Investigating the role of the tensor force in heavy-ion collisions using nucleus-nucleus potential description, Y. Iwata, Extreme Matter Institute, GSI, Darmstadt, Germany − In low-energy heavy-ion collisions, fusion is not necessarily achieved, neither is fragmentation. Reaction dynamics and the resulting products can be drastically different depending on the impact parameter, the mass of colliding ions, and so on (for example, see [1]).  Among many factors, the spin-orbit effect has been clarified to play one of the most important roles in determining final products.

Recently the tensor force has been gathering special attention in terms of explaining the structure of exotic nuclei. The tensor and spin-orbit forces contribute essentially to the formation of the spin mean field, and give rise to the same dynamical effect, namely spin polarization. In this talk, based on time-dependent density functional calculations, the tensor force, which usually acts like a small correction to the spin-orbit force, is shown to become more important in reaction dynamics [2].  Furthermore the tensor force effect is investigated with respect to the diabatic nucleus-nucleus potential structure [3], where the diabatic nucleus-nucleus potentials are obtained from the time-dependent density functional calculations without any intentional assumptions.

[1] Y. Iwata, T. Otsuka, J. A. Maruhn and N. Itagaki, Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 252501 (2010).

[2] Y. Iwata and J. A. Maruhn, Phys. Rev. C 84, 014616 (2011).

[3] Y. Iwata and H. Feldmeier, in preparation.