Insensitivity of the Yrast Spectra of Even-Even Nuclei to the T=0 two-body interaction matrix elements

Abstract

Calculations of the spectra of various even-even nuclei in the fp shell ($^{44}$Ti, $^{46}$Ti, $^{48}$Cr, and $^{50}$Cr) are performed with two sets of two-body interaction matrix elements. The first set consists of the matrix elements of the FPD6 interaction. The second set have the same T=1 two-body matrix elements as the FPD6 interaction, but all the T=0 two-body matrix elements are set equal to zero. Despite the drastic differences between the two interactions, the spectra they yield are very similar and indeed it is difficult to say which set gives a better fit to experiment. That the results for the yrast spectra are insensitive to the presence or absence of T=0 two-body matrix elements is surprising because the only bound two nucleon system has T=0, namely the deuteron. Also there is the general folklore that T=0 matrix elements are responsible for nuclear collectivity. Electric quadrupole transition rates are also examined. It is found that the reintroduction of T=0 matrix elements leads to an enhancement of B(E2)'s for lower spin transitions but in some cases for higher spin transitions one gets another surprising result that there is a small suppression.