Di-Neutron Correlation in Soft Octupole Excitations of Neutron-Rich Ni Isotopes beyond N = 50

Abstract

We investigate low-lying octupole response of neutron-rich Ni isotopes beyond the N=50 shell closure using the Skyrme-Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov mean-fields and the continuum quasi-particle random phase approximation. Performing detailed numerical analyses employing the Skyrme parameter set SLy4 and a density-dependent delta interaction of the mixed type, we show that a neutron mode emerges above the neutron separation energy as a consequence of the weak binding of neutrons and it exhibits strong influences of the di-neutron correlation.