Nuclear charge radii of silicon isotopes

TL;DR

This paper measures the nuclear charge radius of silicon-32 using laser spectroscopy and compares it with advanced theoretical models, providing insights into nuclear structure and the symmetry energy in the nuclear equation of state.

Contribution

It presents the first experimental determination of the charge radius of $^{32}$Si and compares it with modern many-body theoretical calculations, advancing understanding of nuclear structure.

Findings

Charge radius of $^{32}$Si measured experimentally.

Results suggest the slope $L$ of the symmetry energy is less than or equal to 60 MeV.

Comparison highlights achievements and challenges of current many-body nuclear theories.

Abstract

The nuclear charge radius of $^{32}$Si was determined using collinear laser spectroscopy. The experimental result was confronted with ab initio nuclear lattice effective field theory, valence-space in-medium similarity renormalization group, and mean field calculations, highlighting important achievements and challenges of modern many-body methods. The charge radius of $^{32}$Si completes the radii of the mirror pair $^{32}$Ar - $^{32}$Si, whose difference was correlated to the slope $L$ of the symmetry energy in the nuclear equation of state. Our result suggests $L \leq 60$\,MeV, which agrees with complementary observables.