The neutron skin of $^{208}$Pb and the density dependence of the symmetry energy

TL;DR

This paper investigates the neutron skin thickness of lead-208 and its connection to the symmetry energy's density dependence using microscopic nuclear models, also relating it to neutron star radii.

Contribution

It compares different microscopic models to predict neutron skin thickness and explores its correlation with neutron star properties, advancing understanding of nuclear symmetry energy.

Findings

Neutron skin predictions vary across models.

Correlation between neutron skin and neutron star radius.

Insights into the density dependence of symmetry energy.

Abstract

We explore neutron skin predictions for $^{208}$Pb in relation to the symmetry pressure in various microscopic models based on realistic nucleon-nucleon potentials and either the Dirac-Brueckner-Hartree-Fock approach or the conventional Brueckner-Hartree-Fock framework implemented with three-body forces. We also discuss the correlation between the neutron skin and the radius of a fixed-mass neutron star.