Nuclear deformation effect on the binding energies in heavy ions

TL;DR

This paper investigates how nuclear deformation influences binding energies in heavy ions, deriving formulas, reanalyzing experimental data, and reducing uncertainties in key transition energies for uranium and neodymium ions.

Contribution

It introduces approximate formulas for nuclear-size corrections in deformed nuclei and applies them to refine theoretical predictions and experimental data analysis.

Findings

Reduced uncertainties in the Lamb shift for $^{238}$U$^{91+}$

Revised nuclear-size corrections for uranium ions

Evaluated isotope shifts including nuclear effects in Nd ions

Abstract

Nuclear deformation effects on the binding energies in heavy ions are investigated. Approximate formulas for the nuclear-size correction and the isotope shift for deformed nuclei are derived. Combined with direct numerical evaluations, these formulas are employed to reanalyse experimental data on the nuclear-charge-distribution parameters in $^{238}\textrm{U}$ and to revise the nuclear-size corrections to the binding energies in H- and Li-like $^{238}\textrm{U}$. As a result, the theoretical uncertainties for the ground-state Lamb shift in $^{238}\textrm{U}^{91+}$ and for the $2p_{1/2}-2s$ transition energy in $^{238}\textrm{U}^{89+}$ are significantly reduced. The isotope shift of the $2p_{j}-2s$ transition energies for $^{142}\textrm{Nd}^{57+}$ and $^{150}\textrm{Nd}^{57+}$ is also evaluated including nuclear size and nuclear recoil effects within a full QED treatment.