Title: Nuclear Shape Dynamics in Low-Energy Heavy-Ion Reactions
Abstract: Nuclear deformation is one of the most important concepts in nuclear structure physics. When a nucleus is permanently deformed, it exhibits a characteristic rotational band, in which the excitation energies of a state with spin I is proportional to I(I+1). It also shows enhanced electromagnetic transition strengths as well as large quadrupole moments. Moreover, it has also been well known that nuclear deformation significantly affects low-energy nuclear reactions. In particular, heavy-ion fusion reactions at energies around the Coulomb barrier are sensitive to nuclear deformation, and there have been many attempts to determine deformation parameters of a nucleus. In recent years, there has also been increasing interest in probing nuclear deformation in relativistic heavy-ion collisions.
In this talk, I will discuss recent theoretical developments in low-energy heavy-ion reactions, putting emphasis on nuclear deformation. This includes i) a new attempt to visualize nuclear scattering and ii) an emulator for multi-channel scattering. I will also discuss the role of shape dynamics in relativistic heavy-ion collisions.