Study of isotope shifts, isotone shifts and nuclear compressibility from the analysis of muonic x-ray transitions

Abstract

Muonic x-ray transitions in various spherical nuclei in the region 13⩽Z⩽83 have been analysed and the isotope and isotone shifts in charge radiusR are investigated. AssumingR=r 0 A 1/3, the isotopic and isotonic behaviour of the parameterr 0 (=RA −1/3) is also studied. The variation ofr 0 with mass numberA reveals the variation of average nucleon density, which in turn sheds light on the compressibility of nuclear matter. The isotope and isotone shifts inR exhibit the shell effects in the vicinity of magic neutron and proton numbers: 20, 28, 50, 82 and 126. The results indicate that neutron-proton interaction is maximum at the beginning of a major neutron shell and decreases gradually as the shell gets filled up. The behaviour of parameterr 0 clearly suggests that low-Z nuclei are highly compressible while high-Z nuclei are more or less incompressible. The parameterr 0 too is observed to exhibit profound shell effects.