Nuclear shell gaps at finite temperatures
C. Reiß1 - M. Bender2,3 - P.-G. Reinhard1,4
1 Institut für Theoretische Physik II, Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg,
Staudtstrasse 7, 91058 Erlangen, Germany
2 Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC
27516-3255, USA
3 Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA
4 Joint Institute for Heavy-Ion Research, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, P. O. Box 2008,
Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA
Received: 29 September 1998 / Revised version: 1 July 1999 Communicated by F. Lenz
Abstract
Neutron-rich nuclei with a closed neutron shell represent
chains of waiting-point nuclei in the astrophysical r-process.
Details of their nuclear
structure like separation energies, shell structure and 
-decay
half-lives have a dramatic influence on element abundances calculated
from r-process simulations. Actual supernova scenarios take place at
finite temperature. To investigate the influence of finite temperature
on binding energies and shell gaps, i.e. the second derivative
of the binding energy, we calculate
the shell gaps in the range of interest and slightly beyond, i.e.
MeV. Basis of the description is the
self-consistent Skyrme-Hartree-Fock model and an extension of BCS
pairing to finite temperature using a natural orbital representation.
PACS
21.60.Jz Hartree-Fock and random-phase approximations -
21.60.-n Nuclear-structure models and methods
Copyright Springer-Verlag
