Peeling Off Neutron Skins from Neutron-Rich Nuclei: Constraints on the Symmetry Energy from Neutron-Removal Cross Sections

Aumann, T.; Bertulani, C. A.; Schindler, F.; Typel, S.

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.262501

Title: Peeling Off Neutron Skins from Neutron-Rich Nuclei: Constraints on the Symmetry Energy from Neutron-Removal Cross Sections

Journal Article · Thu Dec 28 00:00:00 EST 2017 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.262501· OSTI ID:1415054

Aumann, T.; Bertulani, C. A.; Schindler, F.; Typel, S.

An experimentally constrained equation of state of neutron-rich matter is fundamental for the physics of nuclei and the astrophysics of neutron stars, mergers, core-collapse supernova explosions, and the synthesis of heavy elements. To this end, we investigate the potential of constraining the density dependence of the symmetry energy close to saturation density through measurements of neutron-removal cross sections in high-energy nuclear collisions of 0.4 to 1 GeV / nucleon. We show that the sensitivity of the total neutron-removal cross section is high enough so that the required accuracy can be reached experimentally with the recent developments of new detection techniques. Because of this, we quantify two crucial points to minimize the model dependence of the approach and to reach the required accuracy: the contribution to the cross section from inelastic scattering has to be measured separately in order to allow a direct comparison of experimental cross sections to theoretical cross sections based on density functional theory and eikonal theory. The accuracy of the reaction model should be investigated and quantified by the energy and target dependence of various nucleon-removal cross sections. Our calculations explore the dependence of neutron-removal cross sections on the neutron skin of medium-heavy neutron-rich nuclei, and we demonstrate that the slope parameter L of the symmetry energy could be constrained down to ± 10 MeV by such a measurement, with a 2% accuracy of the measured and calculated cross sections.

View Journal Article

Cite

Export

Save

Research Organization:: Texas A & M Univ., College Station, TX (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: FG02-08ER41533

OSTI ID:: 1415054

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1498992

Journal Information:: Physical Review Letters, Journal Name: Physical Review Letters Vol. 119 Journal Issue: 26; ISSN 0031-9007

Publisher:: American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Citation Metrics:

Cited by: 32 works

Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (31)

Reaction cross sections at intermediate energies and Fermi-motion effect Takechi, M.; Fukuda, M.; Mihara, M. Physical Review C, Vol. 79, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.79.061601	journal	June 2009
Strange quark matter and compact stars Weber, F. Progress in Particle and Nuclear Physics, Vol. 54, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ppnp.2004.07.001	journal	March 2005
Measurement of the Dipole Polarizability of the Unstable Neutron-Rich Nucleus ${}^{68}{Ni}$ Rossi, D. M.; Adrich, P.; Aksouh, F. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 111, Issue 24 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.111.242503	journal	December 2013
Complete Electric Dipole Response and the Neutron Skin in ${}^{208}{Pb}$ Tamii, A.; Poltoratska, I.; von Neumann-Cosel, P. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 107, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.107.062502	journal	August 2011
Neutron radii and the neutron equation of state in relativistic models Typel, S.; Brown, B. Alex Physical Review C, Vol. 64, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.64.027302	journal	June 2001
Isovector properties of the Gogny interaction Sellahewa, Roshan; Rios, Arnau Physical Review C, Vol. 90, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.90.054327	journal	November 2014
Odd-even mass differences from self-consistent mean field theory Bertsch, G. F.; Bertulani, C. A.; Nazarewicz, W. Physical Review C, Vol. 79, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.79.034306	journal	March 2009
Measurements of interaction cross sections for light neutron-rich nuclei at relativistic energies and determination of effective matter radii Ozawa, A.; Bochkarev, O.; Chulkov, L. Nuclear Physics A, Vol. 691, Issue 3-4 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0375-9474(01)00563-2	journal	August 2001
Composition and thermodynamics of nuclear matter with light clusters Typel, S.; Röpke, G.; Klähn, T. Physical Review C, Vol. 81, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.81.015803	journal	January 2010
The Physics of Neutron Stars Lattimer, J. M. Science, Vol. 304, Issue 5670 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1090720	journal	April 2004
Neutron Stars 1 Haensel, P.; Potekhin, A. Y.; Yakovlev, D. G. Astrophysics and Space Science Library https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-47301-7	book	January 2007
Proton Distribution Radii of ${}^{12 - 19}C$ Illuminate Features of Neutron Halos Kanungo, R.; Horiuchi, W.; Hagen, G. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 117, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.102501	journal	September 2016
Systematic analysis of reaction cross sections of carbon isotopes Horiuchi, W.; Suzuki, Y.; Abu-Ibrahim, B. Physical Review C, Vol. 75, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.75.044607	journal	April 2007
Neutron Star Matter EOS in RMF with Multi-Body Couplings Ohnishi, Akira; Tsubakihara, Kohsuke; Harada, Toru Proceedings of the 14th International Symposium on Nuclei in the Cosmos (NIC2016) https://doi.org/10.7566/JPSCP.14.020811	conference	February 2017
Self-consistent mean-field models for nuclear structure Bender, Michael; Heenen, Paul-Henri; Reinhard, Paul-Gerhard Reviews of Modern Physics, Vol. 75, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1103/RevModPhys.75.121	journal	January 2003
Neutron Radii in Nuclei and the Neutron Equation of State Alex Brown, B. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 85, Issue 25 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.85.5296	journal	December 2000
Skyrme interaction and nuclear matter constraints Dutra, M.; Lourenço, O.; Sá Martins, J. S. Physical Review C, Vol. 85, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.85.035201	journal	March 2012
Glauber Modeling in High-Energy Nuclear Collisions Miller, Michael L.; Reygers, Klaus; Sanders, Stephen J. Annual Review of Nuclear and Particle Science, Vol. 57, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.nucl.57.090506.123020	journal	November 2007
The Nuclear Equation of State and Neutron Star Masses Lattimer, James M. Annual Review of Nuclear and Particle Science, Vol. 62, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-nucl-102711-095018	journal	November 2012
Information content of a new observable: The case of the nuclear neutron skin Reinhard, P. -G.; Nazarewicz, W. Physical Review C, Vol. 81, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.81.051303	journal	May 2010
Energy dependence of the form factor for elastic electron scattering from ${}^{12}C$ Offermann, E. A. J. M.; Cardman, L. S.; de Jager, C. W. Physical Review C, Vol. 44, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.44.1096	journal	September 1991
Relativistic model for nuclear matter and atomic nuclei with momentum-dependent self-energies Typel, S. Physical Review C, Vol. 71, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.71.064301	journal	June 2005
Relativistic mean-field hadronic models under nuclear matter constraints Dutra, M.; Lourenço, O.; Avancini, S. S. Physical Review C, Vol. 90, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.90.055203	journal	November 2014
Measurement of the Neutron Radius of ${}^{208}{Pb}$ through Parity Violation in Electron Scattering Abrahamyan, S.; Ahmed, Z.; Albataineh, H. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 108, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.112502	journal	March 2012
Equation of State and Neutron star Properties Constrained by Nuclear Physics and Observation Hebeler, K.; Lattimer, J. M.; Pethick, C. J. The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 773, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/773/1/11	journal	July 2013
Neutron skin thickness of heavy nuclei with $α -particle$ correlations and the slope of the nuclear symmetry energy Typel, S. Physical Review C, Vol. 89, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.89.064321	journal	June 2014
Proton-nucleus total cross sections in the intermediate energy range Ray, L. Physical Review C, Vol. 20, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.20.1857	journal	November 1979
The Skyrme interaction in finite nuclei and nuclear matter Stone, J. R.; Reinhard, P. -G. Progress in Particle and Nuclear Physics, Vol. 58, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ppnp.2006.07.001	journal	April 2007
Neutron skin thickness from the measured electric dipole polarizability in ${}^{68}{Ni}$ , ${}^{120}{Sn}$ , and ${}^{208}{Pb}$ Roca-Maza, X.; Viñas, X.; Centelles, M. Physical Review C, Vol. 92, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.92.064304	journal	December 2015
Pauli blocking and medium effects in nucleon knockout reactions Bertulani, C. A.; De Conti, C. Physical Review C, Vol. 81, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.81.064603	journal	June 2010
Neutron Skin of ${}^{208}{Pb}$ , Nuclear Symmetry Energy, and the Parity Radius Experiment Roca-Maza, X.; Centelles, M.; Viñas, X. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 106, Issue 25 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.106.252501	journal	June 2011

Cited By (2)

Charge-exchange reactions and the quest for resolution Frekers, D.; Alanssari, M. The European Physical Journal A, Vol. 54, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1140/epja/i2018-12612-5	journal	October 2018
Low-energy dipole response of exotic nuclei Aumann, Thomas The European Physical Journal A, Vol. 55, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1140/epja/i2019-12862-7	journal	December 2019

Figures / Tables (4)

Similar Records

Neutron skins as laboratory constraints on properties of neutron stars and on what we can learn from heavy ion fragmentation reactions

Journal Article · Mon Jul 15 00:00:00 EDT 2019 · Physical Review. C · OSTI ID:1415054

Bertulani, C. A.; Valencia, J.

Quasi-free neutron and proton knockout reactions from light nuclei in a wide neutron-to-proton asymmetry range

Journal Article · Thu Aug 01 00:00:00 EDT 2019 · Physics Letters. B · OSTI ID:1415054

Holl, M.; Panin, V.; Alvarez-Pol, H.; +66 more

Quantal diffusion approach for multinucleon transfer processes in the ^58,64Ni + ²⁰⁸Pb reactions: Toward the production of unknown neutron-rich nuclei

Journal Article · Mon Jul 27 00:00:00 EDT 2020 · Physical Review C · OSTI ID:1415054

Sekizawa, Kazuyuki; Ayik, Sakir

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS