Background: Magnetic quadrupole (M2) excitation represents a fundamental feature in atomic nucleus associated to nuclear magnetism induced by spin and orbital transition operator. So far it has only been investigated within the non-relativistic theoretical approaches, and available experimental data are rather limited. Purpose: We aim to investigate the properties of M2 transitions in closed and open-shell nuclei using the framework of relativistic nuclear energy density functional. The calculated M2 transition strengths could be used to constrain the quenching of the spin gyromagnetic factors. Methods: The nuclear ground state is calculated with relativistic Hartree-Bogoliubov model, while the M2 excitations are described using the relativistic quasiparticle random phase approximation (RQRPA) with the residual interaction extended with the isovector-pseudovector term. Results: The M2 transition strength distributions are described and analyzed for closed shell nuclei 16 O, 48 Ca, 208 Pb, open-shell 18 O, 42 Ca, 56 Fe, and semi-magic 90 Zr. Detailed analysis of pronounced peaks for magic nuclei provides evidence for their collectivity. The results are compared with available experimental data and the strength missing from the experiment is discussed. The evolution of M2 transition properties has been investigated within the 36−64 Ca isotope chain.
Conclusion:The results showed that M2 transitions in nuclei contribute to a collective mode of excitation, with rich underlying structure, and its strength distribution is rather fragmented.Pairing correlations in open shell nuclei have strong effect, causing the M2 strength reduction and shifting of the centroid energies to higher values. The analysis of M2 transition strengths indicate that considerable amount of experimental strength may be missing, mainly due to limitations to rather restricted energy ranges. The calculated M2 strengths for Ca isotopes, together with the future experimental data will allow constraining the quenching of the g-factors in nuclear medium.