Pseudo-Spin Symmetry and its Applications

Abstract

The pseudo-spin symmetry is reviewed. A mapping that produces the separation of the total angular momentum into pseudo-orbital and pseudo-spin degrees of freedom is discussed, together with the analytic transformations that take us from the normal parity space to the eigenstates of a pseudo-oscillator with one quanta less. The many-particle version of the unitary transformation to the pseudo-SU(3) space is established. As an example, these symmetries are used to describe the double beta decay phenomenon in heavy deformed nuclei.