Supersymmetry in Nuclear Physics

Abstract

One particularly important extension of the interacting boson model (IBM) concerns odd-mass nuclei, achieved by considering, in addition to the bosons, a fermion coupled to the core with an appropriate boson–fermion interaction. The resulting interacting boson–fermion model (IBFM) is thus a specific version of the particle–core coupling model which has been widely used in nuclear physics to describe odd-mass nuclei. The characteristic feature of the IBFM is that it lends itself very well to a study based on symmetry considerations whereby certain classes of boson–fermion Hamiltonians can be solved analytically. Essential features of the IBFM are recalled in Sect. 4.1, while its symmetry structure is outlined in Sect. 4.2. Since the IBFM is described in detail in Iachello and Van Isacker (The interacting Boson–Fermion model. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1991), no comprehensive review is given here. Two dynamical-symmetry limits of the IBFM which are of relevance in this and the remaining chapters are discussed in Sect. 4.3.