathrm{Pt}$ have been studied experimentally using the ${}^{176}\mathrm{Yb}({}^{18}\mathrm{O},5n)$ reaction at beam energies of 88 and 95 MeV. The level scheme of ${}^{189}\mathrm{Pt}$ has been revised significantly and extended to high-spin states. Rotational bands have been analyzed in the framework of triaxial particle-rotor model, and a $\gamma \approx -{30}^{°}$ triaxial shape and a near-prolate shape have been proposed to the $\nu i_{13/2}^{-1}$ and $\nu f_{5/2}(p_{3/2})$ bands, respectively. Two $\Delta I=2$ transition sequences with similar energies have been observed, and they have been proposed to be associated with the $\nu i_{13/2}^{-2}\nu f_{5/2}(p_{3/2})$ configuration. The structure built on the $\nu i_{13/2}^{-2}\nu f_{5/2}(p_{3/2})$ configuration could be interpreted as a pair of pseudospin partners. The level energies in the pseudospin partner bands are well reproduced by the theoretical calculations of the triaxial particle-rotor model if a near-oblate shape is assumed.

The half-life and the magnetic moment were measured for the first excited state in ${}^{132}\mathrm{I}$, of which the inconsistent results on the half-life have been reported by several other groups. This time, measurements were performed on ${}^{132}\mathrm{I}$ obtained as a decay product of a ${}^{132}\mathrm{Te}$ radioactive beam from the ion guide at Tohoku University. The half-life of this level was determined to be $T_{1/2}=1.120\pm 0.015$ ns using a conventional coincidence technique with a pair of BaF${}_2$ detectors. The time-differential perturbed angular correlation technique was successfully applied to the first excited state in ${}^{132}\mathrm{I}$ implanted into nickel foils. The magnetic moment of this state was determined to be $\mu =+(2.06\pm 0.18){\mu }_N$. The present results are consistent with values reported by Gorodetzky et al. and Singh et al.

We investigate an approximation to early dynamics in relativistic heavy-ion collisions, where after formation the partons are free streaming and around the proper time of 1 fm/$c$ undergo a sudden equilibration described in terms of the Landau matching condition. We discuss physical and formal aspects of this approach. In particular, we show that initial azimuthally asymmetric transverse flow develops for noncentral collisions as a consequence of the sudden equilibration. Moreover, the energy-momentum tensor from the free-streaming stage matches very smoothly to the form used in the transverse hydrodynamics, whereas matching to isotropic hydrodynamics requires a more pronounced change in the energy-momentum tensor. After the hydrodynamic phase statistical hadronization is carried out with the help of THERMINATOR. The physical results for the transverse-momentum spectra, the elliptic-flow, and the Hanbury-Brown–Twiss correlation radii, including the ratio $R_{\mathrm{out}}/R_{\mathrm{side}}$ as well as the dependence of the radii on the azimuthal angle (azHBT), are properly described within our approach. The agreement is equally good for a purely hydrodynamic evolution started at an early proper time of 0.25 fm/$c$, or for the free streaming started at that time, followed by the sudden equilibration at $\tau ~1$ fm/$c$ and then by perfect hydrodynamics. Thus, the inclusion of free streaming allows us to delay the start of hydrodynamics to more realistic times of the order of 1 fm/$c$.

It is shown that a Coulomb suppression of the stellar enhancement factor occurs in many endothermic reactions at and far from stability. Contrary to common assumptions, reaction measurements for astrophysics with minimal impact of stellar enhancement should be preferably performed for those reactions instead of their reverses, despite of their negative $Q$ value. As a demonstration, the cross section of the astrophysically relevant ${}^{85}\mathrm{Rb}(p,n){}^{85}\mathrm{Sr}$ reaction has been measured by activation between $2.16⩽E_{\mathrm{c}.\mathrm{m}.}⩽3.96$ MeV and the astrophysical reaction rates at $p$ process temperatures for $(p,n)$ as well as $(n,p)$ are directly inferred from the data. Additionally, our results confirm a previously derived modification of a global optical proton potential. The presented arguments are also relevant for other $\alpha$- and proton-induced reactions in the $p$, $\mathit{rp}$, and $\nu p$ processes.

A finite-temperature model of strongly correlated nucleons with underlying isospin symmetries is developed. The model can be used to study the role of bound states and Feshbach resonances on the thermal properties of a spin $1/2$, isospin $1/2$ system of protons and neutrons by varying the proton fraction. An analysis of features associated with a universal thermodynamic limit or unitary limit is given. In the limit of very large scattering length, the effective range to quantum thermal wavelength appears as a limiting scale in an interaction energy and equation of state.

Fusion reactions leading to the formation of superheavy element 117 are systematically analyzed. Among the reactions considered, the ${}^{250}\mathrm{Bk}({}^{48}\mathrm{Ca},4n){}^{294}\mathrm{117}$ reaction has the largest evaporation residue (ER) cross section of about 2 pb. However, this reaction is hard to realize experimentally because it is difficult to accumulate sufficient amount of target material due to the short lifetime of ${}^{250}\mathrm{Bk}$ nucleus. For the reaction ${}^{48}\mathrm{Ca}+{}^{249}\mathrm{Bk}$, our estimation shows that the ER cross sections in $3n$ and $4n$ channels may be expected to be greater than 1 pb. Therefore, ${}^{48}\mathrm{Ca}$ and ${}^{249}\mathrm{Bk}$ should be the optimal projectile-target combination for synthesis of superheavy element 117 in practice. In addition, as a main result of systematic analysis, we find that the ER cross section exponentially depends on the mass difference (in unit of temperature) of fission and neutron emission saddle points. Therefore, it is of essential importance for the successful synthesis of superheavy nuclei to select the isotopic composition of projectile and/or target so as the mass difference of fission and neutron emission saddle points as large as possible. Entrance channel effects are examined by means of a comparison of the reactions ${}^{48}\mathrm{Ca}+{}^{245}\mathrm{Bk}$, ${}^{50}\mathrm{Ti}+{}^{243}\mathrm{Am}$, and ${}^{55}\mathrm{Mn}+{}^{238}\mathrm{U}$ leading to the same compound nucleus ${}^{293}\mathrm{117}$. The ER cross sections of the reactions ${}^{50}\mathrm{Ti}+{}^{243}\mathrm{Am}$ and ${}^{55}\mathrm{Mn}+{}^{238}\mathrm{U}$ are much smaller than that of ${}^{48}\mathrm{Ca}+{}^{245}\mathrm{Bk}$.

A higher-order QED calculation of the ultraperipheral heavy-ion cross section for ${\mu }^{+}{\mu }^{-}$ pair production at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider and the Large Hadron Collider is carried out. The so-called Coulomb corrections lead to an even greater percentage decrease of ${\mu }^{+}{\mu }^{-}$ production from perturbation theory than the corresponding decrease for $e^{+}{e}^{-}$ pair production. Unlike the $e^{+}{e}^{-}$ case, the finite charge distribution of the ions (form factor) and the necessary subtraction of impact parameters with matter overlap are significant effects in calculation an observable ultraperipheral ${\mu }^{+}{\mu }^{-}$ total cross section.

Assignments are made between theory and experiment of corresponding levels in ${}^{26}\mathrm{Mg}$ levels based on energies, lifetimes, branching ratios, electron scattering form factors, and reduced electromagnetic transition strengths. Results based on the new $\mathit{sd}$-shell interactions USDA (universal $\mathit{sd}$-shell interaction A) and USDB (universal $\mathit{sd}$-shell interaction B), as well as the older USD interaction, are compared.

Limits on ${\beta }^{+}$EC (here EC denotes electron capture) and ECEC processes in ${}^{112}\mathrm{Sn}$ have been obtained using a $380\hspace{0.5em}{\mathrm{cm}}^3$ HPGe detector and an external source consisting of 53.355 g enriched tin (94.32% of ${}^{112}\mathrm{Sn}$). A limit with 90% C.L. on the ${}^{112}\mathrm{Sn}$ half-life of $4.7\times {10}^{20}$ y for the ECEC($0\nu$) transition to the $0_3^{+}$ excited state in ${}^{112}\mathrm{Cd}$ (1871.0 keV) has been established. This transition is discussed in the context of a possible enhancement of the decay rate by several orders of magnitude given that the ECEC$(0\nu )$ process is nearly degenerate with an excited state in the daughter nuclide. Prospects for investigating such a process in future experiments are discussed. The limits on other ${\beta }^{+}$EC and ECEC processes in ${}^{112}\mathrm{Sn}$ were obtained on the level of $(0.6\text{−}8.7)\times {10}^{20}$ y at the 90% C.L.

We compute the binding energy of neutron-rich oxygen isotopes and employ the coupled-cluster method and chiral nucleon-nucleon interactions at next-to-next-to-next-to-leading order with two different cutoffs. We obtain rather well-converged results in model spaces consisting of up to 21 oscillator shells. For interactions with a momentum cutoff of 500 MeV, we find that ${}^{28}\mathrm{O}$ is stable with respect to ${}^{24}\mathrm{O}$, while calculations with a momentum cutoff of 600 MeV result in a slightly unbound ${}^{28}\mathrm{O}$. The theoretical error estimates due to the omission of the three-nucleon forces and the truncation of excitations beyond three-particle–three-hole clusters indicate that the stability of ${}^{28}\mathrm{O}$ cannot be ruled out from ab initio calculations, and that three-nucleon forces and continuum effects play the dominant role in deciding this question.

Electromagnetic dipole absorption cross sections of transitional nuclei with large-amplitude shape fluctuations are calculated in a microscopic way by introducing the concept of instantaneous-shape sampling, which is based on slow shape dynamics as compared with fast dipole vibrations. The dipole strength is calculated by means of the quasiparticle random-phase approximation (QRPA) for the instantaneous shapes, the probability of which is obtained by means of the interacting boson approximation. The calculations agree well with the experimental photoabsorption cross sections near the nucleon emission threshold, but they underestimate it at low energies. The cumulative cross sections for the region below the threshold are a factor of 2 too low.