121877783
Production of metallic ions with an ECRIS at GANIL
A summary of recent and future developments in metallic ion production with an electron cyclotron resonance ion source (ECRIS) at GANIL is presented. Multicharged metallic ions are routinely produced with an ECRIS (ECR4 14 GHz) and accelerated for nuclear and atomic physics experiments. We present the various methods which have been used to generate these multicharged metallic ions. The accelerator requires stable beams for periods of weeks. The results obtained recently by direct ion plasma sputtering of Ni, Nb, and U samples are remarkable and stable beams from these metals have been delivered continuously for weeks. A pulsed EXCIMER laser, injecting a beam axially through the extraction hole of the ECRIS, has been tested for ablation on a rotating uranium target for uranium beam production. The metal ions from volatile compounds technique using volatile compounds has been also tested with ferrocene [Fe(C5H5)2] to produce multicharged Fe ions. We plan to install a third high voltage platform using an EC...
117160842
Microscopic description of elastic and inelastic proton scattering from 208pb
Information on the equation of state (EOS) of neutron matter may be gained from studies of 208Pb. Descriptions of 208Pb require credible models of structure, taking particular note also of the spectrum. Such may be tested by analyses of scattering data. Herein, we report on such analyses using an RPA model for 208Pb in a folding model of the scattering. No a posteriori adjustment of parameters are needed to obtain excellent agreement with data. 
From those analyses, the skin thickness of 208Pb is constrained to lie in the range 0.13-0.17 fm.
53446943
Status report on ECR ion source operation at GANIL
Two electron cyclotron resonance ion sources, ECR 4 and ECR 4 M, provide high charge state beams to the compact cyclotrons, C01 and C02, which are alternative injectors for the GANIL cyclotrons CSS1 and CSS2. When an injector runs for a long period, the off-line source can be used for beam developments or, together with the off-line injector, deliver a beam to a new beam line, called IRRSUD, for atomic physics experiments. Various ions are requested for beam time for periods of 8 to 11 weeks. Although the majority of the required beams comes from gaseous elements, work on the production of beams of metallic ions is always a main activity. New ovens are being developed to improve the capacity and the performances of the standard micro-oven. The latest results with 238U beam, using sputtering method and 76Ge beam using recycling method, are reported here.
94261474
METALLIC ION DEVELOPMENTS AT GANIL
Radioactive ion beams (RIB) are routinely produced at GANIL by fragmentation of the projectile. A possible way to improve the RIB intensity is to increase the primary beam intensity impinging the target. Although high intensities can be obtained with an ECR ion source for gaseous elements, it is more difficult for metallic elements due to the poor ionization efficiency of the source. This report deals with metallic ion beam production at high intensity. Experimental results for Ca, Ni and Fe are presented. The oven and the MIVOC methods are compared.
122846748
Giant resonances in {sup 238}U within the quasiparticle random-phase approximation with the Gogny force
Fully consistent axially-symmetric deformed quasiparticle random-phase approximation (QRPA) calculations have been performed, using the same Gogny D1S effective force for both the Hartree-Fock-Bogolyubov mean field and QRPA matrix. New implementation of this approach leads to the applicability of QRPA to heavy deformed nuclei. Giant resonances and low-energy collective states for monopole, dipole, quadrupole, and octupole modes are predicted for the heavy deformed nucleus {sup 238}U and compared with experimental data.
120313109
Microscopic model approach to (n,xn) pre-equilibrium reactions for medium-energy neutrons
We report on microscopic model calculations of the first step of direct pre-equilibrium (n,xn) emission in neutron interaction with {sup 90}Zr and {sup 208}Pb below 20 MeV. Our model is based on both an accurate description of the target excited states, provided by the self-consistent random-phase approximation (RPA) method implemented with the Gogny D1S force, and well-established in-medium two-body forces to represent the residual nucleon-nucleon interaction for the inelastic processes. Two goals have been achieved: The present microscopic approach provides a unified description of collective state excitations and the pre-equilibrium one-step process, and our reaction model reproduces the available data fairly well, without any parameter adjustment.
119241424
Towards the Turaev-Viro amplitudes from a Hamiltonian constraint
3D Loop Quantum Gravity with a vanishing cosmological constant can be related to the quantization of the $\textrm{SU}(2)$ BF theory discretized on a lattice. At the classical level, this discrete model characterizes discrete flat geometries and its phase space is built from $T^\ast \textrm{SU}(2)$. In a recent paper \cite{HyperbolicPhaseSpace}, this discrete model was deformed using the Poisson-Lie group formalism and was shown to characterize discrete hyperbolic geometries while being still topological. Hence, it is a good candidate to describe the discretization of $\textrm{SU}(2)$ BF theory with a (negative) cosmological constant. We proceed here to the quantization of this model. At the kinematical level, the Hilbert space is spanned by spin networks built on $\mathcal{U}_{q}(\mathfrak{su}(2))$ (with $q$ real). In particular, the quantization of the discretized Gauss constraint leads naturally to $\mathcal{U}_{q}(\mathfrak{su}(2))$ intertwiners. We also quantize the Hamiltonian constraint on a face of degree 3 and show that physical states are proportional to the quantum 6j-symbol. This suggests that the Turaev-Viro amplitude with $q$ real is a solution of the quantum Hamiltonian. This model is therefore a natural candidate to describe 3D loop quantum gravity with a (negative) cosmological constant.
118728019
Spin Foam Models for Quantum Gravity and semi-classical limit
The spinfoam framework is a proposal for a regularized path integral for quantum gravity. Spinfoams define quantum space-time structures describing the evolution in time of the spin network states for quantum geometry derived from Loop Quantum Gravity (LQG). The construction of this covariant approach is based on the formulation of General Relativity as a topological theory plus the so-called simplicity constraints which introduce local degrees of freedom. The simplicity constraints are essential in turning the non-physical topological theory into 4d gravity. In this PhD manuscript, an original way to impose the simplicity constraints in 4d Euclidean gravity using harmonic oscillators is proposed and new coherent states, solutions of the constraints, are given. Moreover, a consistent spinfoam model for quantum gravity has to be connected to LQG and must have the right semi-classical limit. An explicit map between the spin network states of LQG and the boundary states of spinfoam models is given connecting the canonical and the covariant approaches. Finally, new techniques to compute semiclassical asymptotic expressions for the transition amplitudes of 3d quantum gravity and to extract semi-classical information from a spinfoam model are introduced. Explicit computations based on approximation methods and on the use of recurrence relations on spinfoam amplitudes have been performed. The results are relevant to derive quantum corrections to the dynamics of the gravitational field.
10412849
Discrete Gravity Models and Loop Quantum Gravity: a Short Review ?
We review the relation between Loop Quantum Gravity on a fixed graph and discrete models of gravity. We compare Regge and twisted geometries, and discuss discrete actions based on twisted geometries and on the discretization of the Plebanski action. We discuss the role of discrete geometries in the spin foam formalism, with particular attention to the definition of the simplicity constraints.
119171972
Holomorphic simplicity constraints for 4D spinfoam models
Within the framework of spinfoam models, we revisit the simplicity constraints reducing topological BF theory to 4D Riemannian gravity. We use the reformulation of SU(2) intertwiners and spin networks in terms of spinors, which has come out from both the recently developed U(N) framework for SU(2) intertwiners and the twisted geometry approach to spin networks and spinfoam boundary states. Using these tools, we are able to perform a holomorphic/anti-holomorphic splitting of the simplicity constraints and define a new set of holomorphic simplicity constraints, which are equivalent to the standard ones at the classical level and which can be imposed strongly on intertwiners at the quantum level. We then show how to solve these new holomorphic simplicity constraints using coherent intertwiner states. We further define the corresponding coherent spin network functionals and introduce a new spinfoam model for 4D Riemannian gravity based on these holomorphic simplicity constraints and whose amplitudes are defined from the evaluation of the new coherent spin networks.
118371821
Holomorphic Simplicity Constraints for 4d Riemannian Spinfoam Models
Starting from the reformulation of the classical phase space of Loop Quantum Gravity in terms of spinor variables and spinor networks, we build coherent spin network states and show how to use them to write the spinfoam path integral for topological BF theory in terms of Gaussian integrals in the spinors. Finally, we use this framework to revisit the simplicity constraints reducing topological BF theory to 4d Riemannian gravity. These holomorphic simplicity constraints lead us to a new spinfoam model for quantum gravity whose amplitudes are defined as the evaluation of the coherent spin networks.