IGFAE seminar given on Wednesday 15 by Yassi Ayyad.
Title: Halo nuclei as open quantum systems
Abstract: Loosely bound atomic nuclei can be understood as small open quantum systems: a weakly bound ensemble of nucleons coupled to an external environment. The behavior and properties of such systems are deeply affected by the interplay with this external environment called continuum. Because of this interplay, these systems display generic properties that are common to all weakly bound/unbound systems with the appropriate energy to emit a particle (near threshold). This coupling to the continuum may manifest through a nuclear reaction that leaves the system in the proper state. In this talk I will present a very curious open quantum system: the one-neutron halo nucleus 11Be, a neutron-rich nucleus that emits protons after undergoing beta decay, an extremely counterintuitive phenomenon. I will discuss how this exotic decay was observed and confirmed using different experimental techniques, and how its very existence has profound consequences on the structure of exotic nuclei.
