The electric dipole strength distribution in 120 Sn between 5 and 22 MeV has been determined at RCNP Osaka from polarization transfer observables measured in proton inelastic scattering at E0 = 295 MeV and forward angles including 0 • . Combined with photoabsorption data a highly precise electric dipole polarizability αD( 120 Sn) = 8.93(36) fm 3 is extracted. The dipole polarizability as isovector observable par excellence carries direct information on the nuclear symmetry energy and its density dependence. The correlation of the new value with the well established αD( 208 Pb) serves as a test of its prediction by nuclear energy density functionals (EDFs). Models based on modern Skyrme interactions describe the data fairly well while most calculations based on relativistic Hamiltonians cannot.PACS numbers: 21.10. Ky, 25.40.Ep, 21.60.Jz, 27.60.+j The nuclear equation of state (EOS) describing the energy of nuclear matter as function of its density has wide impact on nuclear physics and astrophysics [1] as well as physics beyond the standard model [2,3]. The EOS of symmetric nuclear matter with equal proton and neutron densities is well constrained from the ground state properties of finite nuclei, especially in the region of saturation density ρ 0 ≃ 0.16 fm −3 [4]. However, the description of astrophysical systems as, e.g., neutron stars requires knowledge of the EoS for asymmetric matter [5][6][7][8] which is related to the leading isovector parameters of nuclear matter, viz. the symmetry energy (J) and its derivative with respect to density (L) [9]. For a recent overview of experimental and theoretical studies of the symmetry energy see Ref. [10]. In spite of steady extension of knowledge on exotic nuclei, just these isovector properties are poorly determined by fits to experimental ground state data because the valley of nuclear stability is still extremely narrow along isotopic chains [11][12][13]. Thus one needs observables in finite nuclei specifically sensitive to isovector properties to better confine J and L. There are two such observables, the neutron skin r skin in nuclei with large neutron excess and the (static) dipole polarizability α D .The neutron skin thickness r skin = r n − r p defined as the difference of the neutron and proton root-meansquare radii r n,p is determined by the interplay between the surface tension and the pressure of excess neutrons on the core described by L [14,15]. Studies within nuclear density-funtional theory [16] show for all EDFs a strong correlation between r skin and the isovector symmetry energy parameters [17][18][19]. The most studied case so far is 208 Pb, where r skin has been derived from coherent photoproduction of π 0 mesons [20], antiproton annihilation [21,22], proton elastic scattering at 650 MeV [23] and 295 MeV [24], and from the dipole polarizability [25]. A nearly model-independent determination of the neutron skin is possible by measuring the weak form factor of nuclei with parity-violating elastic electron scattering [26]. Such an experiment has b...

Relativistic Coulomb excitation E1 strength below neutron thresholdThe electric dipole strength distribution in 120 Sn has been extracted from proton inelastic scattering experiments at E p = 295 MeV and at forward angles including 0 • . It differs from the results of a 120 Sn(γ , γ ) experiment and peaks at an excitation energy of 8.3 MeV. The total strength corresponds to 2.3(2)% of the energy-weighted sum rule and is more than three times larger than what is observed with the (γ , γ ) reaction. This implies a strong fragmentation of the E1 strength and/or small ground state branching ratios of the excited 1 − states.

Background: Type II shell evolution has recently been identified as a microscopic cause for nuclear shape coexistence.

The gamma strength function and level density of 1^{-} states in ^{96}Mo have been extracted from a high-resolution study of the (p[over →], p[over →]^{'}) reaction at 295 MeV and extreme forward angles. By comparison with compound nucleus γ decay experiments, this allows a test of the generalized Brink-Axel hypothesis in the energy region of the pygmy dipole resonance. The Brink-Axel hypothesis is commonly assumed in astrophysical reaction network calculations and states that the gamma strength function in nuclei is independent of the structure of the initial and final state. The present results validate the Brink-Axel hypothesis for ^{96}Mo and provide independent confirmation of the methods used to separate gamma strength function and level density in γ decay experiments.

The coupling of the giant quadrupole resonance to valence-space configurations is shown to be the origin of the formation of low-lying quadrupole-collective structures in vibrational nuclei with symmetric and mixed-symmetric character with respect to the proton-neutron degree of freedom. For the first time experimental evidence for this picture is obtained from electron- and proton scattering experiments on the nucleus ^{92}Zr that are sensitive to the relative phase of valence-space amplitudes by quantum interference.