Effect of the Coulomb interaction on nuclear deformation and drip lines

TL;DR

This study examines how the Coulomb interaction influences nuclear deformation and the position of the neutron drip line across a broad range of nuclei using density functional theory.

Contribution

It provides a systematic analysis of Coulomb effects on nuclear shape and drip lines, highlighting their significant impact on nuclear structure predictions.

Findings

Coulomb interaction enhances quadrupole deformation in many nuclei.

Nuclei near the neutron drip line gain additional binding energy due to Coulomb effects.

The neutron drip line shifts toward larger neutron numbers because of Coulomb interactions.

Abstract

Nuclei are self-bound systems in which the strong interaction (nuclear force) plays a dominant role and the isospin is approximately a good quantum number. The isospin symmetry is primarily violated by the electromagnetic interactions, namely the Coulomb interaction among protons, effects of which need be studied to understand importance of the isospin symmetry. We investigate the effect of the Coulomb interaction on nuclear properties, especially the quadrupole deformation and neutron drip line, utilizing the density functional method which provides a universal description of nuclear systems in the entire nuclear chart. We carry out calculations of even-even nuclei with the proton number 2 to 60. The results show that the Coulomb interaction plays a significant role in enhancing the quadrupole deformation across a wide range of nuclei. We also find that nuclei near the neutron drip line gain an additional binding energy by the Coulomb interaction, which may lead to a shift of the neutron drip line toward a larger neutron number.