Effect of a $\Lambda$ impurity in doubly magic nuclei

TL;DR

This paper investigates how embedding a $ extLambda$ hyperon in doubly magic nuclei affects their internal structure, revealing significant asymmetries in proton-neutron distributions and inducing an iso-vector mean field.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed analysis of the impact of a $ extLambda$ hyperon on the density distributions and mean fields in doubly magic nuclei.

Findings

The $ extLambda$ causes asymmetry in proton-neutron densities.

It induces an appreciable iso-vector mean field.

Neutrons are attracted inward, protons are pushed outward in the core.

Abstract

We study the effect of a $\Lambda$ hyperon immersed in the doubly magic nuclei, $^{16}$O, $^{40}$Ca, $^{48}$Ca, and $^{208}$Pb, as well as the neutron magic nucleus $^{90}$Zr. For a $\Lambda$ in the $1s$ and $1p$ states in $^{17}_{\Lambda}$O, $^{41}_{\Lambda}$Ca, $^{49}_{\Lambda}$Ca, $^{91}_{\Lambda}$Zr, and $^{209}_{\Lambda}$Pb, we compare the single-particle energies and density distributions of the core nucleons with those of the nuclei without the $\Lambda$, as well as the point proton and neutron radii. A remarkable finding is that the bound $\Lambda$ induces a significant asymmetry in the proton-neutron density distributions in the core nucleus. This in turn gives rise to an appreciable, iso-vector mean field. As a consequence, the neutrons in the core are more attracted to the center of the nucleus, while the protons are pushed away, in comparison with those in the corresponding nucleus without the $\Lambda$.