We investigate the properties of isospin-symmetric nuclear matter and neutron stars in a chiral model approach adopting the SU(2) parity-doublet formulation. This ansatz explicitly incorporates chiral symmetry restoration with the limit of degenerate masses of the nucleons and their parity partners. Instead of searching for an optimized parameter set we explore the general parameter dependence of nuclear matter and star properties in the model. We are able to get a good description of ground-state nuclear matter as well as large values of mass for neutron stars in agreement with observation.

It is shown in this Brief Report that purely statistical considerations are possible to understand both the multiplicity distributions and forward-backward multiplicity correlations measured recently in the highest energy relativistic heavy ion collisions. It is necessary to study carefully whether the observed strong forward-backward correlations come mainly from the overall multiplicity fluctuations or not before we can draw any conclusion on dynamical long-range correlations.

The projected shell model (PSM) study of ${}^{98-102}\mathrm{Sr}$ and ${}^{100-104}\mathrm{Zr}$ nuclei is carried out. The reliability of the ground-state wave function is checked by reproducing yrast spectra and electromagnetic properties. The mechanism for the onset of sudden and large deformation at $N=60$ is worked out. The present piece of research work has unified the two different, or conflicting, early explanations for the onset of deformation at $N=60$ by the spherical shell model and mean-field theory.

The deformation in rhodium isotopes is investigated using adiabatic and configuration-fixed constrained triaxial relativistic mean field (RMF) approaches. The triaxial deformations are found in the ground states of ${}^{102,104,106,108,110}\mathrm{Rh}$, which is consistent with triaxial Skyrme Hartree-Fock calculations. Several minima with triaxial deformation in ${}^{104,106,108,110}\mathrm{Rh}$ are obtained by the configuration-fixed constrained calculations. The corresponding configurations are characterized by the quantum numbers $|\mathit{nljm}\rangle$ obtained by transforming wave functions from a Cartesian basis to a spherical basis. The possible existence of multiple chiral doublets (MχD) is demonstrated in ${}^{104,106,108,110}\mathrm{Rh}$ isotopes, based on different particle-hole configurations and triaxial deformations.

High-spin states in the doubly odd $Z=77$ nucleus ${}^{188}\mathrm{Ir}$ were studied using the reaction ${}^{186}\mathrm{W}$(${}^7\mathrm{Li}$, $5n$) at 59 MeV and the GASP spectrometer for γ-ray detection. The level structures recently suggested to be built on the known 4.1(3) ms isomeric state of this nucleus have been considerably revised and extended and an isomer with a lifetime of 17.7(2) ns has been identified within the main decay sequence. In addition two rotational bands built on low spin states below the ms isomer have been observed for the first time. The basic features of the excitation scheme of ${}^{188}\mathrm{Ir}$ are discussed within the Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov theory within the Lipkin-Nogami approach with the finite-range density-dependent Gogny force.

The electromagnetic form factors of vector mesons are calculated in an explicitly Poincaré covariant formulation, based on the Dyson-Schwinger equations of QCD, that respects electromagnetic current conservation and unambiguously incorporates effects from vector meson poles in the quark-photon vertex. This method incorporates a two-parameter effective interaction, where the parameters are constrained by the experimental values of chiral condensate and $f_{\pi }$. This approach has successfully described a large amount of light-quark meson experimental data, including ground-state pseudoscalar masses and their electromagnetic form factors and ground-state vector meson masses and strong and electroweak decays. Here we apply it to predict the electromagnetic properties of vector mesons. The results for the static properties of the ρ meson are as follows: charge radius $\langle r_{\rho }^2\rangle =0.54{\mathrm{fm}}^2$, magnetic moment $\mu =2.01$, and quadrupole moment $\mathcal{Q}=-0.41$. We investigate the quark-mass dependence of these static properties and find that our results at the charm quark mass are in agreement with recent lattice simulations. The charge radius decreases with increasing quark mass, but the magnetic moment is almost independent of the quark mass.

In jet quenching, a hard quantum chromodynamics parton, before fragmenting into a jet of hadrons, deposits a fraction of its energy in the medium, leading to suppressed production of high-$p_T$ hadrons. Assuming that the deposited energy quickly thermalizes, we simulate the subsequent hydrodynamic evolution of the quark-gluon plasma fluid. Hydrodynamic evolution and subsequent particle emission depend on the jet trajectories. Azimuthal distribution of excess ${\pi }^{-}$ due to jet quenching, averaged over all the trajectories, reasonably well reproduces the dihadron correlation as measured by the STAR and PHENIX Collaborations in central and in peripheral $\mathrm{Au}+\mathrm{Au}$ collisions.

The Gamow-Teller strength for the transition from the ground state of ${}^{13}\mathrm{C}$ to the $T=1/2,J^{\pi }=3/2^{-}$ excited state at 3.51 MeV in ${}^{13}\mathrm{N}$ is extracted via the ${}^{13}\mathrm{C}$(${}^3\mathrm{He}$,$t$) reaction at 420 MeV. In contrast to results from earlier ($p,n$) studies on ${}^{13}\mathrm{C}$, a good agreement with shell-model calculations and the empirical unit cross-section systematics from other nuclei is found. The results are used to study the analog ${}^{13}\mathrm{N}$($e^{-},{\nu }_e$)${}^{13}\mathrm{C}$ reaction, which plays a role in the pre-explosion convective phase of type Ia supernovae. Although the differences between the results from the (${}^3\mathrm{He}$,$t$) and ($p,n$) data significantly affect the deduced electron-capture rate and the net heat deposition in the star resulting from this transition, the overall effect on the pre-explosive evolution is small.

The effects of angular momentum conservation in peripheral heavy ion collisions at very high energy are investigated. It is shown that the initial angular momentum of the quark-gluon plasma should enhance the azimuthal anisotropy of particle spectra (elliptic flow) with respect to the usual picture where only the initial geometrical eccentricity of the nuclear overlap region is responsible for the anisotropy. In hydrodynamical terms, the initial angular momentum entails a nontrivial dependence of the initial longitudinal flow velocity on the transverse coordinates. This gives rise to a nonvanishing vorticity in the equations of motion, which enhances the expansion rate of the supposedly created fluid compensating for the possible quenching effect of viscosity. A distinctive signature of the vorticity in the plasma is the generation of an average polarization of the emitted hadrons, for which we provide analytical expressions. These phenomena might be better observed at LHC, where the initial angular momentum density will be larger and where we envisage an increase of the elliptic flow coefficient $v_2$ with respect to RHIC energies.

The computation of radiative energy loss in a dynamically screened QCD medium is a key ingredient in obtaining reliable predictions for jet quenching in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions. We calculate, to first order in the opacity, the energy loss suffered by a heavy quark traveling through an infinite and time-independent QCD medium and show that the result for a dynamical medium is almost twice that obtained previously for a medium consisting of randomly distributed static scattering centers. A quantitative description of jet suppression in experiments conducted at the BNL Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider and CERN Large Hadron Collider thus must correctly account for the dynamics of the medium's constituents.

Properties of inhomogeneous nuclear matter are evaluated within a relativistic mean-field approximation by using density-dependent coupling constants. A parametrization for these coupling constants is presented that reproduces the properties of the nucleon self-energy obtained in Dirac-Brueckner-Hartree-Fock calculations of asymmetric nuclear matter but also provides a good description for bulk properties of finite nuclei. The inhomogeneous infinite matter is described in terms of cubic Wigner-Seitz cells, which allows for a microscopic description of the structures in the so-called pasta-phase of nuclear configurations and provides a smooth transition to the limit of homogeneous matter. The effects of pairing properties and finite temperature are considered. A comparison is made to corresponding results by employing the phenomenological Skyrme Hartree-Fock approach, and the consequences for the Thomas-Fermi approximation are discussed.

Fine structure has been shown to be a general phenomenon of nuclear giant resonances of different multipolarities over a wide mass range. In this article we assess various techniques that have been proposed to extract quantitative information from the fine structure in terms of characteristic scales. These include the so-called local scaling dimension, the entropy index method, Fourier analysis, and continuous and discrete wavelet transforms. As an example, results on the isoscalar giant quadrupole resonance in ${}^{208}\mathrm{Pb}$ from high-energy-resolution inelastic proton scattering and calculations with the quasiparticle-phonon model are analyzed. Wavelet analysis, both continuous and discrete, of the spectra is shown to be a powerful tool to extract the magnitude and localization of characteristic scales.

Neutron capture by the stable even-mass Te isotopes ($A=120$ to 130) produces in the neighboring odd-neutron isotopes a low-spin ground state ($1/2^{+}$ or $3/2^{+}$) and a high-spin ($11/2^{-}$) isomeric state. Following neutron irradiation of samples of Te of natural isotopic abundance, thermal cross sections and resonance integrals have been determined for all of the odd-mass radioactive ground states and isomers produced in the capture process. By comparing Cd-shielded and unshielded irradiations, it was possible to correct for the effect of capture by epithermal neutrons and so obtain consistent values for the thermal cross sections. Half-lives have been remeasured for ${}^{121g,m}$Te, ${}^{127m}$Te, and ${}^{131m}$Te. The previously observed systematic behavior of the thermal cross sections leading to the low-spin and high-spin states in Sn does not appear for the similar states in the Te isotopes.

The occurrence of a pygmy dipole resonance in proton rich ${}^{32,34}\mathrm{Ar}$ is studied using the unitary correlator operator method interaction $V_{\mathrm{UCOM}}$, based on Argonne V18. Predictions from the random-phase approximation (RPA) and the shell model in a no-core basis are compared. It is found that the inclusion of configuration mixing up to two-particles–two-holes broadens the pygmy strength slightly and reduces sensibly its strength, as compared to the RPA predictions. For ${}^{32}\mathrm{Ar}$, a clear peak associated with a pygmy resonance is found. For ${}^{34}\mathrm{Ar}$, the pygmy states are obtained close to the giant dipole resonance and mix with it.

High spin states in ${}^{103}\mathrm{Ag}$ were investigated with the Gammasphere array by using the ${}^{72}\mathrm{Ge}$(${}^{35}\mathrm{Cl}$,$2p2n$)${}^{103}\mathrm{Ag}$ reaction at an incident beam energy of 135 MeV. A $\Delta J=1$ sequence with predominantly magnetic transitions and two nearly degenerate $\Delta J=1$ doublet bands have been observed. The dipole band shows a decreasing trend in the $B(M1)$ strength as function of spin, a well-established feature of magnetic bands. The nearly degenerate band structures satisfy the three experimental signatures of chirality in the nuclei; however, microscopic calculations are indicative of a magnetic phenomena.

The ${}^{205}\mathrm{Tl}$($n,2n\gamma$) reaction was used to populate excited states in ${}^{204}\mathrm{Tl}$. The γ-ray detection was accomplished with the GEANIE spectrometer, a Compton suppressed array of 26 Ge detectors. An energetic beam of neutrons was provided by the pulsed neutron source of the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center's WNR facility. The time-of-flight technique was used to determine the incident neutron energies. γ-ray excitation functions were determined from incident neutron energy of 1 MeV up to $E_n=25$ MeV. The level scheme of ${}^{204}\mathrm{Tl}$ was enriched and the partial level scheme and nuclear structure above the previously known $7^{+}$ isomer at 1104-keV excitation energy were established for the first time up to $E_x~2.3$ MeV. The high-spin part of the level scheme exhibits striking similarities to that of the neighboring ${}^{202}\mathrm{Tl}$ isotope, suggesting similarities in the underlying nuclear structure. The half-life of the $7^{+}$ isomer was measured with a more precise result ($T_{1/2}=60.7\pm 1.2$ μs), in agreement with literature values. A lower limit for the excitation energy of the $\pi h_{11/2}\nu i_{13/2}$ structure with $J^{\pi }={12}^{-}$ is proposed.

The generalized Langevin approach is suggested to describe the capture inside of the Coulomb barrier of two heavy nuclei at bombarding energies near the barrier. The equations of motion for the relative distance (collective coordinate) between two interacting nuclei are consistent with the generalized quantum fluctuation-dissipation relations. The analytical expressions are derived for the time-dependent non-Markovian microscopic transport coefficients for the stable and unstable collective modes. The calculated results show that the quantum effects in the diffusion process increase with increasing friction or/and decreasing temperature. The capture probability inside of the Coulomb barrier is enhanced by the quantum noise at low energies near the barrier. An increase of the passing probability with dissipation is found at sub-barrier energies.

Inclusive neutrino-nucleus cross sections are calculated using a consistent relativistic mean-field theoretical framework. The weak lepton-hadron interaction is expressed in the standard current-current form, the nuclear ground state is described with the relativistic Hartree-Bogoliubov model, and the relevant transitions to excited nuclear states are calculated in the relativistic quasiparticle random-phase approximation. Illustrative test calculations are performed for charged-current neutrino reactions on ${}^{12}\mathrm{C}$, ${}^{16}\mathrm{O}$, ${}^{56}\mathrm{Fe}$, and ${}^{208}\mathrm{Pb}$, and results compared with previous studies and available data. Through the use of the experimental neutrino fluxes, the averaged cross sections are evaluated for nuclei of interest for neutrino detectors. We analyze the total neutrino-nucleus cross sections and the evolution of the contribution of the different multipole excitations as a function of neutrino energy. The cross sections for reactions of supernova neutrinos on ${}^{16}\mathrm{O}$ and ${}^{208}\mathrm{Pb}$ target nuclei are analyzed as functions of the temperature and chemical potential.