A unified description of nuclear structures in shape phase transitions

Abstract

The validity of the T(4) critical point symmetry (CPS) in describing shape phase transition (SPT) has been examined through fitting its model dynamics by using the consistent-Q Hamiltonian of the interacting boson model (IBM). The results indicate that the model features of T(4) can be well reproduced within the IBM and the parameter trajectory of the T(4)-type dynamics in the IBM may cross the triangle phase diagram along the critical line connecting the U(5)–SU(3) and U(5)–O(6) SPTs. It thus suggests that the T(4) CPS can provide a unified description of the two types of SPT as well as the structural evolutions between them. This argument has been further confirmed from the model description of the transitional nuclei that were suggested to be near the critical points of the two types of SPT.