Fragmentation cross-sections and binding energies of neutron-rich nuclei

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that fragmentation cross-sections depend exponentially on binding energy, enabling extraction of binding energies from experimental data, and provides new systematics for neutron-rich nuclei with improved accuracy.

Contribution

It introduces a statistical model linking cross-sections to binding energies, allowing more precise determination of nuclear properties from fragmentation data.

Findings

Exponential dependence of cross-section on binding energy confirmed

Binding energies of Cu isotopes systematically extracted with reduced uncertainties

Predicted cross-sections for near drip-line nuclei discussed

Abstract

An exponential dependence of the fragmentation cross-section on the average binding energy is observed and reproduced with a statistical model. The observed functional dependence is robust and allows the extraction of binding energies from measured cross-sections. From the systematics of 75,77,78,79Cu isotope cross-sections have been extracted. They are 636.94 +/- 0.40 MeV, 647.1 +/- 0.4 MeV, 651.6 +/- 0.4 MeV and 657.8 +/- 0.5 MeV, respectively. Specifically, the uncertainty of the binding energy of 75Cu is reduced from 980 keV (listed value in the 2003 mass table of Audi and Wapstra) to 400 keV. The predicted cross-sections of two near drip-line nuclei, 39Na and 40Mg, from the fragmentation of 48Ca are discussed.