Abstract: Multinucleon transfer cross sections in the (96)Zr+(40)Ca system have been measured, in inverse kinematics, at bombarding energies ranging from the Coulomb barrier to similar to 25% below. Targetlike recoils have been identified in A, Z and velocity with the large solid angle magnetic spectrometer PRISMA. The experimental data for one- and two-neutron transfer channels have been compared with semiclassical microscopic calculations. For the two-neutron transfer channels the relevance of the transitions to the ground state and to the 0(+) excited states of (42)Ca are discussed by employing, for the reaction mechanism, the successive approximation. It is found that the transition to the 0(+) state at similar to 6 MeV, whose wave function is dominated by the two neutrons in the 2p(3/2) shell, is much larger than the ground state one. The comparison with the inclusive data reveals that transitions to states with high multipolarity and non-natural parity are important. This suggests that more complex two-particle correlations have to be incorporated in the treatment of the transfer process.

Abstract: Proton-activation reactions on natural and enriched palladium samples were investigated via the activation technique in the energy range of E(p) = 2.75-9 MeV, close to the upper end of the respective Gamow window of the. process. We have determined cross sections for (102)Pd(p,gamma)(103)Ag, (104)Pd(p,gamma)(105)Ag, and (105)Pd(p,n)(105)Ag, as well as partial cross sections of (104)Pd(p,n)(104)Ag(g), (105)Pd(p,gamma)(106)Ag(m), (106)Pd(p,n)(106)Ag(m), and (110)Pd(p,n)(110)Ag(m) with uncertainties between 3% and 15% for constraining theoretical Hauser-Feshbach rates and for direct use in gamma-process calculations.

Abstract: We derive the effects of a nonzero cosmological constant Lambda on gravitational wave propagation in the linearized approximation of general relativity. In this approximation, we consider the situation where the metric can be written as g(mu nu) = eta(mu nu) + h(mu nu)(Lambda) + h(mu nu)(W), h(mu nu)(Lambda,W) << 1, where h(mu nu)(Lambda) is the background perturbation and h(mu nu)(W) is a modification interpretable as a gravitational wave. For Lambda not equal 0, this linearization of Einstein equations is self-consistent only in certain coordinate systems. The cosmological Friedmann-Robertson-Walker coordinates do not belong to this class and the derived linearized solutions have to be reinterpreted in a coordinate system that is homogeneous and isotropic to make contact with observations. Plane waves in the linear theory acquire modifications of order root Lambda, both in the amplitude and the phase, when considered in Friedmann-Robertson-Walker coordinates. In the linearization process for h(mu nu), we have also included terms of order O(Lambda h(mu nu)). For the background perturbation h(mu nu)(Lambda), the difference is very small, but when the term h(mu nu)(W)Lambda is retained the equations of motion can be interpreted as describing massive spin-2 particles. However, the extra degrees of freedom can be approximately gauged away, coupling to matter sources with a strength proportional to the cosmological constant itself. Finally, we discuss the viability of detecting the modifications caused by the cosmological constant on the amplitude and phase of gravitational waves. In some cases, the distortion with respect to gravitational waves propagating in Minkowski space-time is considerable. The effect of Lambda could have a detectable impact on pulsar timing arrays.