Nuclear wobbling motion

Abstract

A microscopic model of the nuclear wobbling motion at high spin in the small-oscillation approximation is derived within the framework of time-dependent self-consistent field theory. The physically important effects arise from a term −Ω(t) · J , similar to the cranking model, but here, Ω(t) is a time-dependent angular velocity. The formulation makes it possible to relate the parameters of the classical asymmetric rotor model, in particular, the three moments of inertia, to microscopic quantities. It also provides a new technique for separating the “spurious” degree of freedom associated with this branch of excitations. In this formulation, the components of angular momentum along both the laboratory and principal-axis frames can readily be derived. Some mathematical peculiarities arising from the description relative to a nonuniformly rotating frame are discussed in detail.