Recent Advances in Shell Evolution with Shell-Model Calculations

TL;DR

This paper reviews recent progress in understanding shell evolution in exotic nuclei through large-scale shell-model calculations, highlighting the roles of forces and new phenomena like shape coexistence and evolving magic numbers.

Contribution

It demonstrates how shell-model calculations reveal the mechanisms behind shell evolution and predicts the behavior of magic numbers in exotic nuclei.

Findings

Distinctive effects of central and tensor forces on shell evolution

Shape coexistence explained by configuration-dependent shell structure

Prediction of the N=34 magic number evolution towards lower proton numbers

Abstract

Shell evolution in exotic nuclei is investigated with large-scale shell-model calculations. After presenting that the central and tensor forces produce distinctive ways of shell evolution, we show several recent results: (i) evolution of single-particle-like levels in antimony and cupper isotopes, (ii) shape coexistence in nickel isotopes understood in terms of configuration-dependent shell structure, and (iii) prediction of the evolution of the recently established $N=34$ magic number towards smaller proton numbers. In any case, large-scale shell-model calculations play indispensable roles in describing the interplay between single-particle character and correlation.