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We have generalized the four-dimensional Langevin approach used in our previous works for the description of fission process to the five-dimensional by considering the neck parameter $\eps$ in the two-center shell model shape parametrization as an independent dynamical variable. The calculated results for the mass distribution of fission fragments are in better agreement with the available experimental data. In particular, the transition from the mass-symmetric to mass-asymmetric fission via the triple-humped distribution in fission of Thorium isotopes is well reproduced., Comment: 9 pages, 11 figures, submitted to PRC

In this contribution, we present the main relations of the Langevin approach to the description of fission or fusion-fission reactions. The results of Langevin calculations are shown for the mass distributions of fission fragments of super-heavy elements and used for the investigation of memory effects in nuclear fission., Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in APPB. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1911.09282

We present the schematic calculations within the Langevin approach in order to investigate the dependence of fission width on the memory time and the excitation energy at low temperatures where the quantum fluctuations play an important role. For this we consider the simple one-dimensional case with the potential energy given by two parabolic potentials (Kramers potential). For friction and the mass parameters we use the deformation independent values fitted to the results obtained earlier within the microscopic linear response theory. We have found out that at small excitation energies (comparable with the fission barrier height) the memory effects in the friction and random force acts on the fission width in opposite direction. The total effect is not so large, but still quite noticeable (depending on the value of the relaxation time). The use of effective temperature in the diffusion coefficient turns out to be much more important compared with the memory effects. The calculated fission width at very low excitation energies is unrealistically too big., Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures, submitted to PRC

Beta-delayed neutron emission is important for nuclear structure and astrophysics as well as for reactor applications. Significant advances in nuclear experimental techniques in the past two decades have led to a wealth of new measurements that remain to be incorporated in the databases. We report on a coordinated effort to compile and evaluate all the available beta-delayed neutron emission data. The different measurement techniques have been assessed and the data have been compared with semi-microscopic and microscopic-macroscopic models. The new microscopic database has been tested against aggregate total delayed neutron yields, time-dependent group parameters in 6-and 8-group re-presentation, and aggregate delayed neutron spectra. New recommendations of macroscopic delayed-neutron data for fissile materials of interest to applications are also presented. The new Reference Database for Beta-Delayed Neutron Emission Data is available online at: http://www-nds.iaea.org/beta-delayed-neutron/database.html., Comment: 96 pages, IAEA CRP report, preliminary version

We describe the capture, fusion, fission and evaporation residue formation cross sections of superheavy nuclei within the proposed earlier two stages dynamical model. The approaching of the projectile nucleus to the target nucleus is described in the first stage of the model. On the second stage, the evolution of the system formed after the touching of the projectile and target nuclei is considered. The evolution of the system on both stages is described by Langevin equations. The transport coefficients of these equations are calculated within the microscopic linear response theory. The mutual orientation of the colliding ions, the tunneling through the Coulomb barrier in the entrance channel and the shell effects in the potential energy on both stages of the calculations are taking into account. The obtained results are compared with the available experimental data and other theoretical predictions., Comment: 8 pages, 9 figures, submitted to PRC

In this work we try to settle down the controversial predictions on the effect of doubly magic nuclei $^{132}$Sn and $^{208}$Pb on the mass distributions of fission fragments of super-heavy nuclei. For this we have calculated the mass distribution of super-heavy nuclei from $^{286}$Cn to $^{306}$122 within the dynamical 4-dimensional Langevin approach. We have found that in "light" super-heavies the influence of $^{208}$Pb on the mass distributions is present but negligible small. In "heavy" super-heavies, Z=120-122, the (quasi)symmetric peaks and strongly asymmetric peaks at fragment mass $A_F$ close to $A_F$=208 are of comparable magnitude., Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures

We present neutrino capture cross sections on 13C at supernova neutrino energies, up to 50 MeV. For both charged-current and neutral-current reactions partial cross sections are calculated using statistical Hauser-Feschbach method. Coherent elastic neutrino scattering cross section for a 13C target is also provided., Comment: 11 pages of Latex

The two stages dynamical stochastic model developed earlier for description of fusion-fission reactions is applied to the calculation of mass- and energy-distributions of fission fragments of platinum isotopes in reaction ${\rm ^{36}Ar + ^{142}Nd \to ^{178-x}Pt + xn}$. The first stage of this model is the calculation of the approaching of projectile nucleus to the target nucleus. On the second stage of the model, the evolution of the system formed after the touching of the projectile and target nuclei is considered. The evolution of the system on both stages is described by three-dimensional Langevin equations for the shape parameters of the system. The mutual orientation of the colliding ions and tunneling through the Coulomb barrier in the entrance channel are also taken into account. The potential energy of the system is calculated within the macroscopic-microscopic approach. The calculated mass-energy distributions of fission fragments are compared with the available experimental data. The impact of shell effects, rotation of the system and neutron evaporation on the calculated results is discussed., Comment: 8 pages, 12 figures, submitted to PRC

We have decomposed to symmetric and asymmetric modes the mass-TKE fission fragment distributions calculated by 4-dimensional Langevin approach and observed how the dominant fission mode and symmetric mode change as functions of $Z^2/\sqrt[3]{A}$ of the fissioning system in the actinides and trans-actinide region. As a result, we found that the symmetric mode makes a sudden transition from super-long to super short fission mode around $^{254}$Es. The dominant fission modes on the other hand, are persistently asymmetric except for $^{258}$Fm, $^{259}$Fm and $^{260}$Md when the dominant fission mode suddenly becomes symmetric although it returns to the asymmetric mode around $^{256}$No. These correlated "twin transitions" have been known empirically by Darleane Hoffman and her group back in 1989, but for the first time we have given a clear explanation in terms of a dynamical model of nuclear fission. More specifically, since we kept the shape model parameters unchanged over the entire mass region, we conclude that the correlated twin transition emerge naturally from the dynamics in 4-D potential energy surface., Comment: This article will be published in Scientific Reports. The archived source also include supplementary information in pdf

In [Graphs Combin.~24 (2008) 469--483.], the third author and the fifth author conjectured that if $G$ is a $k$-connected graph such that $\sigma_{k+1}(G) \ge |V(G)|+\kappa(G)+(k-2)(\alpha(G)-1)$, then $G$ contains a Hamiltonian cycle, where $\sigma_{k+1}(G)$, $\kappa(G)$ and $\alpha(G)$ are the minimum degree sum of $k+1$ independent vertices, the connectivity and the independence number of $G$, respectively. In this paper, we settle this conjecture. This is an improvement of the result obtained by Li: If $G$ is a $k$-connected graph such that $\sigma_{k+1}(G) \ge |V(G)|+(k-1)(\alpha(G)-1)$, then $G$ is Hamiltonian. The degree sum condition is best possible., Comment: 26 page, 6 figures

This note supplements our paper "Induced nets and Hamiltonicity of claw-free graphs", by giving the detailed proof that were omitted in it., Comment: 11 Pages, 1 figure

We have examined the dependence of the shell correction to the nuclear liquid drop energy at finite excitations on the excitation energy (temperature). For this we have calculated the shell correction to the energy and free energy in very broad region of nuclei and deformations starting directly from their formal definitions. We have found out that the dependence of the shell corrections on the excitation energy differ substantially from the widely used approximation $\delta E(E^*)=\delta E(0)\exp(-E^*/E_d)$ both at small and large excitations. In particular, below the critical temperature at which the pairing effects vanish, the shell correction to the free energy is rather insensitive to the excitation energy. We suggest a more accurate approximation for the temperature dependence of the shell correction to the energy and free energy that is expressed in terms of the shell correction to the energy of independent particles and the shell correction to the pairing energy at T=0 and few fitted constants., Comment: 10 pages, 13 figures, accepted for publication in PRC

Tamura coupling model has been extended to consider the coupling of additional low-lying rotational bands to the ground state band. Rotational bands are built on vibrational bandheads (even-even targets) or single particle bandheads (odd-$A$ targets) including both axial and non-axial deformations. These additional excitations are introduced as a perturbation to the underlying axially-symmetric rigid rotor structure of the ground state rotational band. Coupling matrix elements of the generalized optical model are derived for extended multi-band transitions in even-even and odd-$A$ nuclei. Isospin symmetric formulation of the optical model is employed. A coupled-channels optical model potential (OMP) containing a dispersive contribution is used to fit simultaneously all available optical experimental databases including neutron strength functions for nucleon scattering on $^{232}$Th, $^{233,235,238}$U and $^{239}$Pu nuclei and quasi-elastic ($p$,$n$) scattering data on $^{232}$Th and $^{238}$U. Lane consistent OMP is derived for all actinides if corresponding multi-band coupling schemes are defined. Calculations using the derived OMP potential reproduce measured total cross-section differences between several actinide pairs within experimental uncertainty for incident neutron energies from 50 keV up to 150MeV. Multi-band coupling is stronger in even-even targets due to the collective nature of the coupling; the impact of extended coupling on predicted compound-nucleus formation cross section reaches 5% below 3 MeV of incident neutron energy. Coupling of ground-state rotational band levels in odd-$A$ nuclei is sufficient for a good description of the compound-nucleus formation cross sections as long as the coupling is saturated (a minimum of 7 coupled levels are typically needed)., Comment: 30 pages, 4 figures, 8 tables, 3 appendices

Previously derived Lane consistent dispersive coupled-channel optical model for nucleon scattering on $^{232}$Th and $^{238}$U nuclei is extended to describe scattering on even-even actinides with $Z=$90--98. A soft-rotator-model (SRM) description of the low-lying nuclear structure is used, where SRM Hamiltonian parameters are adjusted to the observed collective levels of the target nucleus. SRM nuclear wave functions (mixed in $K$ quantum number) have been used to calculate coupling matrix elements of the generalized optical model. The "effective" deformations that define inter-band couplings are derived from SRM Hamiltonian parameters. Conservation of nuclear volume is enforced by introducing a dynamic monopolar term to the deformed potential leading to additional couplings between rotational bands. Fitted static deformation parameters are in very good agreement with those derived by Wang and collaborators using the Weizs\"acker-Skyrme global mass model (WS4), allowing to use the latter to predict cross section for nuclei without experimental data. A good description of scarce "optical" experimental database is achieved. SRM couplings and volume conservation allow a precise calculation of the compound-nucleus formation cross sections, which is significantly different from the one calculated with rigid-rotor potentials coupling the ground-state rotational band. Derived parameters can be used to describe both neutron and proton induced reactions., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, 5 tables

There has been a persistent conundrum in attempts to model the nucleosynthesis of heavy elements by rapid neutron capture (the $r$-process). Although the location of the abundance peaks near nuclear mass numbers 130 and 195 identify an environment of rapid neutron capture near closed nuclear shells, the abundances of elements just above and below those peaks are often underproduced by more than an order of magnitude in model calculations. At the same time there is a debate in the literature as to what degree the $r$-process elements are produced in supernovae or the mergers of binary neutron stars. In this paper we propose a novel solution to both problems. We demonstrate that the underproduction of elements above and below the $r$-process peaks characteristic in the main or weak $r$-process events (like magnetohydrodynamic jets or neutrino-driven winds in core-collapse supernovae) can be supplemented via fission fragment distributions from the recycling of material in a neutron-rich environment such as that encountered in neutron star mergers. In this paradigm, the abundance peaks themselves are well reproduced by a moderately neutron rich, main $r$-process environment such as that encountered in the magnetohydrodynamical jets in supernovae supplemented with a high-entropy, weakly neutron rich environment such as that encountered in the neutrino-driven-wind model to produce the lighter $r$-process isotopes. Moreover, we show that the relative contributions to the $r$-process abundances in both the solar-system and metal-poor stars from the weak, main, and fission-recycling environments required by this proposal are consistent with estimates of the relative Galactic event rates of core-collapse supernovae for the weak and main $r$-process and neutron star mergers for the fission-recycling $r$-process., Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

The mass asymmetry in the fission of U-236 at low excitation energy is clarified by the analysis of the trajectories obtained by solving the Langevin equations for the shape degrees of freedom. It is demonstrated that the position of the peaks in the mass distribution of fission fragments is determined mainly by the saddle point configuration originating from the shell correction energy. The width of the peaks, on the other hand, results from the shape fluctuations close to the scission point caused by the random force in the Langevin equation. We have found out that the fluctuations between elongated and compact shapes are essential for the fission process. According to our results the fission does not occur with continuous stretching in the prolate direction, similarly to that observed in starch syrup, but is accompanied by the fluctuations between elongated and compact shapes. This picture presents a new viewpoint of fission dynamics and the splitting mechanism., Comment: 9 pages, 12 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. C. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1310.3156

Within the two-center shell model parameterization we have defined the optimal shape which fissioning nuclei attain just before the scission and calculated the total deformation energy (liquid drop part plus the shell correction) as function of the mass asymmetry and elongation at the scission point. The three minima corresponding to mass symmetric and two mass asymmetric peaks in the mass distribution of fission fragments are found in the deformation energy at the scission point. The calculated deformation energy is used in quasi-static approximation for the estimation of the total kinetic and excitation energy of fission fragments and the total number of emitted prompt neutrons. The calculated results reproduce rather well the experimental data on the position of the peaks in the mass distribution of fission fragments, the total kinetic and excitation energy of fission fragments. The calculated value of neutron multiplicity is somewhat larger than experimental results., Comment: 11 pages, 18 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. C

The origin of mass asymmetry in the fission of uranium at a low excitation energy is clarified by a trajectory analysis of the Langevin equation. The positions of the peaks in the mass distribution of fission fragments are mainly determined by fission saddle points originating from the shell correction energy. The widths of the peaks, on the other hand, result from a shape fluctuation around the scission point caused by the random force in the Langevin equation. We found that a random vibration in the oblate direction of fissioning fragments is essential for the fission process. According to this picture, fission does not occur with continuous stretching in the prolate direction, similarly to that observed in starch syrup. This is expected to lead to a new viewpoint of fission dynamics and the splitting mechanism., Comment: 26 pages, 14 figures

Fragment mass distributions from the fission of U and Pu isotopes at low excitation energies are studied using a dynamical model based on the fluctuation-dissipation theorem formulated as Langevin equations. The present calculations reproduced the overall trend of the asymmetric mass distribution without parameter adjustment for the first time using the Langevin approach. The Langevin trajectories show a complicated time evolution on the potential surface, which causes the time delay of fission, showing that dynamical treatment is vital. It was found that the shell effect of the potential energy landscape has a dominant role in determining the mass distribution, although it is rather insensitive to the strength of dissipation. Nevertheless, it is essential to include the effect of dissipation, since it has a crucial role in giving "fluctuation" to Langevin trajectories as well as for explaining the multiplicities of pre-scission neutrons as the excitation energy increases. Therefore, the present approach can serve as a basis for more refined analysis., Comment: 7 pages, 11 figures

In order to describe heavy-ion fusion reactions around the Coulomb barrier with an actinide target nucleus, we propose a model which combines the coupled-channels approach and a fluctuation-dissipation model for dynamical calculations. This model takes into account couplings to the collective states of the interacting nuclei in the penetration of the Coulomb barrier and the subsequent dynamical evolution of a nuclear shape from the contact configuration. In the fluctuation-dissipation model with a Langevin equation, the effect of nuclear orientation at the initial impact on the prolately deformed target nucleus is considered. Fusion-fission, quasi-fission and deep quasi-fission are separated as different Langevin trajectories on the potential energy surface. Using this model, we analyze the experimental data for the mass distribution of fission fragments (MDFF) in the reactions of $^{34,36}$S+$^{238}$U and $^{30}$Si+$^{238}$U at several incident energies around the Coulomb barrier. We find that the time scale in the quasi-fission as well as the deformation of fission fragments at the scission point are different between the $^{30}$Si+$^{238}$U and $^{36}$S+$^{238}$U systems, causing different mass asymmetries of the quasi-fission., Comment: 11 figures

We investigate $^6$Li($n$, $n'$)$^6$Li$^*$ $\to$ $d$ + $\alpha$ reactions by using the continuum-discretized coupled-channels method with the complex Jeukenne-Lejeune-Mahaux effective nucleon-nucleon interaction. In this study, the $^6$Li nucleus is described as a $d$ + $\alpha$ cluster model. The calculated elastic cross sections for incident energies between 7.47 and 24.0 MeV are good agreement with experimental data. Furthermore, we show the neutron spectra to $^6$Li breakup states measured at selected angular points and incident energies can be also reproduced systematically., Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Physical Review C

We analyze the production and freeze-out of the isomer 180Tam in the neutrino-process. We consider the influence of a possible low-lying intermediate (J = 5) state at 592 keV using a transition width estimated from the measured half-life. This more realistic width is much smaller than the previous estimate.We find that the 592-keV state leads only to a small reduction of the residual isomer population ratio from the previous result; that is, considering this better estimate for the transition width, the isomer population ratio changes from R = 0.39 to R = 0.38, whereas previously it was estimated that this transition could reduce the ratio to R = 0.18. This finding strengthens the evidence that 138La and 180Ta are coproduced by neutrino nucleosynthesis with an electron neutrino temperature of kT~4 MeV., Comment: Published in Physical Review C, 9 Pages, 2 Figures

We have made a new time-dependent calculation of the supernova production ratio of the long-lived isomeric state of $^{180}$Ta. Such a time-dependent solution is crucial for understanding the production and survival of this isotope. We include the explicit linking between the isomer and all known excited states.We have also calculated the properties of possible links to a conjectured excited state that might decrease the final isomer residual ratio. We find that the explicit time evolution of the synthesis of $^{180}$Ta using the available nuclear data avoids the overproduction relative to $^{138}$La for a $\nu$-process neutrino temperature of 4 MeV., Comment: Published in Phys. Rev. C, 13 pages, 4 figures

A new dynamical model is developed to describe the whole process of surrogate reactions; transfer of several nucleons at an initial stage, thermal equilibration of residues leading to washing out of shell effects and decay of populated compound nuclei are treated in a unified framework. Multi-dimensional Langevin equations are employed to describe time-evolution of collective coordinates with a time-dependent potential energy surface corresponding to different stages of surrogate reactions. The new model is capable of calculating spin distributions of the compound nuclei, one of the most important quantity in the surrogate technique. Furthermore, various observables of surrogate reactions can be calculated, e.g., energy and angular distribution of ejectile, and mass distributions of fission fragments. These features are important to assess validity of the proposed model itself, to understand mechanisms of the surrogate reactions and to determine unknown parameters of the model. It is found that spin distributions of compound nuclei produced in $^{18}$O+$^{238}$U $\rightarrow ^{16}$O+$^{240*}$U and $^{18}$O+$^{236}$U $\rightarrow ^{16}$O+$^{238*}$U reactions are equivalent and much less than 10$\hbar$, therefore satisfy conditions proposed by Chiba and Iwamoto (PRC 81, 044604(2010)) if they are used as a pair in the surrogate ratio method., Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures

Fission-related phenomena of heavy $\Lambda$ hypernuclei are discussed with the constraint Skyrme-Hartree-Fock+BCS (SHF+BCS) method, in which a similar Skyrme-type interaction is employed also for the interaction between a $\Lambda$ particle and a nucleon. Assuming that the $\Lambda$ particle adiabatically follows the fission motion, we discuss the fission barrier height of $^{239}_{\Lambda}$U. We find that the fission barrier height increases slightly when the $\Lambda$ particle occupies the lowest level. In this case, the $\Lambda$ particle is always attached to the heavier fission fragment. This indicates that one may produce heavy neutron-rich $\Lambda$ hypernuclei through fission, whose weak decay is helpful for the nuclear transmutation of long-lived fission products. We also discuss cases where the $\Lambda$ particle occupies a higher single-particle level., Comment: 20 pages, 18 figures, to be submitted to Nucl. Phys. A

We propose a new method for evaluating incomplete and complete fusion cross sections separately using the Continuum-Discretized Coupled-Channels method. This method is applied to analysis of the deuteron induced reaction on a 7Li target up to 50 MeV of the deuteron incident energy. Effects of deuteron breakup on this reaction are explicitly taken into account. Results of the method are compared with those of the Glauber model, and the difference between the two is discussed. It is found that the energy dependence of the incomplete fusion cross sections obtained by the present calculation is almost the same as that obtained by the Glauber model, while for the complete fusion cross section, the two models give markedly different energy dependence. We show also that a prescription for evaluating incomplete fusion cross sections proposed in a previous study gives much smaller result than an experimental value., Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures

The neutrino-nucleus reaction cross sections of 4He and 12C are evaluated using new shell model Hamiltonians. Branching ratios of various decay channels are calculated to evaluate the yields of Li, Be, and B produced through the nu-process in supernova explosions. The new cross sections enhance the yields of 7Li and 11B produced during the supernova explosion of a 16.2 M_odot star model compared to the case using the conventional cross sections by about 10%. On the other hand, the yield of 10B decreases by a factor of two. The yields of 6Li, 9Be, and the radioactive nucleus 10Be are found at a level of 10^{-11} M_odot. The temperature of nu_{mu,tau}- and bar{nu}_{mu,tau}-neutrinos inferred from the supernova contribution of 11B in Galactic chemical evolution models is constrained to the 4.3-6.5 MeV range. The increase in the 7Li and 11B yields due to neutrino oscillations is demonstrated with the new cross sections., Comment: 19 pages, 30 figures, accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journal. Typos are corrected

The gravitational collapse of a non-rotating, black-hole-forming massive star is studied by neutrino-radiation-hydrodynamical simulations for two different sets of realistic equation of state of dense matter. We show that the event will produce as many neutrinos as the ordinary supernova, but with distinctive characteristics in luminosities and spectra that will be an unmistakable indication of black hole formation. More importantly, the neutrino signals are quite sensitive to the difference of equation of state and can be used as a useful probe into the properties of dense matter. The event will be unique in that they will be shining only by neutrinos (and, possibly, gravitational waves) but not by photons, and hence they should be an important target of neutrino astronomy., Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Lett

We study the hadron-quark phase transition in a molecular dynamics (MD) of quark degrees of freedom. The hadron state at low density and temperature, and the deconfined quark state at high density and temperature are observed in our model. We investigate the equations of state and draw the phase-diagram at wide baryon density and temperature range. We also discuss the transport property, e.g. viscosity, of $q\bar{q}$ matter. It is found that the ratio of the shear viscosity to the entropy density is less than one for quark matter., Comment: Poster presentation at Quark Matter 2005

We study the evolution of supernova core from the beginning of gravitational collapse of a 15Msolar star up to 1 second after core bounce. We present results of spherically symmetric simulations of core-collapse supernovae by solving general relativistic neutrino-radiation-hydrodynamics in the implicit time-differencing. We aim to explore the evolution of shock wave in a long term and investigate the formation of protoneutron star together with supernova neutrino signatures. These studies are done to examine the influence of equation of state (EOS) on the postbounce evolution of shock wave in the late phase and the resulting thermal evolution of protoneutron star. We make a comparison of two sets of EOS, that is, by Lattimer and Swesty (LS-EOS) and by Shen et al.(SH-EOS). We found that, for both EOSs, the core does not explode and the shock wave stalls similarly in the first 100 milliseconds after bounce. The revival of shock wave does not occur even after a long period in either cases. However, the recession of shock wave appears different beyond 200 milliseconds after bounce, having different thermal evolution of central core. A more compact protoneutron star is found for LS-EOS than SH-EOS with a difference in the central density by a factor of ~2 and a difference of ~10 MeV in the peak temperature. Resulting spectra of supernova neutrinos are different to the extent that may be detectable by terrestrial neutrino detectors., Comment: 28 pages, 17 figures, accepted by Astrophysical Journal

We study a new s-process path through an isomer of $^{186}$Re to improve a $^{187}$Re-$^{187}$Os nucleo-cosmochronometer. The nucleus $^{187}$Re is produced by this new path of $^{185}$Re(n,$\gamma$)$^{186}$Re$^m$(n,$\gamma$)$^{187}$Re. We measure a ratio of neutron capture cross-sections for the $^{185}$Re(n,$\gamma$)$^{186}$Re$^m$ and $^{185}$Re(n,$\gamma$)$^{186}$Re$^{gs}$ reactions at thermal neutron energy because the ratio with the experimental uncertainty has not been reported. Using an activation method with reactor neutrons, we obtain the ratio of $R_{th}$ = 0.54 $\pm$ 0.11%. From this ratio we estimate the ratio of Maxwellian averaged cross sections in a typical s-process environment at $kT$ = 30 keV with a help of the temperature dependence given in a statistical-model calculation because the energy dependence of the isomer/ground ratio is smaller than the absolute neutron capture cross-section. The ratio at $kT$=30 keV is estimated to be $R_{st}$ = 1.3 $\pm$ 0.8%. We calculate the s-process contribution from the new path in a steady-flow model. The additional abundance of $^{187}$Re through this path is estimated to be $N_{s}$ = 0.56 $\pm$ 0.35% relative to the abundance of $^{186}$Os. This additional increase of $^{187}$Re does not make any remarkable change in the $^{187}$Re-$^{187}$Os chronometer for an age estimate of a primitive meteorite, which has recently been found to be affected strongly by a single supernova r-process episode., Comment: Accepted in Astrophysical Journal, 10 pages, 6 figures

We propose a fully quantum-mechanical method of treating four-body nuclear breakup processes in scattering of a projectile consisting of three constituents, by extending the continuum-discretized coupled-channels method. The three-body continuum states of the projectile are discretized by diagonalizing the internal Hamiltonian of the projectile with the Gaussian basis functions. For $^6$He+$^{12}$C scattering at 18 and 229.8 MeV, the validity of the method is tested by convergence of the elastic and breakup cross sections with respect to increasing the number of the basis functions. Effects of the four-body breakup and the Borromean structure of $^6$He on the elastic and total reaction cross sections are discussed., Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures, uses REVTeX 4, submitted to Phys. Rev. C

We study properties of instanton and monopole in an external chromomagnetic field. Generally, the 't Hooft ansatz is no longer a solution of the Yang-Mills field equation in the presence of external fields. Therefore, we investigate a stabilized instanton solution with minimal total Yang-Mills action in a nontrivial topological sector. With this aim, we consider numerical minimization of the action with respect to the global color orientation, the anisotropic scale transformation and the local gauge-like transformation starting from a simple superposed gauge field of the 't Hooft ansatz and the external color field. Here, the external color field is, for simplicity, chosen to be a constant Abelian magnetic field along a certain direction. Then, the 4-dimensional rotational symmetry O(4) of the instanton solution is reduced to two 2-dimensional rotational symmetries $O(2)\times O(2)$ due to the effect of a homogeneous external field. In the space $\mib{R}^{3}$ at fixed $t$, we find a quadrupole deformation of this instanton solution. In the presence of a magnetic field $\vec{H}$, a prolate deformation occurs along the direction of $\vec{H}$. Contrastingly, in the presence of an electric field $\vec{E}$ an oblate deformation occurs along the direction of $\vec{E}$. We further discuss the local correlation between the instanton and the monopole in the external field in the maximally Abelian gauge. The external field affects the appearance of the monopole trajectory around the instanton. In fact, a monopole and anti-monopole pair appears around the instanton center, and this monopole loop seems to partially screen the external field., Comment: 15 pages,8 figures

We explore the impact of in-medium modification of the properties of vector mesons on the nuclear equation of state and neutron star properties. It is found that in-medium modifications stiffen the nuclear equation of state considerably. If this feature has its correspondence in the full treatment of dense hadronic matter, then very little room is left for the existence of exotic phases like quark matter or boson condensates in the centers of neutron stars of canonical mass., Comment: 13 pages and 7 figures. Submitted to J. Phys. G

Intermediate mass fragment (IMF) formation in the 12 GeV proton induced reaction on Au target is analyzed by using a combined framework of a transport model (JAM/MF) and a newly developed non-equilibrium percolation (NEP) model. In this model, we can well reproduce the mass distribution of fragments. In addition, the sideward peaked angular distribution would emerge under the condition that the fragment formation time is very short, around 20 fm/c. Within this short time period, the un-heated part of the residual nucleus is kept to have doughnut shape, then the Coulomb repulsion from this shape strengthens the sideward peak of IMF., Comment: 22 pages, Latex, 6 embedded PS figures

We discuss the dynamics of finite systems within molecular dynamics models. Signatures of a critical behavior are analyzed and compared to experimental data both in nucleus-nucleus and metallic cluster collisions. We suggest the possibility to explore the instability region via tunneling. In this way we can obtain fragments at very low temperatures and densities. We call these fragments quantum drops., Comment: Proceedings Bologna 2000 conference, M.Bruno et al. eds., World Sci. (in press)

We propose that spontaneous particle--anti-particle pair creations from the discharged vacuum caused by the strong interactions in dense matter are major sources of $\gamma$-ray bursts. Two neutron star collisions or black hole-neutron star mergers at cosmological distance could produce a compact object with its density exceeding the critical density for pair creations. The emitted anti-particles annihilate with corresponding particles at the ambient medium. This releases a large amount of energy. We discuss the spontaneous $p\bar{p}$ pair creations within two neutron star collision and estimate the exploded energy from $p\bar{p}$ annihilation processes. The total energy could be around $10^{51} - 10^{53}$ erg depending on the impact parameter of colliding neutron stars. This value fits well into the range of the initial energy of the most energetic $\gamma$-ray bursts., Comment: 12 pages, Latex, 2 figures included; replaced by the revised version, Int. J. Mod. Phys. E in press

A hadronic cascade model based on resonances and strings is used to study mass dependence of relativistic nuclear collisions from p+Be to Au+Au at AGS energies ($\sim 10\AGeV$) systematically. Hadron transverse momentum and rapidity distributions obtained with both cascade calculations and Glauber type calculations are compared with experimental data to perform detailed discussion about the importance of rescattering among hadrons. We find good agreement with the experimental data without any change of model parameters with the cascade model. It is found that rescattering is of importance both for the explanation of high transverse momentum tail and for the multiplicity of produced particles., Comment: 27 pages, 30 figures