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In quasi-fission, it is unclear what the interaction between the relative orbital angular momentum and the spin of the fragments is from a microscopic perspective. In macroscopic approaches, it is expected that the large value of the relative orbital angular momentum, of the order of 100~$\hbar$ is transferred through tangential dissipation to the fragments' intrinsic spin by sliding and rolling friction. The goal is to investigate the angular momentum transfer from the initial relative orbital angular momentum to the fragments' spin. How is the transferred spin shared between the fragments? What is the time scale associated with the different mechanisms? How does deformation play a role? A TDDFT simulation in the TDHF-Skyrme framework is used to describe several reactions at different impact parameters with increasing complexity. A method is proposed to study the evolution of the fragments' total spin as a function of time and angular velocity. The increasingly complex reaction allows for careful analysis of all the mechanisms responsible for the transfer of spin. In particular, it is shown that the transfer of nucleons, and neck formation can significantly affect the transfer of spin through tangential friction. Several mechanisms are in contradiction with previous macroscopic calculations. In particular, the spin of the fragments does not always increase during the collision which prevents it from being used to estimate the collision time of the reaction., Comment: 11 pages, 14 figures

Background: Several approaches are currently trying to understand the generation of angular momentum in the fission fragments. The microscopic TDDFT and statistical FREYA lead to different predictions concerning the opening angle distribution formed between the two spins in particular at 0 and 180 degrees. Purpose: This letter aims to investigate how the geometry and the quantum nature of spins impact the distribution of opening angles to understand what leads to different model predictions. Method: Various assumptions of K distribution (K=0, isotropic, isotropic with total K=0, and from TDFFT) are investigated in a quantum approach. These distributions are then compared to the classical limit using the Clebsch-Gordan coefficients in the limit of $\hbar$ approaches zero. Results: It is shown that in all the schematic scenario the quantal distribution of opening angle lead to the expected behavior in the classical limit. The model shows that the quantal nature of the spins prevents the population of opening angles close to 0 and 180 degrees. The difference in opening angle in the 2D and isotropic 3D distribution is discussed and it is shown that the realistic TDFFT opening angle distribution presents an intermediate behavior between the two cases. Conclusions: The last comparison reveals two key differences between the two models' predictions: the quantal spins' nature in TDDFT and the assumption of zero K values in FREYA., Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures

New experimental and theoretical results obtained in 2021 made it acutely clear that more than 80 years after the discovery of nuclear fission we do not understand the generation and dynamics of fission fragment (FF) intrinsic spins well, in particular their magnitudes, their spatial orientation, and their correlations. The magnitude and orientation of the primary FFs have a crucial role in defining the angular distribution and correlation between the emitted prompt neutrons, and subsequent emission of statistical (predominantly E1) and stretched E2 {\gamma}-rays, and their correlations with the final fission fragments. Here we present detailed microscopic evaluations of the FF intrinsic spins, for both even- and odd-mass FFs, and of their spatial correlations. These point to a well-defined 3D FF intrinsic spin dynamics, characteristics absent in semi-phenomenological studies, due to the presence of the twisting spin modes, which artificially were suppressed in semi-phenomenological studies., Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures

We present BSkG3, the latest entry in the Brussels-Skyrme-on-a-grid series of large-scale models of nuclear structure based on an energy density functional. Compared to its predecessors, the new model offers a more realistic description of nucleonic matter at the extreme densities relevant to neutron stars. This achievement is made possible by incorporating a constraint on the infinite nuclear matter properties at high densities in the parameter adjustment, ensuring in this way that the predictions of BSkG3 for the nuclear Equation of State are compatible with the observational evidence for heavy pulsars with $M > 2 M_{\odot}$. Instead of the usual phenomenological pairing terms, we also employ a more microscopically founded treatment of nucleon pairing, resulting in extrapolations to high densities that are in line with the predictions of advanced many-body methods and are hence more suited to the study of superfluidity in neutron stars. By adopting an extended form of the Skyrme functional, we are able to reconcile the description of matter at high densities and at saturation density: the new model further refines the description of atomic nuclei offered by its predecessors. A qualitative improvement is our inclusion of ground state reflection asymmetry, in addition to the spontaneous breaking of rotational, axial, and time-reversal symmetry. Quantitatively, the model offers lowered root-mean-square deviations on 2457 masses (0.631 MeV), 810 charge radii (0.0237 fm) and an unmatched accuracy with respect to 45 primary fission barriers of actinide nuclei (0.33 MeV). Reconciling the complexity of neutron stars with those of atomic nuclei establishes BSkG3 as a tool of choice for applications to nuclear structure, the nuclear equation of state and nuclear astrophysics in general.

The generation of angular momentum in fissioning nuclei is not well understood. The predictions of different models disagree, particularly concerning the correlation between the fragments' angular momenta. In this article, a time-dependent collective Hamiltonian model is proposed to treat the generation of the angular momentum in the fission fragments due to the quantum uncertainty principle as well as the dynamics of the collective wave function during and after scission. The model is constructed in the framework of the frozen Hartree-Fock approximation using a Skyrme energy functional to extract deformations of the fission fragments as well as the interactions in a derived collective Hamiltonian. The fission reactions studied are $^{240}$Pu $\rightarrow$ $^{132}$Sn+$^{108}$Ru and $^{240}$Pu $\rightarrow$ $^{144}$Ba+$^{96}$Sr. The model can account for a large part of the angular momentum found in experimental data. The orientation of the angular momentum of each fragment is found to be mainly in the plane perpendicular to the fission axis, in agreement with the experiment. The magnitudes of the angular momenta in the two fragments are nearly uncorrelated, in agreement with the recent experimental data of Wilson et al., Nature (London) 590, 566 (2021). Some of the conclusions of the traditional collective vibration model are supported by the present model but some are not. Surprisingly, it is found that the angular momenta of the fragments are slightly correlated positively as in a wriggling mode. It is also found that the presence of an octupole deformation in a fragment can significantly increase the generated angular momentum., Comment: 14 pages, 15 figures

Large-scale models of nuclear structure are currently the only way to provide consistent datasets for the many properties of thousands of exotic nuclei that are required by nucleosynthesis simulations. In [W.Ryssens et al., Eur. Phys. J. A 58, 246 (2022)], we recently presented the new BSkG2 model based on an energy density functional of the Skyrme type. Relying on a flexible three-dimensional coordinate representation of the nucleus, the model takes into account both triaxial deformation and time-reversal symmetry breaking. BSkG2 achieves a state-of-the-art global description of nuclear ground state (g.s.) properties and reproduces in particular the known masses with a root-mean-square (rms) deviation of 678 keV. Moving beyond g.s. properties, the model also reproduces all empirical values for the primary and secondary barriers as well as isomer excitation energies of actinide nuclei with rms deviations below 500 keV, i.e. with unprecedented accuracy. Here we discuss in detail the extension of our framework to the calculation of the fission barriers of 45 actinide nuclei, including odd-mass and odd-odd systems. We focus in particular on the impact of symmetry breaking which is key to the accuracy of the model: we allow systematically for axial, reflection and time-reversal symmetry breaking. The effect of the latter on the fission properties of odd-mass and odd-odd nuclei is small, but we find that allowing for shapes with triaxial or octupole deformation, as well as shapes with both, is crucial to achieving this accuracy. The numerical accuracy of our coordinate space approach, the variety of nuclear configurations explored and the simultaneous successful description of fission properties and known masses makes BSkG2 the tool of choice for the large-scale study of nuclear structure., Comment: Version accepted for publication; 25 pages, 11 figures, 3 tables

We report here the current developments on the Brussels-Skyrme-on-a-Grid (BSkG) atomic mass models. In comparison with our previous models, BSkG3 improves the infinite nuclear matter (INM) properties which opens its applications to neutron stars. The results presented here show that BSkG3 preserve the excellent agreement with experimental nuclear masses and radii, together with fission barriers of actinides obtained by BSkG1 and BSkG2, while the nuclear matter properties are considerably improved., Comment: 3 pages, 2 figures

When two fragments are created in a fission decay, any torque due to nuclear and Coulomb interaction can change the fragment's angular momentum. This article explores the character and magnitude of the angular momentum as a function of the initial conditions around the scission point using the time-dependent Hartree-Fock theory. To understand the torque acting on the fragments, the Frozen Hartree-Fock method is also used to determine the collective potential at scission. Two $^{240}$Pu fission channel ( $^{132}$Sn+$^{108}$Ru and $^{144}$Ba+$^{96}$Sr ) are studied. These two channels cover different shapes (spherical, quadrupole, and octupole deformation) of the fragments. It is found that the angular momentum generated by the Coulomb interaction after fission is mainly collective, while this is not the case for the angular momentum generated at scission. The competition between rotational modes (bending, wriggling, and twisting) is discussed and shows that the angular momentum is generated mainly perpendicular to the fission axis., Comment: 8 pages, 10 figures

Models based on nuclear energy density functionals can provide access to a multitude of observables for thousands of nuclei in a single framework with microscopic foundations. Such models can rival the accuracy of more phenomenological approaches, but doing so requires adjusting parameters to thousands of nuclear masses. To keep such large-scale fits feasible, several symmetry restrictions are generally imposed on the nuclear configurations. One such example is time-reversal invariance, which is generally enforced via the Equal Filling Approximation (EFA). Here we lift this assumption, enabling us to access the spin and current densities in the ground states of odd-mass and odd-odd nuclei and which contribute to the total energy of such nuclei through so-called "time-odd" terms. We present here the Skyrme-based BSkG2 model whose parameters were adjusted to essentially all known nuclear masses without relying on the EFA, refining our earlier work [G. Scamps et al., EPJA 57, 333 (2021), arXiv:2011.07904]. Moving beyond ground state properties, we also incorporated information on the fission barriers of actinide nuclei in the parameter adjustment. The resulting model achieves a root-mean-square (rms) deviation of (i) 0.678 MeV on 2457 known masses, (ii) 0.027 fm on 884 measured charge radii, (iii) 0.44 MeV and 0.47 MeV, respectively, on 45 reference values for primary and secondary fission barriers of actinide nuclei, and (iv) 0.49 MeV on 28 fission isomer excitation energies. We limit ourselves here to a description of the model and the study the impact of lifting the EFA on ground state properties such as binding energies, deformation and pairing, deferring a detailed discussion of fission to a forthcoming paper., Comment: 30 pages, 15 figures

The modeling of nuclear reactions and radioactive decays in astrophysical or earth-based conditions requires detailed knowledge of the masses of essentially all nuclei. Microscopic mass models based on nuclear energy density functionals (EDFs) can be descriptive and used to provide this information. The concept of intrinsic symmetry breaking is central to the predictive power of EDF approaches, yet is generally not exploited to the utmost by mass models because of the computational demands of adjusting up to about two dozen parameters to thousands of nuclear masses. We report on a first step to bridge the gap between what is presently feasible for studies of individual nuclei and large-scale models: we present a new Skyrme-EDF-based model that was adjusted using a three-dimensional coordinate-space representation, for the first time allowing for both axial and triaxial deformations during the adjustment process. To compensate for the substantial increase in computational cost brought by the latter, we have employed a committee of multilayer neural networks to model the objective function in parameter space and guide us towards the overall best fit. The resulting mass model BSkG1 is computed with the EDF model independently of the neural network. It yields a root mean square (rms) deviation on the 2457 known masses of 741 keV and an rms deviation on the 884 measured charge radii of 0.024 fm., Comment: 25 pages, 15 figures

There has been much recent interest in nuclear fission, due in part to a new appreciation of its relevance to astrophysics, stability of superheavy elements, and fundamental theory of neutrino interactions. At the same time, there have been important developments on a conceptual and computational level for the theory. The promising new theoretical avenues were the subject of a workshop held at the University of York in October 2019; this report summarises its findings and recommendations., Comment: 86 LaTeX pages, 3 figures, 331 references, version published as Topical Review in Journal of Physics G

Fission of $^{180}$Hg produces mass asymmetric fragments which are expected to be influenced by deformed shell-effects at N=56 in the heavy fragment and Z=34 in the light fragment [G. Scamps and C. Simenel, arXiv:1904.01275 (2019)]. To investigate both shell-effects and to determine which one has the main influence on the asymmetry in the region of the $^{180}$Hg, we produce a systematic of Constraint-Hartree-Fock calculations in nuclei with similar N/Z ratio than the $^{178}$Pt. It is found that N=56 determines the asymmetry of systems in this region of the nuclear chart., Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures

Fission of atomic nuclei often produces mass asymmetric fragments. However, the origin of this asymmetry was believed to be different in actinides and in the sub-lead region [A. Andreyev {\it et al.}, Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 105}, 252502 (2010)]. It has recently been argued that quantum shell effects stabilising pear shapes of the fission fragments could explain the observed asymmetries in fission of actinides[G. Scamps and C. Simenel, Nature {\bf 564}, 382 (2018)]. This interpretation is tested in the sub-lead region using microscopic mean-field calculations of fission based on the Hartree-Fock approach with BCS pairing correlations. The evolution of the number of protons and neutrons in asymmetric fragments of mercury isotope fissions is interpreted in terms of deformed shell gaps in the fragments. A new method is proposed to investigate the dominant shell effects in the pre-fragments at scission. We conclude that the mechanisms responsible for asymmetric fissions in the sub-lead region are the same as in the actinide region, which is a strong indication of their universality., Comment: Accepted as a rapid communication by Phys. Rev. C

Nuclear fission of heavy (actinide) nuclei results predominantly in asymmetric mass-splits. Without quantum shells, which can give extra binding energy to these mass-asymmetric shapes, the nuclei would fission symmetrically. The strongest shell effects are in spherical nuclei, so naturally the spherical "doubly-magic" ${^{132}}$Sn nucleus (${Z=50}$ protons), was expected to play a major role. However, a systematic study of fission has shown that the heavy fragments are distributed around ${Z=52}$ to 56, indicating that ${^{132}}$Sn is not the only driver. Reconciling the strong spherical shell effects at ${Z=50}$ with the different ${Z}$ values of fission fragments observed in nature has been a longstanding puzzle. Here, we show that the final mass asymmetry of the fragments is also determined by the extra stability of octupole (pear-shaped) deformations which have been recently confirmed experimentally around $^{144}$Ba (${Z=56}$), one of very few nuclei with shell-stabilized octupole deformation. Using a modern quantum many-body model of superfluid fission dynamics, we found that heavy fission fragments are produced predominantly with ${52-56}$ protons, associated with significant octupole deformation acquired on the way to fission. These octupole shapes favouring asymmetric fission are induced by deformed shells at ${Z=52}$ and 56. In contrast, spherical "magic" nuclei are very resistant to octupole deformation, which hinders their production as fission fragments. These findings may explain surprising observations of asymmetric fission of lighter than lead nuclei., Comment: 15 pages, 11 figures

Background: Several Time-Dependent Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov (TDHFB) calculations predict that the super- fluidity enhances the fluctuations of the fusion barrier. This effect is not fully understood and not yet revealed experimentally. Purpose: The goal of this study is to investigate empirically the effect of the superfluidity on the fusion barrier width. Method: First, the local regression method is introduce and used to determine the barrier distribution more precisely. A second method that requires only the calculation of an integral of the cross section is developed to determine accurately the fluctuations of the barrier. A benchmark is done between this two methods and with the fitting method usually used. This integral method showing a better agreement in a test case, it is applied systematically in a selection of 115 fusion reactions. Results: The fluctuations of the barrier for superfluid systems are on average larger than for magic or semi-magic nuclei. This is due to the deformation effects and the effect of the superfluidity. To disentangle those two effects, we compare the experimental width to the width estimated from a model that takes into account the tunneling, the deformation and the vibration effect. The deviation of the experimental width from this theory for reaction between superfluid nuclei shows that the superfluidity enhance the fusion barrier width. Conclusions: This analysis shows that the predicted effect of the superfluidity on the width of the barrier is real and is of the order of 1 MeV., Comment: 11 pages, 14 figures

In a mean-field description of superfluidity, particle number and gauge angle are treated as quasi-classical conjugated variables. This level of description was recently used to describe nuclear reactions around the Coulomb barrier. Important effects of the relative gauge angle between two identical superfluid nuclei (symmetric collisions) on transfer probabilities and fusion barrier have been uncovered. A theory making contact with experiments should at least average over different initial relative gauge-angles. In the present work, we propose a new approach to obtain the multiple pair transfer probabilities between superfluid systems. This method, called Phase-Space combinatorial (PSC) technique, relies both on phase-space averaging and combinatorial arguments to infer the full pair transfer probability distribution at the cost of multiple mean-field calculations only. After benchmarking this approach in a schematic model, we apply it to the collision $^{20}$O+$^{20}$O at various energies below the Coulomb barrier. The predictions for one pair transfer are similar to results obtained with an approximated projection method whereas significant differences are found for two pairs transfer. Finally, we investigated the applicability of the PSC method to the contact between non-identical superfluid systems. [...] The applicability of the PSC method to asymmetric nuclear collisions is investigated for the $^{14}$O+$^{20}$O collision and it turns out that unrealistically small single- and multiple-pair transfer probabilities are obtained. [...] We conclude that the best ground for probing gauge-angle effects in nuclear reaction and/or for applying the proposed PSC approach on pair transfer is the collisions of identical open-shell spherical nuclei.

The transfer reaction between two nuclei in the superfluid phase is studied with the Time-dependent Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov (TDHFB) theory. In order to restore the symmetry of the relative gauge angle a set of independent TDHFB evolutions is done. Then the transfer probability is computed using a triple projection method. This method is first tested to determine the transfer probabilities on a toy model and compared to the exact solution. It is then applied to the reactions $^{20}$O+$^{20}$O and $^{14}$O+$^{20}$O in a realistic framework with a Gogny interaction., Comment: 6 figures, 6 pages

The interpretation of the new effect of the superfluidity in reactions with small number of particles is discussed in a simple model where the exact solution is accessible. It is find that the fluctuations of observable with the gauge angle reproduce well the exact fluctuations. Then a method of projection is proposed and tested to determine the transfer probabilities between two superfluid systems., Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, proceeding of the FUSION17 conference

A numerical method to solve the TDHFB equations by using a hybrid basis of the two-dimensional harmonic oscillator eigenfunctions and one-dimensional Lagrange mesh with the Gogny effective interaction is applied to the head-on collisions of the superfluid nuclei ${}^{20}$O's. Taking the energies around the barrier top energy, the trajectories, pairing energies, and numbers of transferred nucleons are displayed. Their dependence on the relative gauge angle at the initial time is studied by taking typical sample points of the gauge angle. It turned out that the functional form of the flux of the neutrons across a section plane is proportional to the sine of the two times of the gauge angle., Comment: 11 pages, 18 figures

A comparison between the semi-classical approximation and the full quantum calculation with a complex absorbing potential is made with a model of the fission of 258Fm. The potential barrier is obtained with the constrained Skyrme HF+BCS theory. The life-time obtained by the two calculations agree with each other the difference being only by 25%., Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, Conference proceedings of CNR*15 workshop, Tokyo, October 2015 to be published in EPJ Web of Conferences

The time-dependent energy density functional with pairing allows to describe a large variety of phenomena from small to large amplitude collective motion. Here, we briefly summarize the recent progresses made in the field using the TD-BCS approach. A focus is made on the mapping of the microscopic mean-field dynamic to the macroscopic dynamic in collective space. A method is developed to extract the collective mass parameter from TD-EDF. Illustration is made on the fission of $^{258}$Fm. The collective mass and collective momentum associated to quadrupole deformation including non-adiabatic effects is estimated along the TD-EDF path. With these information, the onset of dissipation during fission is discussed., Comment: Proceeding of the XXII Nuclear Physics Workshop, Kazimierz, 2015, Poland

We investigate heavy-ion multinucleon transfer reactions using the coupled-channels formalism. We first use the semi-classical approximation and show that a direct coupling between the entrance and the pair transfer channels improves a fit to the experimental one- and two-neutron transfer cross sections for the 40Ca+96Zr and 60Ni+116Sn systems. We then discuss the validity of the perturbative approach and highlight the effect of high order terms. The effect of absorption is also investigated for energies around the Coulomb barrier. Finally, we use a quantal coupled-channels approach to achieve a simultaneous description of the fusion cross sections and the transfer probabilities for the 40Ca+96Zr reaction. We find a significant effect of the couplings to the collective excited states on the transfer probabilities around the Coulomb barrier., Comment: 11 pages, 11 figures

The description of fission remains a challenge for nuclear microscopic theories. The time-dependent Hartree-Fock approach with BCS pairing is applied to study the last stage of the fission process. A good agreement is found for the one-body observables: the total kinetic energy and the average mass asymmetry. The non-physical dependence of two-body observables with the initial shape is discussed., Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, Submitted as AIP Conference Proceeings for NSD2015, Portoroz, Slovenia

Given a set of collective variables, a method is proposed to obtain the associated conjugated collective momenta and masses starting from a microscopic time-dependent mean-field theory. The construction of pairs of conjugated variables is the first step to bridge microscopic and macroscopic approaches. The method is versatile and can be applied to study a large class of nuclear processes. An illustration is given here with the fission of $^{258}$Fm. Using the quadrupole moment and eventually higher-order multipole moments, the associated collective masses are estimated along the microscopic mean-field evolution. When more than one collective variable are considered, it is shown that the off-diagonal matrix elements of the inertia play a crucial role. Using the information on the quadrupole moment and associated momentum, the collective evolution is studied. It is shown that dynamical effects beyond the adiabatic limit are important. Nuclei formed after fission tend to stick together for longer time leading to a dynamical scission point at larger distance between nuclei compared to the one anticipated from the adiabatic energy landscape. The effective nucleus-nucleus potential felt by the emitted nuclei is finally extracted., Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures

In the last 10 years, we have observed an important increase of interest in the application of time-dependent energy density functional theory (TD-EDF). This approach allows to treat nuclear structure and nuclear reaction from small to large amplitude dynamics in a unified framework. The possibility to perform unrestricted three-dimensional simulations using state of the art effective interactions has opened new perspectives. In the present article, an overview of applications where the predictive power of TD-EDF has been benchmarked is given. A special emphasize is made on processes that are of astrophysical interest. Illustrations discussed here include giant resonances, fission, binary and ternary collisions leading to fusion, transfer and deep inelastic processes., Comment: To appear in a special issue of IJMPE on "Collectivity in Nuclei, Neutrinos, and Neutron Stars"

We study the dynamics of multi-dimensional quantum tunneling by introducing a complex absorbing potential to a two-dimensional model for spontaneous fission. We fist diagonalize the Hamiltonian with the complex potential to determine a resonance state as well as its life-time. We then solve the time-dependent Schr\"odinger equation with such basis in order to investigate the tunneling path. We compare this method with the semi-classical method for multi-dimensional tunneling with imaginary time. A good agreement is found both for the life-time and for the tunneling path., Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures

Theoretical description of nuclear fission remains one of the major challenges of quantum many-body dynamics. The slow, mostly adiabatic motion through the fission barrier is followed by a fast, non-adiabatic descent of the potential between the fragments. The latter stage is essentially unexplored. However, it is crucial as it generates most of the excitation energy in the fragments. The superfluid dynamics in the latter stage of fission is obtained with the time-dependent Hartree-Fock theory including BCS dynamical pairing correlations. The fission modes of the 258Fm nucleus are studied. The resulting fission fragment characteristics show a good agreement with experimental data. Quantum shell effects are shown to play a crucial role in the dynamics and formation of the fragments. The importance of quantum fluctuations beyond the independent particle/quasi-particle picture is underlined and qualitatively studied., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures

In the present contribution, the effect of pairing on nuclear transfer and fusion reactions close to the Coulomb barrier is discussed. A Time-Dependent Hartree-Fock + BCS (TDHF+BCS) microscopic theory has been developed to incorporate pairing. One- and two-particle transfer probabilities can be obtained showing the importance of pairing. The calculated transfer probabilities are compared to the recent experimental results obtained for the $^{96}$Zr+$^{40}$Ca. Reactions involving the $^{18}$O with lead isotopes are also presented, that are also of current experimental interest. Finally, a study of the fusion barrier height predicted with the TDHF+BCS theory is compared to the experimental values for the $^{40,44,48}$Ca+$^{40}$Ca reactions., Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures, proceeding of the IV international conference FUSION14

The systematic study of isoscalar (IS) and isovector (IV) giant quadrupole responses (GQR) in normal and superfluid nuclei presented in [G. Scamps and D. Lacroix, Phys. Rev. 88, 044310 (2013)] is extended to the case of axially deformed and triaxial nuclei. The static and dynamical energy density functional based on Skyrme effective interaction are used to study static properties and dynamical response functions over the whole nuclear chart. Among the 749 nuclei that are considered, 301 and 65 are respectively found to be prolate and oblate while 54 do not present any symmetry axis. For these nuclei, the IS- and IV-GQR response functions are systematically obtained. In these nuclei, different aspects related to the interplay between deformation and collective motion are studied. We show that some aspects like the fragmentation of the response induced by deformation effects in axially symmetric and triaxial nuclei can be rather well understood using simple arguments. Besides this simplicity, more complex effects show up like the appearance of non-trivial deformation effects on the collective motion damping or the influence of hexadecapole or higher-orders effects. A specific study is made on the triaxial nuclei where the absence of symmetry axis adds further complexity to the nuclear response. The relative importance of geometric deformation effects and coupling to other vibrational modes are discussed., Comment: 17 pages, 26 figures

The isoscalar (IS) and isovector (IV) quadrupole responses of nuclei are systematically investigated using the time-dependent Skyrme Energy Density Functional including pairing in the BCS approximation. Using two different Skyrme functionals, Sly4 and SkM*, respectively 263 and 304 nuclei have been found to be spherical along the nuclear charts. The time-dependent evolution of these nuclei has been systematically performed giving access to their quadrupole responses. It is shown that the mean-energy of the collective high energy state globally reproduces the experimental IS and IV collective energy but fails to reproduce their lifetimes. It is found that the mean collective energy depends rather significantly on the functional used in the mean-field channel. Pairing by competing with parity effects can slightly affect the collective response around magic numbers and induces a reduction of the collective energy compared to the average trend. Low-lying states, that can only be considered if pairing is included, are investigated. While the approach provides a fair estimate of the low lying state energy, it strongly underestimates the transition rate $B(E2)$. Finally, the possibility to access to the density dependence of the symmetry energy through parallel measurements of both the IS- and IV-GQR is discussed., Comment: 14 pages, 19 figures

The effect of pairing correlation on transfer reaction below the Coulomb barrier is investigated qualitatively and quantitatively using a simplified version of the Time-Dependent Hartree-Fock + BCS approach. The effect of particle number symmetry breaking on the description of reaction and dedicated methods to extract one and two-nucleon transfer probabilities (P_{1n} and P_{2n}) in a particle number symmetry breaking approach are discussed. Influence of pairing is systematically investigated in the ^{40}Ca+ ^{40,42,44,46,48,50}Ca reactions. A strong enhancement of the two-particle transfer probabilities due to initial pairing correlations is observed. This enhancement induces an increase of the ratio of probabilities P_{2n} / (P_{1n})^2 compared to the case with no pairing. It is shown that this ratio increases strongly as the center of mass energy decreases with a value that could be larger than ten in the deep sub-barrier regime. An analysis of the pair transfer sensitivity to the type of pairing interaction, namely surface, mixed or volume, used in the theory is made. It is found that the pair transfer is globally insensitive to the type of force and mainly depends on the pairing interaction strength., Comment: 12 pages, 10 figures