Shell model description of interacting bosons

Abstract

The interacting boson model, describing collective states of even-even nuclei, is introduced as a drastic truncation of large scale shell model calculations. The shell model hamiltonian can be diagonalized by using a correspondence, or mapping, of the nucleon states in the truncated space into states obtained by coupling proton and neutron s- and d-bosons. The equivalent boson hamiltonian in a simple case is obtained and diagonalized. Eigenstates with definite proton-neutron symmetry (good F-spin) emerge for certain values of proton and neutron numbers. In general the situation is more complex but the results obtained follow closely the experimental data.