A study of nuclear radii and neutron skin thickness of neutron-rich nuclei near the neutron drip line

TL;DR

This study uses relativistic mean-field theory to analyze nuclear charge and neutron radii, neutron skin thickness, and drip line nuclei across isotopic chains from carbon to zirconium, comparing results with experimental data.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive theoretical analysis of nuclear radii and neutron skin thickness near the neutron drip line using RMF with NL3 and NL3* interactions, including empirical comparisons.

Findings

Reasonable agreement with experimental data for charge and neutron radii.

Identification of neutron drip line nuclei via two-neutron separation energy.

Observation of neutron skin thickness across isotopic series.

Abstract

We studied the charge radius ($r_{c}$), neutron radius ($r_n$), and neutron skin-thickness ($\Delta r=r_n-r_p$) over a chain of isotopes from C to Zr with the stable region to the neutron drip line. Theoretical calculations are done with axially deformed self-consistent relativistic mean-field theory (RMF) with effective nonlinear NL3 and NL3* interactions. The theoretically estimated values are compared with available experimental data and a reasonable agreement are noted. We additionally assessed the two-neutron separation energy ($S_{2n}$) to mark the drip line nuclei of the considered isotopic series. In the reference of $S_{2n}$, neutron magicity is also discussed. The calculated neutron radii are compared with empirical estimation made by $r=r_0N^{1/3}$ to examine the abnormal trend of the radius for neutron drip line nuclei. In view to guide the long tails, the density distribution for some skin candidates is analyzed. Finally, neutron skin thickness is observed for the whole considered isotopic series.