Coupled-SU(3) models of rotational states in nuclei

This paper reports a first step towards the development of a model of low-lying nuclear collective states based on the progression from weak to strong coupling of a combination of systems in multiple SU(3) irreps. The motivation for such a model comes partly from the remarkable persistence of rotational structure observed experimentally and in many model calculations. This paper considers the spectra obtainable by coupling just two SU(3) irreps by means of a quadrupole–quadrupole Q⋅Q interaction. For a particular value of this interaction, the two irreps combine to form strongly-coupled irreps while for zero interaction the weakly-coupled results are mixtures of many such strongly-coupled irreps. A notable result is the persistence of the rotor character of the low-energy states for a wide range of the interaction strength. Also notable is the fact that, for very weak interaction strengths, the energy levels of the yrast band resemble those of a vibrational sequence while the B(E2) transition strengths remain close to those of an axially symmetric rotor.