# Study of N = 16 shell closure within RMF+BCS approach

## TL;DR

This study uses the RMF+BCS approach to analyze the N=16 shell closure in even-even nuclei, confirming strong shell effects in light isotopes like 22C and 24O and contrasting results for higher Z isotones.

## Contribution

It provides a detailed theoretical investigation of N=16 shell closure using RMF+BCS, aligning with recent experimental findings and highlighting differences across isotones.

## Key findings

- Strong shell closure at N=16 in 22C and 24O
- Large energy gap between neutron states 2s1/2 and 1d3/2
- Agreement with experimental data for light isotopes

## Abstract

We have employed RMF+BCS (relativistic mean-field plus BCS) ap- proach to study behaviour of N = 16 shell closure with the help of ground state properties of even-even nuclei. Our present investigations include sin- gle particle energies, deformations, separation energies as well as pairing energies etc. As per recent experiments showing neutron magicity at N = 16 for O isotopes, our results indicate a strong shell closure at N = 16 in 22C and 24O. A large gap is found in between neutron 2s1/2 and 1d3/2 states for 22C and 24O. These results are also supported by a sharp increase in two neutron shell gap, zero pairing energy contribution and with excellent agreement with available experimental data. Moreover, our calculations of N = 16 isotones are however found at variance for higher Z isotones like 36Ca, where experiments show high lying first excited 2+ state indicating shell closure at N = 16.