Isospin symmetry breaking in the charge radius difference of mirror nuclei

TL;DR

This paper investigates how isospin symmetry breaking influences the charge radius differences in mirror nuclei, revealing significant effects on nuclear symmetry energy parameters and emphasizing the need for further theoretical studies.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of ISB effects on charge radii in mirror nuclei using an Energy Density Functional approach, highlighting their impact on the nuclear Equation of State.

Findings

ISB effects can alter the symmetry energy slope parameter L by over 10 MeV.

Coulomb corrections are negligible compared to ISB effects.

Contrasting predictions from ab initio calculations suggest small ISB effects, indicating a need for further theoretical work.

Abstract

Isospin symmetry breaking (ISB) effects in the charge radius difference $\Delta R_{\rm ch}$ of mirror nuclei are studied using the test example of ${}^{48}$Ca and ${}^{48}$Ni. This choice allows for a transparent study of ISB contributions since paring and deformation effects, commonly required for the study of mirror nuclei, can be neglected in this specific pair. The connection of $\Delta R_{\rm ch}$ with the nuclear Equation of State and the effect of ISB on such a relation are discussed according to an Energy Density Functional approach. We find that nuclear ISB effects may shift the estimated value for the symmetry energy slope parameter $L$ by more than 10 MeV while Coulomb corrections can be neglected. ISB effects on the ground-state energy and charge radii in mirror nuclei have been recently predicted by {\it ab initio} calculations to be relatively small, pointing to a negligible effect for the extraction of information on the nuclear EoS. These contrasting results call for a dedicated theoretical effort to solve this overarching problem that impacts not only the neutron skin thickness or the difference in mass and charge radii of mirror nuclei but also other observables such as the Isobaric Analog State energy.