Dynamical Synthesis of

In the exothermic process of fission decay, an atomic nucleus splits into two or more independent fragments. Several aspects of nuclear fission are not properly understood, in particular the formation of the neck between the nascent fragments, and the subsequent mechanism of scission into two or more independent fragments. Using an implementation of time-dependent density functional theory, based on a relativistic energy density functional and including pairing correlations, we analyze the final phase of the process of induced fission of ^{240}Pu, and show that the timescale of neck formation coincides with the assembly of two α-like clusters. Because of its much larger binding energy, the dynamical synthesis of ^{4}He in the neck predominates over other light clusters, e.g., ^{3}H and ^{6}He. At the instant of scission the neck ruptures exactly between the two α-like clusters, which separate because of the Coulomb repulsion and are eventually absorbed by the two emerging fragments. The mechanism of light charged clusters formation at scission could also be linked to ternary fission.

Microscopic Description of 2α Decay in

A microscopic calculation of half-lives for both the α and 2α decays of ^{212}Po and ^{224}Ra is performed, using a self-consistent framework based on energy density functionals. A relativistic density functional and a separable pairing interaction of finite range are used to compute axially symmetric deformation energy surfaces as functions of quadrupole, octupole, and hexadecapole collective coordinates. Dynamical least-action paths are determined, that trace the α and 2α emission from the equilibrium deformation to the point of scission. The calculated half-lives for the α decay of ^{212}Po and ^{224}Ra are in good agreement with data. A new decay mode, the symmetric 2α emission, is predicted with half-lives of the order of those observed for cluster emission.

Pseudospin Symmetry and Microscopic Origin of Shape Coexistence in the

Lifetime measurements of excited states of the light N=52 isotones ^{88}Kr, ^{86}Se, and ^{84}Ge have been performed, using the recoil distance Doppler shift method and VAMOS and AGATA spectrometers for particle identification and gamma spectroscopy, respectively. The reduced electric quadrupole transition probabilities B(E2;2^{+}→0^{+}) and B(E2;4^{+}→2^{+}) were obtained for the first time for the hard-to-reach ^{84}Ge. While the B(E2;2^{+}→0^{+}) values of ^{88}Kr, ^{86}Se saturate the maximum quadrupole collectivity offered by the natural valence (3s, 2d, 1g_{7/2}, 1h_{11/2}) space of an inert ^{78}Ni core, the value obtained for ^{84}Ge largely exceeds it, suggesting that shape coexistence phenomena, previously reported at N≲49, extend beyond N=50. The onset of collectivity at Z=32 is understood as due to a pseudo-SU(3) organization of the proton single-particle sequence reflecting a clear manifestation of pseudospin symmetry. It is realized that the latter provides actually reliable guidance for understanding the observed proton and neutron single particle structure in the whole medium-mass region, from Ni to Sn, pointing towards the important role of the isovector-vector ρ field in shell-structure evolution.

Opioid system genes in alcoholism: a case-control study in Croatian population.

Due to their involvement in dependence pathways, opioid system genes represent strong candidates for association studies investigating alcoholism. In this study, single nucleotide polymorphisms within the genes for mu (OPRM1) and kappa (OPRK1) opioid receptors and precursors of their ligands - proopiomelanocortin (POMC), coding for beta-endorphin and prodynorphin (PDYN) coding for dynorphins, were analyzed in a case-control study that included 354 male alcohol-dependent and 357 male control subjects from Croatian population. Analysis of allele and genotype frequencies of the selected polymorphisms of the genes OPRM1/POMC and OPRK1/PDYN revealed no differences between the tested groups. The same was true when alcohol-dependent persons were subdivided according to the Cloninger's criteria into type-1 and type-2 groups, known to differ in the extent of genetic control. Thus, the data obtained suggest no association of the selected polymorphisms of the genes OPRM1/POMC and OPRK1/PDYN with alcoholism in Croatian population.

How atomic nuclei cluster.

Nucleonic matter displays a quantum-liquid structure, but in some cases finite nuclei behave like molecules composed of clusters of protons and neutrons. Clustering is a recurrent feature in light nuclei, from beryllium to nickel. Cluster structures are typically observed as excited states close to the corresponding decay threshold; the origin of this phenomenon lies in the effective nuclear interaction, but the detailed mechanism of clustering in nuclei has not yet been fully understood. Here we use the theoretical framework of energy-density functionals, encompassing both cluster and quantum liquid-drop aspects of nuclei, to show that conditions for cluster formation can in part be traced back to the depth of the confining nuclear potential. For the illustrative example of neon-20, we show that the depth of the potential determines the energy spacings between single-nucleon orbitals in deformed nuclei, the localization of the corresponding wavefunctions and, therefore, the degree of nucleonic density clustering. Relativistic functionals, in particular, are characterized by deep single-nucleon potentials. When compared to non-relativistic functionals that yield similar ground-state properties (binding energy, deformation, radii), they predict the occurrence of much more pronounced cluster structures. More generally, clustering is considered as a transitional phenomenon between crystalline and quantum-liquid phases of fermionic systems.

Robust regularity in γ-soft nuclei and its microscopic realization.

γ softness in atomic nuclei is investigated in the framework of energy density functionals. By mapping constrained microscopic energy surfaces for a set of representative nonaxial medium-heavy and heavy nuclei to a Hamiltonian of the proton-neutron interacting boson model (IBM-2) containing up to three-body interactions, low-lying collective spectra and transition rates are calculated. Observables are analyzed that distinguish between the two limiting geometrical pictures of nonaxial nuclei: the rigid-triaxial rotor and the γ-unstable rotor. It is shown that neither of these pictures is realized in actual nuclei, and that a microscopic description leads to results that are almost exactly in between the two geometrical limits. This finding points to the optimal choice of the IBM Hamiltonian for γ-soft nuclei.

Ikaros family transcription factors expression in rat thymus: detection of impaired development.

The expression of Ikaros family transcription factors and consequently their signalling pathway is limiting for hematopoietic and lymphocyte development in mice and human. Due to their importance, these transcription factors are highly homologous between species. As an initial approach to examining the possible involvement of Ikaros transcription factors in pathogenesis of rat lymphoid development, we analyzed the expression of all known Ikaros family members, Ikaros, Aiolos, Helios, Eos and Pegasus in the rat thymus. We established a semi-quantitative RT-PCR to detect mRNA of each transcription factor. For the first time we give evidence of the expression of Ikaros family transcription factors in the rat thymus. Further, we evaluated whether their mRNA expression was succumbed to changes when the rats were exposed to ethanol, as a known debilitating agent during development. Therefore we analyzed the thymus of adult rats whose mothers were forced to drink ethanol during gestation, to detect possible changes in thymus mRNA expression levels of Ikaros, Aiolos, Helios, Eos and Pegasus. We found that rats prenatally exposed to ethanol show a slightly higher expression of Ikaros family transcription factors in the adult thymus when compared to control rats, but these differences were not statistically significant. We further studied the distribution of the major lymphocyte subpopulations in the rat thymus according to CD3, CD4 and CD8 expression by four color flow cytometry. We found a higher incidence of CD3 positive cells in the double positive, CD4+CD8+ thymic subpopulation of rats prenatally exposed to ethanol when compared to non-exposed animals. Our findings indicate that ethanol exposure of pregnant rats might influence the development of CD3 positive cells in the thymus of the offspring but this result should be further tackled at the level of transcription factor expression.

Microscopic description of nuclear quantum phase transitions.

The relativistic mean-field framework, extended to include correlations related to restoration of broken symmetries and to fluctuations of the quadrupole deformation, is applied to a study of shape transitions in Nd isotopes. It is demonstrated that the microscopic self-consistent approach, based on global effective interactions, can describe not only general features of transitions between spherical and deformed nuclei, but also the singular properties of excitation spectra and transition rates at the critical point of quantum shape phase transition.

Spin-isospin resonances and the neutron skin of nuclei.

The Gamow-Teller resonances (GTR) and isobaric analog states (IAS) of a sequence of even-even Sn target nuclei are calculated by using the framework of the relativistic Hartree-Bogoliubov model plus proton-neutron quasiparticle random-phase approximation. The calculation reproduces the experimental data on ground-state properties, as well as the excitation energies of the isovector excitations. It is shown that the isotopic dependence of the energy spacings between the GTR and IAS provides direct information on the evolution of neutron-skin thickness along the Sn isotopic chain. A new method is suggested for determining the difference between the radii of the neutron and proton density distributions along an isotopic chain, based on measurement of the excitation energies of the GTR relative to the IAS.