Nolen-Schiffer anomaly and atomic masses

Abstract

A new form of the nuclear energy-density functional for describing the ground state properties of finite nuclei up to the drip lines and beyond is proposed. The surface energy-density term has a fractional form containing (∇ρ)2 both in the numerator and in the denominator. An effective ρ-dependent Coulomb-nuclear correlation term is added. A fit to the nuclear masses and radii shows that the latter term gives contribution of the same order of magnitude as the Nolen-Schiffer anomaly in Coulomb displacement energy. The self-consistent run with the suggested functional, performed for about 100 spherical nuclei, has given the rms deviations from the experiment of ≈1.2 Mev in masses and ≈0.01 fm in radii. The extrapolation to the drip lines goes in between the ETFSI and the macroscopic-microscopic model predictions.