Tetrahedral shapes of neutron-rich Zr isotopes from multidimensionally-constrained relativistic Hartree-Bogoliubov model

TL;DR

This paper develops a multidimensional relativistic Hartree-Bogoliubov model to predict tetrahedral shapes in neutron-rich Zr isotopes, revealing stable tetrahedral ground states caused by specific energy gaps.

Contribution

It introduces a novel MDC-RHB model incorporating shape degrees of freedom and pairing correlations, predicting tetrahedral ground states in Zr isotopes.

Findings

Predicted tetrahedral ground states in $^{110}$Zr and $^{112}$Zr.

Large energy gaps around $Z=40$ and $N=70$ favor tetrahedral shapes.

Pear-shaped minima are unstable due to shallow energy wells.

Abstract

We develop a multidimensionally constrained relativistic Hartree-Bogoliubov (MDC-RHB) model in which the pairing correlations are taken into account by making the Bogoliubov transformation. In this model, the nuclear shape is assumed to be invariant under the reversion of $x$ and $y$ axes; i.e., the intrinsic symmetry group is $V_4$ and all shape degrees of freedom $\beta_{\lambda\mu}$ with even $\mu$ are included self-consistently. The RHB equation is solved in an axially deformed harmonic oscillator basis. A separable pairing force of finite range is adopted in the MDC-RHB model. The potential energy curves of neutron-rich even-even Zr isotopes are calculated with relativistic functionals DD-PC1 and PC-PK1 and possible tetrahedral shapes in the ground and isomeric states are investigated. The ground state shape of $^{110}$Zr is predicted to be tetrahedral with both functionals and so is that of $^{112}$Zr with the functional DD-PC1. The tetrahedral ground states are caused by large energy gaps around $Z=40$ and $N=70$ when $\beta_{32}$ deformation is included. Although the inclusion of the $\beta_{30}$ deformation can also reduce the energy around $\beta_{20}=0$ and lead to minima with pear-like shapes for nuclei around $^{110}$Zr, these minima are unstable due to their shallowness.