Measuring the surface thickness of the weak charge density of nuclei

TL;DR

This paper explores the potential for a new parity violating electron scattering experiment to measure the surface thickness of the weak charge density in heavy nuclei, complementing existing measurements of weak radii.

Contribution

It proposes a feasible experimental approach to determine the surface thickness of weak charge density in heavy nuclei using parity violating electron scattering.

Findings

Feasibility of measuring surface thickness with proposed method

Potential to complement existing weak radius measurements

Specific momentum transfer values for effective measurement

Abstract

The present PREX-II and CREX experiments are measuring the rms radius of the weak charge density of $^{208}$Pb and $^{48}$Ca. We discuss the feasibility of a new parity violating electron scattering experiment to measure the surface thickness of the weak charge density of a heavy nucleus. Once PREX-II and CREX have constrained weak radii, an additional parity violating measurement at a momentum transfer near 0.76 fm$^{-1}$ for $^{208}$Pb or 1.28 fm$^{-1}$ for $^{48}$Ca can determine the surface thickness.