Discerning nuclear pairing properties from magnetic dipole excitation

Abstract

Pairing correlation of Cooper pair is a fundamental property of multi-fermion interacting systems. For nucleons, two modes of the Cooper-pair coupling may exist, namely of $$S_{12}=0$$ with $$L_{12}=0$$ (spin-singlet s-wave) and $$S_{12}=1$$ with $$L_{12}=1$$ (spin-triplet p-wave). In nuclear physics, it has been an open question whether the spin-singlet or spin-triplet coupling is dominant, as well as how to measure their role. We investigate a relation between the magnetic-dipole (M1) excitation of nuclei and the pairing modes within the framework of relativistic nuclear energy-density functional (RNEDF). The pairing correlations are taken into account by the relativistic Hartree-Bogoliubov (RHB) model in the ground state, and the relativistic quasi-particle random-phase approximation (RQRPA) is employed to describe M1 transitions. We have shown that M1 excitation properties display a sensitivity on the pairing model involved in the calculations. The systematic evaluation of M1 transitions together with the accurate experimental data enables us to discern the pairing properties in finite nuclei.