Three-Body Forces and the Limit of Oxygen Isotopes

Journal Article · Fri Jul 16 04:00:00 EDT 2010 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVLETT.105.032501· OSTI ID:21410915

Otsuka, Takaharu ^[1]; Suzuki, Toshio ^[2]; Holt, Jason D; Schwenk, Achim ^[3]; Akaishi, Yoshinori ^[4]

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1. Department of Physics, University of Tokyo, Hongo, Tokyo 113-0033 (Japan)
2. Department of Physics, College of Humanities and Sciences, Nihon University, Sakurajosui 3, Tokyo 156-8550 (Japan)
3. TRIUMF, 4004 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 2A3 (Canada)
4. RIKEN Nishina Center, Hirosawa, Wako-shi, Saitama 351-0198 (Japan)

The limit of neutron-rich nuclei, the neutron drip line, evolves regularly from light to medium-mass nuclei except for a striking anomaly in the oxygen isotopes. This anomaly is not reproduced in shell-model calculations derived from microscopic two-nucleon forces. Here, we present the first microscopic explanation of the oxygen anomaly based on three-nucleon forces that have been established in few-body systems. This leads to repulsive contributions to the interactions among excess neutrons that change the location of the neutron drip line from {sup 28}O to the experimentally observed {sup 24}O. Since the mechanism is robust and general, our findings impact the prediction of the most neutron-rich nuclei and the synthesis of heavy elements in neutron-rich environments.

• OSTI ID: 21410915
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Journal Name: Physical Review Letters Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 105; ISSN 0031-9007; ISSN PRLTAO
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS
BARYONS
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
FERMIONS
HADRONS
INTERACTIONS
INTERMEDIATE MASS NUCLEI
ISOTOPES
LIGHT NUCLEI
MANY-BODY PROBLEM
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MILLISECONDS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
NEUTRON-RICH ISOTOPES
NEUTRONS
NUCLEAR FORCES
NUCLEAR MODELS
NUCLEI
NUCLEONS
OXYGEN 24
OXYGEN 28
OXYGEN ISOTOPES
RADIOISOTOPES
SHELL MODELS
THREE-BODY PROBLEM