Analysis of bulk and surface contributions in the neutron skin of nuclei

Journal Article · Sat May 15 04:00:00 EDT 2010 · Physical Review. C, Nuclear Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVC.81.054309· OSTI ID:21389017

Warda, M ^[1]; Vinas, X; Roca-Maza, X; Centelles, M ^[1]

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1. Departament d'Estructura i Constituents de la Materia and Institut de Ciencies del Cosmos, Facultat de Fisica, Universitat de Barcelona, Diagonal 647, E-08028 Barcelona (Spain)

The neutron skin thickness of nuclei is a sensitive probe of the nuclear symmetry energy and has multiple implications for nuclear and astrophysical studies. However, precision measurements of this observable are difficult to obtain. The analysis of the experimental data may imply some assumptions about the bulk or surface nature of the formation of the neutron skin. Here we study the bulk or surface character of neutron skins of nuclei following from calculations with Gogny, Skyrme, and covariant nuclear mean-field interactions. These interactions are successful in describing nuclear charge radii and binding energies but predict different values for neutron skins. We perform the study by fitting two-parameter Fermi distributions to the calculated self-consistent neutron and proton densities. We note that the equivalent sharp radius is a more suitable reference quantity than the half-density radius parameter of the Fermi distributions to discern between the bulk and surface contributions in neutron skins. We present calculations for nuclei in the stability valley and for the isotopic chains of Sn and Pb.

• OSTI ID: 21389017
• Journal Information: Physical Review. C, Nuclear Physics, Journal Name: Physical Review. C, Nuclear Physics Journal Issue: 5 Vol. 81; ISSN 0556-2813; ISSN PRVCAN
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS
ASTROPHYSICS
ATOMIC NUMBER
BARYONS
BINDING ENERGY
CHAINS
DENSITY
DIMENSIONS
DISTRIBUTION
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
ENERGY
FERMIONS
HADRONS
INTERACTIONS
MEAN-FIELD THEORY
NEUTRONS
NUCLEAR STRUCTURE
NUCLEI
NUCLEON-NUCLEON POTENTIAL
NUCLEONS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
PHYSICS
POTENTIALS
PROTON DENSITY
SKYRME POTENTIAL
STABILITY
SURFACES
SYMMETRY
THICKNESS