Tensor force effect on the neutron shell closure in super-heavy elements

TL;DR

This study investigates how tensor forces influence shell closures in super-heavy nuclei, revealing that tensor interactions generally strengthen the N=184 shell gap across various Skyrme functionals.

Contribution

It provides a systematic analysis of tensor force effects on shell structure in super-heavy elements using Hartree-Fock with different Skyrme functionals, highlighting the enhancement of the N=184 shell gap.

Findings

Tensor forces enhance the N=184 shell gap in super-heavy nuclei.

The effect varies depending on the Skyrme functional used.

Shell gaps are more pronounced with tensor interactions across all cases.

Abstract

A systematic study of the effect of tensor force on the evolution of shell structure in even-even super-heavy nuclei in the region of proton numbers Z=114, 120 and 126 and in the region of neutron numbers 178 $\le$ N $\le$ 188 is presented. We use, in this investigation, the Hartree-Fock framework by means of different types of Skyrme functionals in two cases with and without tensor force. The Bardeen-Cooper-Schriefer (BCS) approximation has been used to treat the pairing correlations. By investigating structural and decay properties of nuclei under consideration, it is found that N=184 shell gap is more enhanced by the tensor interaction which depends on the isoscalar tensor coupling constant $C_0^J$ of the used Skyrme interactions. In the case without tensor interaction, this gap is significant only for T22, T24, T42 and SLy5. So, it disappears with T46, T64 and T66, and is too weak for T26, T44 and T62. Without exception, the shell gap at N=184 becomes more pronounced when the tensor part is taken into account.