The study of structure in 224–234 thorium nuclei within the framework IBM

Department of Physics, Dong-Eui University, Busan 614-714, Korea

^a e-mail: syyi@deu.ac.kr

Published online: 13 September 2017

Abstract

An investigation has been made of the behaviour of nuclear structure as a function of an increase in neutron number from ²²⁴Th to ²³⁴Th. Thorium of mass number 234 is a typical rotor nucleus that can be explained by the SU(3) limit of the interacting boson model(IBM) in the algebraic nuclear model. Furthermore, ^224−232Th lie on the path of the symmetry-breaking phase transition. Moreover, the nuclear structure of ²²⁴Th can be explained using X(5) symmetry. However, as ^226−230Th nuclei are not fully symmetrical nuclei, they can be represented by adding a perturbed term to express symmetry breaking. Through the following three calculation steps, we identified the tendency of change in nuclear structure. Firstly, the structure of ²³²Th is described using the matrix elements of the Hamiltonian and the electric quadrupole operator between basis states of the SU(3) limit in IBM. Secondly, the low-lying energy levels and E2 transition ratios corresponding to the observable physical values are calculated by adding a perturbed term with the first-order Casimir operator of the U(5) limit to the SU(3) Hamiltonian in IBM. We compared the results with experimental data of ^224−234Th. Lastly, the potential of the Bohr Hamiltonian is represented by a harmonic oscillator, as a result of which the structure of ^224−234Th could be expressed in closed form by an approximate separation of variables. The results of these theoretical predictions clarify nuclear structure changes in Thorium nuclei over mass numbers of practical significance.