Halo structure of neutron drip line nuclei and related aspects

Abstract

The ground state decay of a large number of neutron rich (n-rich) light nuclei near the neutron dripline is studied using the Cluster Core Model (CCM). The CCM model find its basis in the well known Quantum mechanical Fragmentation Theory (QMFT), which have been applied successfully to study the decay of nuclear systems in light, intermediate, heavy and superheavy mass region. The halo nature of possible neutron drip line nuclei is studied via the minima in potential energy surfaces (PES), which in turn correspond to the most probable configuration. In present work, the main emphasis is on the angular momentum and deformation & orientation effects on halo nuclei. It is of great interest to see that in what way the angular momentum and deformations and orientations effects of the decaying fragments influence the potential energy surface PES behaviour of these rare light nuclei. The role of angular momentum and deformations & orientations seem to affect the fragmentation path of halo nuclei near the dripline. In other words, the cluster+core configuration seem to influence with inclusion of angular momentum and deformation effects in some of the cases studied in present work. Such studies are of extreme importance as the halo nuclei are used in break up reactions besides being used as the radioactive ion beams as a projectile because these nuclei are very loosely bound, unstable and have short half-life periods. The work carried out in this work seems highly relevant in context of present day developments in nuclear physics at low energies and could provide handful information for the further research work in the area of these lighter neutron rich nuclei near the dripline. The introduction of neutron drip line halo nuclei is given in chapter 1. The methodology used (CCM) in the present work is given in chapter 2 and the results are discussed in chapter 3.