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Invariant amplitudes, unpolarized cross sections, and polarization asymmetries in neutrino-nucleon and antineutrino-nucleon elastic scattering

At leading order in weak and electromagnetic couplings, cross sections for (anti)neutrino-nucleon elastic scattering are determined by four nucleon form factors that depend on the momentum transfer Q 2 . Including radiative corrections in the Standard Model and potential new physics contributions beyond the Standard Model, eight invariant amplitudes are possible, depending on both Q 2 and the (anti)neutrino energy E ν . We review the definition of these amplitudes and use them to compute both unpolarized and polarized observables including radiative corrections. We show that unpolarized accelerator neutrino cross-section measurements can probe new physics parameter space within the constraints inferred from precision beta decay measurements. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Charged particle motion and radiation in strong electromagnetic fields

The dynamics of charged particles in electromagnetic fields is an essential component of understanding the most extreme environments in our Universe. In electromagnetic fields of sufficient magnitude, radiation emission dominates the particle motion and effects of quantum electrodynamics (QED) in strong fields are crucial, which triggers electron-positron pair cascades and counterintuitive particle-Trapping phenomena. As a result of recent progress in laser technology, high-power lasers provide a platform to create and probe such fields in the laboratory. With new large-scale laser facilities on the horizon and the prospect of investigating these hitherto unexplored regimes, this review explores the basic physical processes of radiation reaction and QED in strong fields, how they are treated theoretically and in simulation, the new collective dynamics they unlock, recent experimental progress and plans, and possible applications for high-flux particle and radiation sources.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Development and Benchmarking of a Hybrid PIC Code For Dense Plasmas and Fast Ignition (Final Report)

Radiation processes play an important role in the study of both fast ignition and other inertial confinement schemes, such as plasma jet driven magneto-inertial fusion, both in their effect on energy balance, and in generating diagnostic signals. In the latter case, warm and hot dense matter may be produced by the convergence of a plasma shell formed by the merging of an assembly of high Mach number plasma jets. This innovative approach has the potential advantage of creating matter of high energy densities in voluminous amount compared with high power lasers or particle beams. An important application of this technology is as a plasma liner for the flux compression of magnetized plasma to create ultra-high magnetic fields and burning plasmas. HyperV Technologies Corp. has been developing plasma jet accelerator technology in both coaxial and linear railgun geometries to produce plasma jets of sufficient mass, density, and velocity to create such imploding plasma liners. An enabling tool for the development of this technology is the ability to model the plasma dynamics, not only in the accelerators themselves, but also in the resulting magnetized target plasma and within the merging/interacting plasma jets during transport to the target. Welch pioneered numerical modeling of such plasmas (including for fast ignition) using the LSP simulation code. Lsp is an electromagnetic, parallelized, plasma simulation code under development since 1995. It has a number of innovative features making it uniquely suitable for modeling high energy density plasmas including a hybrid fluid model for electrons that allows electrons in dense plasmas to be modeled with a kinetic or fluid treatment as appropriate. In addition to in-house use at Voss Scientific, several groups carrying out research in Fast Ignition (LLNL, SNL, UCSD, AWE (UK), and Imperial College (UK)) also use LSP. A collaborative team consisting of HyperV Technologies Corp., Voss Scientific LLC, FAR-TECH, Inc., Prism Computational Sciences, Inc. and Advanced Energy Systems Inc. joined efforts to develop new physics and numerical models for LSP in several key areas to enhance the ability of LSP to model high energy density plasmas (HEDP). This final report details those efforts. Areas addressed in this research effort include: adding radiation transport to LSP, first in 2D and then fully 3D, extending the EMHD model to 3D, implementing more advanced radiation and electrode plasma boundary conditions, and installing more efficient implicit numerical algorithms to speed complex 2-D and 3-D computations. The new capabilities allow modeling of the dominant processes in high energy density plasmas, and further assist the development and optimization of plasma jet accelerators, with particular attention to MHD instabilities and plasma/wall interaction (based on physical models for ion drag friction and ablation/erosion of the electrodes). In the first funding cycle we implemented a solver for the radiation diffusion equation. To solve this equation in 2-D, we used finite-differencing and applied the parallelized sparse-matrix solvers in the PETSc library (Argonne National Laboratory) to the resulting system of equations. A database of the necessary coefficients for materials of interest was assembled using the PROPACEOS and ATBASE codes from Prism. The model was benchmarked against Prism's 1-D radiation hydrodynamics code HELIOS, and against experimental data obtained from HyperV's separately funded plasma jet accelerator development program. Work in the second funding cycle focused on extending the radiation diffusion model to full 3-D, continued development of the EMHD model, optimizing the direct-implicit model to speed up calculations, add in multiply ionized atoms, and improved the way boundary conditions are handled in LSP. These new LSP capabilities were then used, along with analytic calculations and Mach2 runs, to investigate plasma jet merging, plasma detachment and transport, restrike and advanced jet accelerator design. In addition, a strong linkage to diagnostic measurements was made by modeling plasma jet experiments on PLX to support benchmarking of the code. A large number of upgrades and improvements advancing hybrid PIC algorithms were implemented in LSP during the second funding cycle. These include development of fully 3D radiation transport algorithms, new boundary conditions for plasma-electrode interactions, and a charge conserving equation of state that permits multiply ionized high-Z ions. The final funding cycle focused on 1) mitigating the effects of a slow-growing grid instability which is most pronounced in plasma jet frame expansion problems using the two-fluid Eulerian remap algorithm, 2) extension of the Eulerian Smoothing Algorithm to allow EOS/Radiation modeling, 3) simulations of collisionless shocks formed by jet merging, 4) simulations of merging jets using high-Z gases, 5) generation of PROPACEOS EOS/Opacity databases, 6) simulations of plasma jet transport experiments, 7) simulations of plasma jet penetration through transverse magnetic fields, and 8) GPU PIC code development. The tools developed during this project are applicable not only to the study of plasma jets, but also to a wide variety of HEDP plasmas of interest to DOE, including plasmas created in short-pulse laser experiments performed to study fast ignition concepts for inertial confinement fusion.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

THE INFLUENCE OF KLEIN-NISHINA STEPS ON THE SPATIAL DIFFUSION OF GALACTIC COSMIC-RAY ELECTRONS

The full Klein-Nishina cross section for the inverse Compton scattering interactions of electrons implies a significant reduction of the electron energy loss rate compared to the Thomson limit when the electron energy exceeds the critical Klein-Nishina energy E{sub K} = 0.27m{sup 2}{sub e} c{sup 4}/(k{sub B}T), where T denotes the temperature of the photon graybody distribution. We investigate the influence of the Klein-Nishina reduction on the solution of the steady-state spatial diffusion transport equation for relativistic electrons. The modified electron spectrum at energies below 10{sup 4} GeV, where only the Klein-Nishina modifications from interstellar optical target photons are relevant, are derived in terms of the Green's function solution for one-, two-, and three-dimensional spatial diffusion. The modifications to the solutions of the one- and three-dimensional diffusion equations are calculated for a single point source of monoenergetic electrons. It is shown that significant enhancements in the local electron intensity occur at electron energies greater than the critical Klein-Nishina energy E{sub K} , and that the cosmic-ray electron anisotropy at the solar system resulting from a single steady point source exhibits a sharp drop near E{sub K} . These Klein-Nishina enhancements are potentially interesting for determining the contribution of point sources such as dark matter sources and/or electromagnetic particle accelerators (pulsars and micro-quasars) to the local electron intensity and the local positron fraction.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Evolution of collectivity in 118 Xe

A recoil-distance Doppler shift experiment has been performed using the Pd 102 ( F 19 , p 2 n ) reaction at a beam energy of 73 MeV to measure the lifetime of excited states in Xe 118 . Additionally, the differential decay-curve method using γ γ coincidences and a gating procedure that allows to extract the lifetime without feeding assumptions has been employed. The lifetimes obtained for the yrast states up to spin-parity 8 + are compared with interacting boson model calculations and Xe 118 can be classified as a transitional nucleus between the spherical and a deformed shape. Systematics of the B ( E 2 ) values for the 2 + → 0 + and 4 + → 2 + transitions in the isotopic chains of tin, tellurium and xenon are presented. It is proposed that a “critical point” exists at which the B ( E 2 ; 4 + → 2 + ) / B ( E 2 ; 2 + → 0 + ) ratio drops to unity for lower neutron numbers within the isotopic chain. The position of the “critical point” varies with proton number, i.e., it is presumed to be located at the same mass number A = 114 in the Sn, Te, and Xe isotopes.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Engineering Super–Poissonian Photon Statistics of Spatial Light Modes

The nature of light sources is defined by the statistical fluctuations of the electromagnetic field. As such, the photon statistics of light sources are typically associated with distinct emitters. Here, the possibility of producing light beams with various photon statistics through the spatial modulation of coherent light is demonstrated. This is achieved by the sequential encoding of controllable Kolmogorov phase screens in a digital micromirror device. Interestingly, the flexibility of this scheme allows for the shaping of spatial light modes with engineered photon statistics at different spatial positions. The performance of this scheme is assessed through the photon-number-resolving characterization of different families of spatial light modes with engineered photon statistics. Furthermore, it is believed that the possibility of controlling the photon fluctuations of the light field at arbitrary spatial locations has important implications for quantum spectroscopy, sensing, and imaging.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Monophotons at neutrino experiments from neutrino polarizability

Nontrivial electromagnetic properties of neutrinos are an avenue to physics beyond the Standard Model (SM). To this end, we investigate the power of monophoton signals at neutrino experiments to probe a higher-dimensional operator connecting neutrinos to SM photons dubbed, neutrino polarizability. A simplified scenario giving rise to this operator involves a new pseudoscalar that couples to both neutrinos and photons, with clear implications for axionlike particle (ALP) and Majoron physics. By analyzing the photon energy spectrum and angular distributions, we find that NOMAD and MiniBooNE currently set the most stringent limits, while short baseline near detector and the DUNE near detector will soon provide significantly improved constraints.

Particle detection signatures↗

The human skin as a sub-THz receiver – Does 5G pose a danger to it or not?

Highlights: • The sweat duct is regarded as a helical antenna in the sub-THz band, reflectance depends on perspiration. • We outline the background for non-thermal effects based on the structure of sweat ducts. • We have introduced a realistic skin EM model and found the expected SAR for the 5G standard. In the interaction of microwave radiation and human beings, the skin is traditionally considered as just an absorbing sponge stratum filled with water. In previous works, we showed that this view is flawed when we demonstrated that the coiled portion of the sweat duct in upper skin layer is regarded as a helical antenna in the sub-THz band. Experimentally we showed that the reflectance of the human skin in the sub-THz region depends on the intensity of perspiration, i.e. sweat duct's conductivity, and correlates with levels of human stress (physical, mental and emotional). Later on, we detected circular dichroism in the reflectance from the skin, a signature of the axial mode of a helical antenna. The full ramifications of what these findings represent in the human condition are still unclear. We also revealed correlation of electrocardiography (ECG) parameters to the sub-THz reflection coefficient of human skin. In a recent work, we developed a unique simulation tool of human skin, taking into account the skin multi-layer structure together with the helical segment of the sweat duct embedded in it. The presence of the sweat duct led to a high specific absorption rate (SAR) of the skin in extremely high frequency band. In this paper, we summarize the physical evidence for this phenomenon and consider its implication for the future exploitation of the electromagnetic spectrum by wireless communication. Starting from July 2016 the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has adopted new rules for wireless broadband operations above 24 GHz (5 G). This trend of exploitation is predicted to expand to higher frequencies in the sub-THz region. One must consider the implications of human immersion in the electromagnetic noise, caused by devices working at the very same frequencies as those, to which the sweat duct (as a helical antenna) is most attuned. We are raising a warning flag against the unrestricted use of sub-THz technologies for communication, before the possible consequences for public health are explored.

63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTAN↗

Generalized slab universal instability and its appearance in pair plasma

In this work, a generalized linear dispersion relation of electromagnetic slab universal modes is derived, taking into account arbitrary ion charge state, electron finite Larmor radius (FLR) effects, and Debye shielding effects. As a consequence, it provides more accurate predictions and is applicable to a wider range of plasmas. We find that electron FLR effects have a weakly stabilizing effect on the slab universal instability in electron–ion plasma, while Debye shielding strongly stabilizes this instability when λ D approaches ρ i (λ D is the Debye length and ρi is the ion gyroradius). In particular, we examine the stability criterion for this instability in electron–positron pair plasmas and find that the instability persists in this simplest plasma system as long as the pair plasma number density exceeds the critical value n c = B 2 /(8πm e c 2 ).

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Plasmon-induced excitation energy transfer in silver nanoparticle dimers: A real-time TDDFTB investigation

Here, using real-time quantum dynamics calculations, we perform theoretical investigations of light-induced interactions and electronic excitation transfer in a silver nanoparticle dimer. Real-time time-dependent density functional tight-binding (RT-TDDFTB) calculations provide details of the quantum dynamical processes at an electronic/atomistic level with attosecond resolution. The computational efficiency of RT-TDDFTB allows us to examine electronic dynamics up to picosecond time scales. With time scales varying over six orders of magnitude, we provide insight into interactions between the nanoparticle and laser and between nanoparticles. Our results show that the coupling between nanoparticle monomers is dependent on the separation distance between the nanoparticles in the dimer. As the interparticle distance is varied, the dipole–dipole interactions and electronic excitation transfer mechanisms are markedly different. At large distances (from 50 to 20 Å), the energy transfer from NP1 to NP2 becomes more efficient as the interparticle distance decreases. The total dipole moment of the Ag 14 nanoparticle dimer increases linearly at an interparticle distance of 20 Å and reaches its maximum after 1.2 ps. The electronic excitation transfer is also the most efficient at 20 Å. At short distances, back-transfer effects reduce the ability of the dimer and NP1 to accept energy from the incident electric field. We attribute the distance-dependent features of the nanoparticle dimer to the beating between the laser acting on NP1 and the back transfer from NP2 to NP1.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Collective dynamics of polarized spin-half fermions in relativistic heavy-ion collisions

Standard relativistic hydrodynamics has been successful in describing the properties of the strongly interacting matter produced in the heavy-ion collision experiments. Recently, there has been a significant theoretical advancement in this field to explain spin polarization of hadrons emitted in these processes. Although current models have successfully explained some of the experimental data based on the coupling between spin polarization and vorticity of the medium, they still lack a clear understanding of the differential measurements. This is commonly interpreted as an indication that the spin needs to be treated as an independent degree of freedom whose dynamics is not entirely bound to flow circulation. In particular, if the spin is a macroscopic property of the system, in equilibrium its dynamics should follow hydrodynamic laws. Here, we develop a framework of relativistic hydrodynamics which includes spin degrees of freedom from the quantum kinetic theory for Dirac fermions and use it for modeling the dynamics of matter. Following experimental observations, we assume that the polarization effects are small and derive conservation laws for the net baryon current, the energy–momentum tensor and the spin tensor based on the de Groot–van Leeuwen–van Weert definitions of these currents. We present various properties of the spin polarization tensor and its components, analyze the propagation properties of the spin polarization components, and derive the spin-wave velocity for arbitrary statistics. We find that only the transverse spin components propagate, analogously to the electromagnetic waves. Finally, using our framework, we study the space–time evolution of the spin polarization for the systems respecting certain space–time symmetries and calculate the mean spin polarization per particle, which can be compared to the experimental data. We find that, for some observables, our spin polarization results agree qualitatively with the experimental findings and other model calculations.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Coherent Magnon–Photon Coupling in the Magnetic Semiconductor CrSBr

Magnon-based hybrid quantum systems are promising candidates for quantum interconnects and quantum sensors, and they offer a rich platform for exploring nonlinear magnonics and cavity–photon interactions. Two-dimensional (2D) van der Waals magnets provide a compact, atomically flat geometry that can be easily integrated into existing quantum circuits, such as superconducting resonators and qubits. Among various 2D magnets, the magnetic semiconductor CrSBr is particularly unique due to its strong spin–exciton, spin–lattice, and magnon–exciton interactions. In this work, we demonstrate coherent coupling between antiferromagnetic (AFM) magnons in CrSBr and microwave photons in a niobium-(Nb)-based-on-chip resonator. We tuned the magnon–photon coupling strength by changing the number of CrSBr flakes integrated into the Nb microwave photon resonators. Furthermore, this work demonstrates the first step toward integrating layered van der Waals 2D magnets into superconducting microwave circuits, with full access for microwave and optical probing.

Electromagnetic radiation↗

Long-lived vectors from electromagnetic cascades at SHiP

We simulate dark-vector, V, production from electromagnetic cascades at the recently approved SHiP experiment. The cascades (initiated by photons from π$^{0}$ → γγ) can lead to 3–4 orders of magnitude increase of the event rate relative to using primary production alone. We provide new SHiP sensitivity projections for dark photons and electrophilic gauge bosons, which are significantly improved compared to previous literature. The main gain in sensitivity occurs for long-lived dark vectors with masses below ~ 50 − 300 MeV. The dominant production mode in this parameter space is low-energy annihilation e$^{+}$e$^{−}$ → V (γ). This motivates a detailed study of backgrounds and efficiencies in the SHiP experiment for sub-GeV signals.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Interaction of radio frequency waves with cylindrical density filaments: scattering and radiation pressure

The propagation of radio-frequency (RF) waves in tokamaks can be affected by filamentary structures, or blobs, that are present in the edge plasma and the scrape-off layer. The difference in the permittivity between the surrounding plasma and interior of a filament leads to reflection, refraction and diffraction of the waves. This, in turn, can affect the power flow into the core of the plasma and reduce the efficiency of heating and/or current generation. The scattering of RF waves, lower hybrid, helicon and ion cyclotron waves, by a single cylindrical filament, embedded in a background plasma, is studied using a full-wave analytical theory developed previously (Ram & Hizanidis, Phys. Plasmas , vol. 23, 2016, 022504). The theory assumes that the plasma in and around a filament is homogeneous and cold. A detailed scattering analysis reveals a variety of common features that exist among the three distinctly different RF waves. These common attributes can be inferred intuitively based on an examination of the cold plasma dispersion relation. The physical intuition is a useful step to understanding experimental observations on scattering, as well as results from simulations that include general forms of edge plasma turbulence. While a filament can affect the propagation of RF waves, the radiation force exerted by the waves can influence the filament. The force on a filament is determined using the Maxwell stress tensor. In 1905, Poynting was the first to evaluate and measure the radiation force on an interface separating two different dielectric media (Poynting, London Edinburgh Dublin Philos. Mag. J. Sci. , vol. 9, 1905, pp. 393–406). For ordinary light propagating in vacuum and incident on a glass surface, Poynting noted that the surface is ‘pulled’ towards the vacuum. In a magnetized cold plasma, there are two independent wave modes. Even if only one of these modes is excited by an RF antenna, a filament will couple power to the other mode: a consequence of electromagnetic boundary conditions. This facet of scattering has consequences on the radiation force that go beyond Poynting's seminal contribution. The direction of the force depends on the polarization of the incident wave and on the mode structure of the waves inside and in the vicinity of a filament. It can either pull the filament toward the RF source or push it away. For slow lower hybrid waves, filaments with densities greater than the ambient density are pulled in, while filaments with lower densities are pushed out, thereby enhancing the density in front of the antenna. In the case of fast helicon and ion cyclotron waves, the direction of the force depends on the plasma and wave parameters; in particular, on the ambient density. The radiation force, in all three frequency ranges, is large enough to affect the motion of a filament and could be measured experimentally. This also suggests the possibility of modifying the edge turbulence using RF waves.

Physics↗

Interaction of radio frequency waves with cylindrical density filaments -- scattering and radiation pressure

The propagation of radio-frequency (RF) waves in tokamaks can be affected by filamentary structures, or blobs, that are present in the edge plasma and the scrape-off layer. The difference in the permittivity between the surrounding plasma and interior of a filament leads to reflection, refraction and diffraction of the waves. This, in turn, can affect the power flow into the core of the plasma and reduce the efficiency of heating and/or current generation. The scattering of RF waves, lower hybrid, helicon and ion cyclotron waves, by a single cylindrical filament, embedded in a background plasma, is studied using a full-wave analytical theory developed previously (Ram & Hizanidis, Phys. Plasmas, vol. 23, 2016, 022504). The theory assumes that the plasma in and around a filament is homogeneous and cold. A detailed scattering analysis reveals a variety of common features that exist among the three distinctly different RF waves. These common attributes can be inferred intuitively based on an examination of the cold plasma dispersion relation. The physical intuition is a useful step to understanding experimental observations on scattering, as well as results from simulations that include general forms of edge plasma turbulence. While a filament can affect the propagation of RF waves, the radiation force exerted by the waves can influence the filament. The force on a filament is determined using the Maxwell stress tensor. In 1905, Poynting was the first to evaluate and measure the radiation force on an interface separating two different dielectric media (Poynting, London Edinburgh Dublin Philos. Mag. J. Sci., vol. 9, 1905, pp. 393–406). For ordinary light propagating in vacuum and incident on a glass surface, Poynting noted that the surface is ‘pulled’ towards the vacuum. In a magnetized cold plasma, there are two independent wave modes. Even if only one of these modes is excited by an RF antenna, a filament will couple power to the other mode: a consequence of electromagnetic boundary conditions. This facet of scattering has consequences on the radiation force that go beyond Poynting's seminal contribution. The direction of the force depends on the polarization of the incident wave and on the mode structure of the waves inside and in the vicinity of a filament. It can either pull the filament toward the RF source or push it away. For slow lower hybrid waves, filaments with densities greater than the ambient density are pulled in, while filaments with lower densities are pushed out, thereby enhancing the density in front of the antenna. In the case of fast helicon and ion cyclotron waves, the direction of the force depends on the plasma and wave parameters; in particular, on the ambient density. The radiation force, in all three frequency ranges, is large enough to affect the motion of a filament and could be measured experimentally. This also suggests the possibility of modifying the edge turbulence using RF waves.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Resonance of relativistic electrons with electromagnetic ion cyclotron waves

Relativistic electrons have been thought to more easily resonate with electromagnetic ion cyclotron EMIC waves if the total density is large. We show that, for a particular EMIC mode, this dependence is weak due to the dependence of the wave frequency and wave vector on the density. A significant increase in relativistic electron minimum resonant energy might occur for the H band EMIC mode only for small density, but no changes in parameters significantly decrease the minimum resonant energy from a nominal value. The minimum resonant energy depends most strongly on the thermal velocity associated with the field line motion of the hot ring current protons that drive the instability. High density due to a plasmasphere or plasmaspheric plume could possibly lead to lower minimum resonance energy by causing the He band EMIC mode to be dominant. We demonstrate these points using parameters from a ring current simulation.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Proton Electric Charge Radius from Lepton Scattering

A proton is a bound state of a strong interaction, governed by Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD). The electric charge radius of a proton, denoted by $r^{p}_{E}$, characterizes the spatial distribution of its electric charge carried by the quarks. It is an important input for bound-state Quantum Electrodynamic (QED) calculations of the hydrogen atomic energy levels. However, physicists have been puzzled by the large discrepancy between $r^{p}_{E}$ measurements from muonic hydrogen spectroscopy and those from ep elastic scattering and ordinary hydrogen spectroscopy for over a decade. Tremendous efforts, both theoretical and experimental, have been dedicated to providing various insights into this puzzle, but certain issues still remain unresolved, particularly in the field of lepton scatterings. This review will focus on lepton-scattering measurements of $r^{p}_{E}$, recent theoretical and experimental developments in this field, as well as future experiments using this technique.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Lifetime measurements in the even-even Cd 102 – 108 isotopes

The heaviest T z = 0 doubly-magic nucleus, Sn 100 , and the neighboring nuclei offer unique opportunities to investigate the properties of nuclear interaction. For instance, the structure of light-Sn nuclei has been shown to be affected by the delicate balance between nuclear-interaction components, such as pairing and quadrupole correlations. From Cd to Te, many common features and phenomena have been observed experimentally along the isotopic chains, leading to theoretical studies devoted to a more general and comprehensive study of the region. In this context, having only two proton holes in the Z = 50 shell, the Cd isotopes are expected to present properties similar to those found in the Sn isotopic chain. The aim of this work was to measure lifetimes of excited states in neutron-deficient nuclei in the vicinity of Sn 100 . Here, the neutron-deficient nuclei in the N ≈ Z ≈ 50 region were populated using a multinucleon transfer reaction with a Cd 106 beam and a Mo 92 target. The beamlike products were identified by the VAMOS + + spectrometer, while the γ rays were detected using the AGATA array. Lifetimes of excited states were determined using the recoil distance Doppler-shift method, employing the Cologne differential plunger. Lifetimes of low-lying states were measured in the even-mass Cd 102 – 108 isotopes. In particular, multiple states with excitation energy up to ≈ 3 MeV, belonging to various bands, were populated in Cd 106 via inelastic scattering. The transition strengths corresponding to the measured lifetimes were compared with those resulting from state-of-the-art beyond-mean-field calculations using the symmetry-conserving configuration-mixing approach. Conclusions: Despite the similarities in the electromagnetic properties of the low-lying states, there is a fundamental structural difference between the ground-state bands in the Z = 48 and Z = 50 isotopes. The comparison between experimental and theoretical results revealed a rotational character of the Cd nuclei, which have prolate-deformed ground states with β 2 ≈ 0.2 . At this deformation Z = 48 becomes a closed-shell configuration, which is favored with respect to the spherical one.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗