Nuclear symmetry energy and neutron skin thickness

TL;DR

This paper investigates the relationship between nuclear symmetry energy slope and neutron skin thickness, using experimental data to constrain the symmetry energy parameters and proposing a method to derive these from PREX experiment measurements.

Contribution

It introduces a new approach to relate neutron skin measurements to the slope of nuclear symmetry energy and distinguishes between surface and bulk neutron skins.

Findings

Constraints on symmetry energy slope from antiprotonic atom data

A method to calculate neutron skin thickness from PREX parity violation measurements

Identification of surface and bulk neutron skin types

Abstract

The relation between the slope of the nuclear symmetry energy at saturation density and the neutron skin thickness is investigated. Constraints on the slope of the symmetry energy are deduced from the neutron skin data obtained in experiments with antiprotonic atoms. Two types of neutron skin are distinguished: the "surface" and the "bulk". A combination of both types forms neutron skin in most of nuclei. A prescription to calculate neutron skin thickness and the slope of symmetry energy parameter $L$ from the parity violating asymmetry measured in the PREX experiment is proposed.