Nuclear molecular single particle structure and evidence for the nuclear Landau-Zener effect in heavy ion reactions

Resonances observed in the excitation functions for heavy-ion collisions give evidence that nuclear molecules can be formed during nucleus-nucleus collisions. After a brief survey on the nature of nuclear molecules and its underlying fundamental model, namely the two-center shell model (TCSM), recent experimental data and calculations which give evidence for the observation of the nuclear Landau-Zener effect, namely the promotion of nucleons near avoided crossings of single-particle levels in the two-center energy level diagrams, are discussed. The quantitative treatment of this new resonance mechansim could establish the formation of nuclear molecular orbitals and the existence of molecular single-particle effects in heavy-ion reactions. (author)