Microscopic study of higher-order deformation effects on the ground states of superheavy nuclei around $^{270}$Hs

TL;DR

This study investigates how higher-order nuclear deformations, especially $eta_6$, affect the ground state properties of superheavy nuclei near $^{270}$Hs, revealing the importance of including $eta_6$ in models for accurate predictions.

Contribution

It demonstrates that the deformation $eta_6$ significantly impacts the binding energy and shell gaps of superheavy nuclei, emphasizing its necessity in multidimensional deformation models.

Findings

$eta_6$ deformation has the greatest impact on binding energy.

$eta_6$ influences shell gaps near $^{270}$Hs.

Including $eta_6$ is essential for accurate superheavy nuclei modeling.

Abstract

We study the effects of higher-order deformations $\beta_\lambda$ ($\lambda=4,6,8,$ and $10$) on the ground state properties of superheavy nuclei (SHN) near the doubly magic deformed nucleus $^{270}$Hs by using the multidimensionally-constrained (MDC) relativistic mean-field (RMF) model with five effective interactions PC-PK1, PK1, NL3$^{*}$, DD-ME2, and PKDD. The doubly magic properties of $^{270}$Hs are featured by the large energy gaps at $N=162$ and $Z=108$ in the single-particle spectra. By investigating the binding energies and single-particle levels of $^{270}$Hs in multidimensional deformation space, we find that the deformation $\beta_6$ has the greatest impact on the binding energy among these higher-order deformations and influences the shell gaps considerably. Similar conclusions hold for other SHN near $^{270}$Hs. Our calculations demonstrate that the deformation $\beta_6$ must be considered when studying SHN by using MDC-RMF.