Skin Of Nuclei Research Articles

Implications of parity-violating electron scattering experiments on 48Ca (CREX) and 208Pb (PREX-II) for nuclear energy density functionals

Recent precise parity-violating electron scattering experiments on 48Ca (CREX) and 208Pb (PREX-II) provide a new insight on the formation of neutron skin in nuclei. Within the energy density functional (EDF) framework, we investigate the implications of CREX and PREX-II data on nuclear matter symmetry energy and isovector properties of finite nuclei: neutron skin thickness and dipole polarizability. The weak-charge form factors from the CREX and PREX-II experiments are employed directly in constraining the relativistic density-dependent point coupling EDFs. The EDF established with the CREX data acquires considerably smaller values of the symmetry energy parameters, neutron skin thickness and dipole polarizability both for 48Ca and 208Pb, in comparison to the EDF obtained using the PREX-II data, and previously established EDFs. Presented analysis shows that CREX and PREX-II experiments could not provide consistent constraints for the isovector sector of the EDFs, and further theoretical and experimental studies are required.

Neutron skins as laboratory constraints on properties of neutron stars and on what we can learn from heavy ion fragmentation reactions

The equation of state (EOS) of infinite nuclear matter with a small proton/neutron fraction is a crucial input to determine the properties of neutron stars and compare model predictions to astronomical observations. The so-called `symmetry energy' is the part of the EOS accounting for the difference in the number of neutrons and protons. Numerous experiments have been devised to assess the symmetry energy and constrain its functional dependence with the nucleon density. Further constraints follow from a stellar modeling using the EOS to reproduce astronomical observations such as neutron star masses and radii. The recent detection of gravitational waves emitted from neutron star mergers and the nucleosynthesis ensuing from these events caused a surge of interest for such studies. Several types of nuclear reactions have been proposed to study the symmetry energy part of the EOS. Some of them consist in determining the neutron skin in nuclei and exploit its correlation with the slope parameter of the symmetry energy. In this article we explore a particular set of reactions using high energy ($E_{lab} \sim 1$ GeV/nucleon) neutron-rich projectiles. We explore measurements of all reaction fragments (a) in the same isotopic chain, i.e., only by removal of neutrons, (b) in all charge-changing channels, and (c) total interaction cross sections. Using Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov (HBF) predictions for neutron and proton densities with Skyrme interactions, we explore the sensitivity of these cross sections with the neutron skin in nuclei.

Recent Advances in Microscopic Approaches to Nuclear Matter and Symmetry Energy

Nuclear matter is a convenient theoretical laboratory to test many-body theories. When neutron and proton densities are different, the isospin dependence of the nuclear force gives rise to the symmetry energy term in the equation of state. This quantity is a crucial mechanism in the formation of the neutron skin in nuclei, as well as in other systems and phenomena involved in the dynamics of neutrons and protons in neutron-rich systems, such as isospin-asymmetric heavy-ion collisions. In this article, we will review phenomenological facts about the symmetry energy and recent experimental efforts to constrain its density dependence and related quantities. We will then review our microscopic approach to the equation of state of symmetric and asymmetric nuclear matter and present a corresponding set of predictions. Our calculations utilize the Dirac–Brueckner–Hartree–Fock method and realistic meson-theoretic nucleon-nucleon potentials. Chiral perturbation theory is an alternative approach, based on a well-defined scheme, which allows one to develop nuclear forces at each order of the chiral expansion. We will present and discuss predictions based on chiral perturbation theory, where we employ consistent two- and three-body chiral interactions. Throughout the article, one of the focal points is the importance of pursuing ab initio methods towards a deeper understanding of the many-body system.

Nucleon distribution in nuclei beyond theβ-stability line

The radii of nucleon distribution, bulk density, and neutron skin in nuclei beyond the \beta-stability line are studied within the direct variational method. We evaluate the partial equation of state of finite nuclei and demonstrate that the bulk density decreases beyond the beta stability line. We show that the growth of the neutron skin in unstable nuclei does not obey the saturation condition because of the polarization effect. The value of the neutron-skin thickness \Delta r_{np}=\sqrt{<r_n^2>}-\sqrt{<r_p^2>} is caused by the different radii (skin effect) and only slightly by the different shapes (halo effect) of neutron and proton distributions. The relative contribution of both effects depends on the competition between the symmetry energy, and the spin-orbit and Coulomb interactions. The calculations of the isovector shift of the nuclear radius \Delta r_{np} show its primarily linear dependence on the asymmetry parameter X=(N-Z)/A.

Neutron skin of nuclei near the neutron drip line.

Performing Skyrme-type deformed Hartree-Fock calculations, the possible presence of neutron skin in nuclei towards neutron drip line is studied. The thickness of the neutron skin is found to be nearly constant in all directions if it is measured perpendicular to the surface, and in a given nucleus the number of neutrons being inside of the neutron skin is almost independent of the deformation (namely, spherical shape or normal deformation or superdeformation). In the region of medium-heavy nuclei our calculation shows the presence of a series of neutron-rich nuclei, in which a neutron skin is present and yet the neutron one-particle spectra are far from those in a harmonic oscillator (plus spin-orbit) potential.