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Physical Review C

Ground-state shape phase transitions in nuclei: Thermodynamic analogy and finite- N effects

Pavel Cejnar, Stefan G. Heinze, Jan Jolie

Published Sep 23, 2003• 54 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We study quantum phase transitions between spherical, prolate, and oblate nuclear ground-state shapes using the interacting $\mathrm{sd}$-boson model $(sd$-IBM) and demonstrate the analogy between the IBM results (also results of any axially symmetric quadrupole collective model) and predictions of the Landau theory of phase transitions in classical thermodynamics. A detailed comparison of the two frameworks is performed exploiting the concept of ``specific heat,'' introduced in four alternative ways in the quantum case. All these definitions (two of them based on spectroscopic features of the ground state, the others on a randomized version of the model) lead to similar peaked forms of the ``specific heat'' at the point of the quantum phase transition. We analyze the effect of an increasing boson number on these curves and observe convergence to the singular phase-transitional behavior in the classical limit. Other observable signatures of the IBM structural phase transitions are also discussed with the aim to facilitate the location of a particular nucleus in the parameter space (extended Casten triangle) near the transitions.

DOI
10.1103/physrevc.68.034326

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We study quantum phase transitions between spherical, prolate, and oblate nuclear ground-state shapes using the interacting sd\mathrm{sd}sd-boson model (sd(sd(sd-IBM) and demonstrate the analogy between the IBM results (also results of any axially symmetric quadrupole collective model) and predictions of the Landau theory of phase transitions in classical thermodynamics. A detailed comparison of the two frameworks is performed exploiting the concept of specific heat,'' introduced in four alternative ways in the quantum case. All these definitions (two of them based on spectroscopic features of the ground state, the others on a randomized version of the model) lead to similar peaked forms of the specific heat'' at the point of the quantum phase transition. We analyze the effect of an increasing boson number on these curves and observe convergence to the singular phase-transitional behavior in the classical limit. Other observable signatures of the IBM structural phase transitions are also discussed with the aim to facilitate the location of a particular nucleus in the parameter space (extended Casten triangle) near the transitions.
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Quantum shape-phase transitions in odd-nuclei are investigated within the framework of the interacting boson-fermion model (IBFM). We consider the case of a single-j fermion coupled to an even-even boson core that performs a transition from spherical to oblate shapes varying a control parameter in the boson Hamiltonian. The aim of this work is to see the effect of the coupling of the unpaired fermion on the transition, to understand how the coupled single particle modifies the geometric shape of the system and how each of the odd states behaves when the boson core shifts along the transitional path.
Quantum phase transitions in odd-nuclei are investigated within the framework of the interacting boson-fermion model with a description based on the concept of intrinsic states. We consider the case of a single j=9/2 odd-particle coupled to an even-even boson core that performs a transition from spherical to deformed prolate and to deformed gamma-unstable shapes varying a control parameter in the boson Hamiltonian. The effect of the coupling of the odd particle to this core is discussed along the shape transition and, in particular, at the critical point.
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We study quasicritical phenomena in transitions between two "quantum phases" of a finite boson system, described by the interacting boson model 1 used in nuclear physics. The model is formulated in the algebraic framework and has a simple geometrical interpretation; the "phases" represented by dynamical symmetries U(5) and SU(3) correspond to spherical and deformed nuclear shapes. The quasicriticality of the U(5)-SU(3) transition is shown to be connected with the following phenomena simultaneously occurring in a narrow parameter region between the symmetries: (a) abrupt structural changes of eigenstates, (b) multiple avoided crossing of levels, (c) peaked density of exceptional points, (d) qualitative changes of the corresponding classical potential. We show that these spectroscopic features influence the dynamics of intersymmetry transitions in the model parameter space if the parameters themselves become dynamical variables.