Neutron skin of ${}^{208}$Pb from Coherent Pion Photoproduction

Abstract

Information on the size and shape of the neutron skin on ${}^{208}$Pb has been extracted from coherent pion photoproduction cross sections measured using the Crystal Ball together with the Glasgow tagger at the MAMI electron beam facility. On exploitation of an interpolated fit of a theoretical model to the measured cross sections the half-height radius and diffuseness of the neutron distribution are found to be 6.70$\pm 0.03(stat)$ fm and 0.55$\pm 0.01(stat)$${}_{-0.03}^{+0.02}(sys)$ fm respectively, corresponding to a neutron skin thickness $\Delta r_{np}$=0.15$\pm 0.03(stat)$${}_{-0.03}^{+0.01}(sys)$ fm. The results give the first successful extraction of a neutron skin with an electromagnetic probe and indicate the skin of ${}^{208}$Pb has a halo character. The measurement provides valuable new constraints on both the structure of nuclei and the equation of state for neutron-rich matter.

4 figures 5 pages. Version submitted to journal. Includes additional studies of systematic effects in the extracted diffuseness, which led to a small increase in the quoted systematic error. These additional studies are discussed in the revised manuscript. Also includes minor editorial improvements to the text

References in corpus (12)

• Neutron-Rich Nuclei in Heaven and Earth
• Nuclear symmetry energy probed by neutron skin thickness of nuclei
• Unitary Isobar Model - MAID2007
• Neutron skin of 208Pb, nuclear symmetry energy, and the parity radius experiment
• Constraints on neutron star radii based on chiral effective field theory interactions
• Constraints on the symmetry energy and on neutron skins from the pygmy resonances in 68Ni and 132Sn
• Neutron skin thickness in droplet model with surface width dependence: indications of softness of the nuclear symmetry energy
• Neutron density distributions from antiprotonic 208Pb and 209Bi atoms
• Origin of the neutron skin thickness of 208Pb in nuclear mean-field models
• Analysis of bulk and surface contributions in the neutron skin of nuclei
• Study of the gamma p --> pi0 pi0 p reaction with the Crystal Ball/TAPS at the Mainz
• Incoherent pion photoproduction on ${}^{12}$C

Cited by in corpus (136)

• Equations of state for supernovae and compact stars
• Implications of PREX-II on the equation of state of neutron-rich matter
• Charge, neutron, and weak size of the atomic nucleus
• Ab initio predictions link the neutron skin of ${}^{208}$Pb to nuclear forces
• Nuclear Equation of State from ground and collective excited state properties of nuclei
• The Angantyr model for Heavy-Ion Collisions in PYTHIA8
• Electric dipole polarizability of ${}^{48}$Ca and implications for the neutron skin
• Three-Nucleon Forces: Implementation and Applications to Atomic Nuclei and Dense Matter
• Towards an ab initio covariant density functional for nuclear structure
• Neutron skins of atomic nuclei: per aspera ad astra
• Constraints on Nuclear Symmetry Energy Parameters
• Equation of State for Nucleonic and Hyperonic Neutron Stars with Mass and Radius Constraints
• Dipole polarizability of 120Sn and nuclear energy density functionals
• Exclusive LHC physics with heavy ions: SuperChic 3
• Bayesian modeling of the nuclear equation of state for neutron star tidal deformabilities and GW170817
• Alpha Decay Width of ${}^{212}$Po from a quartetting wave function approach
• A Detailed Examination of Astrophysical Constraints on the Symmetry Energy and the Neutron Skin of ${}^{208}$Pb with Minimal Modeling Assumptions
• Alpha Cluster Formation and Decay in Quartetting Wave Function Approach
• Quark-Meson-Coupling (QMC) model for finite nuclei, nuclear matter and beyond
• Symmetry Energy III: Isovector Skins
• Constraints on the symmetry energy and its associated parameters from nuclei to neutron stars
• Systematics of nucleon density distributions and neutron skin of nuclei
• Optimizing the relativistic energy density functional with nuclear ground state and collective excitation properties
• Probing the neutron skin with ultrarelativistic isobaric collisions
• A Minimal Nuclear Energy Density Functional
• Alpha particle clusters and their condensation in nuclear systems
• Progress in the Glauber model at collider energies
• Charge radii in covariant density functional theory: a global view
• Coherent diffractive photoproduction of ${\rho }^0$ mesons on gold nuclei at RHIC
• Electric and magnetic dipole modes in high-resolution inelastic proton scattering at $0^{\circ }$
• Atomic physics studies at the Gamma Factory at CERN
• Constraining the density slope of nuclear symmetry energy at subsaturation densities using electric dipole polarizability in ${}^{208}$Pb
• Alpha Decay to Doubly Magic Core in Quartetting Wave Function Approach
• Collimated Ultra-Bright Gamma-Rays from a PW-Laser-Driven Wire Wiggler
• Extended Skyrme interactions for nuclear matter, finite nuclei and neutron stars
• Expanding Nuclear Physics Horizons with the Gamma Factory
• Bayesian inference of nuclear symmetry energy from measured and imagined neutron skin thickness in ${}^{116,118,120,122,124,130,132}$Sn, ${}^{208}$Pb, and ${}^{48}$Ca
• Generation of GeV positron and γ-photon beams with controllable angular momentum by intense lasers
• The pion-nucleon $\sigma$ term from pionic atoms
• Can the PREX-2 and CREX results be understood by relativistic mean-field models with the astrophysical constraints?
• The P2 Experiment - A future high-precision measurement of the electroweak mixing angle at low momentum transfer
• Insights into nuclear saturation density from parity violating electron scattering
• Implications of parity-violating electron scattering experiments on ${}^{48}$Ca (CREX) and ${}^{208}$Pb (PREX-II) for nuclear energy density functionals
• The propagation of statistical errors in covariant density functional theory: ground state observables and single-particle properties
• Influence of the neutron-skin effect on nuclear isobar collisions at RHIC
• Skyrme functional with tensor terms from \textit{ab initio} calculations of neutron-proton drops
• Model dependence of the neutron-skin thickness on the symmetry energy
• Extracting nuclear form factors with coherent neutrino scattering
• The nuclear symmetry energy from neutron skins and pure neutron matter in a Bayesian framework
• Nuclear dipole polarizability from mean-field modeling constrained by chiral effective field theory
• Neutron Skin in CsI and Low-Energy Effective Weak Mixing Angle from COHERENT Data
• The $d^{\ast }(2380)$ in neutron stars - a new degree of freedom?
• Neutron Skins and Halo Orbits in the $sd$ and $pf$ shells
• New constraints on the neutron-star mass and radius relation from terrestrial nuclear experiments
• Probing neutron-skin thickness with free spectator neutrons in ultracentral high-energy isobaric collisions
• Dipole response in 208Pb within a self-consistent multiphonon approach
• Relativistic Brueckner-Hartree-Fock theory for neutron drops
• Constraints on the Neutron Skin and the Symmetry Energy from the Anti-analog Giant Dipole Resonance in 208Pb
• Accessing the Single-Particle Structure of the Pygmy Dipole Resonance in ${}^{208}$Pb
• Possible octupole deformation of ${}^{208}$Pb and the ultracentral $v_2$ to $v_3$ puzzle
• Radii of neutron drops probed via the neutron skin thickness of nuclei
• Neutron skin and centrality classification in high-energy heavy-ion collisions at the LHC
• Systematic Matter and Binding-Energy Distributions from a Dispersive Optical Model Analysis
• EoS constraints from nuclear masses and radii in a meta-modeling approach
• Elastic photon-initiated production at the LHC: the role of hadron-hadron interactions
• Equation of state of nuclear matter from empirical constraints
• Neutron skin thickness of ${}^{208}$Pb determined from reaction cross section for proton scattering
• Electron Scattering and Neutrino Physics
• Covariant Density Functional Theory with Localized Exchange Terms
• Measuring neutron skin by grazing isobaric collisions
• Parameter Optimisation for the Latest Quark-Meson Coupling Energy Density Functional
• An introduction to Bootstrap for nuclear physics
• Alpha-like clustering in ${}^{20}$Ne from a quartetting wave function approach
• Neutron-skin effect in direct-photon and charged hadron-production in Pb+Pb collisions at the LHC
• Searching for the Odderon in Ultraperipheral Proton--Ion Collisions at the LHC
• Gamma-Flash Generation in Multi-Petawatt Laser-Matter Interactions
• Spin-isospin correlated configurations in complex nuclei and neutron skin effect in W${}^{\pm }$ production in high-energy proton-lead collisions
• Constraining isovector nuclear interactions with giant dipole resonance and neutron skin in ${}^{208}$Pb from a Bayesian approach
• Testing in-medium $\pi N$ dynamics on pionic atoms
• Measuring deformed neutron skin with free spectator nucleons in relativistic heavy-ion collisions
• Exciting Ions: a Systematic Treatment of Ultraperipheral Heavy Ion Collisions with Nuclear Breakup
• Free spectator nucleons in ultracentral relativistic heavy-ion collisions as a probe of neutron skin
• Probing impact-parameter dependent nuclear parton densities from double parton scatterings in heavy-ion collisions
• Incorporating the weak mixing angle dependence to reconcile the neutron skin measurement on 208Pb by PREX-II
• A Study of Charge Radii and Neutron Skin Thickness near Nuclear Drip Lines
• Nuclear skin and the curvature of the symmetry energy
• Diversities in the properties of neutron stars at a fixed neutron-skin thickness in ${}^{208}$Pb nucleus
• Nuclear Energy Density Functionals: What do we really know?
• Cluster-Daughter Overlap as a New Probe of Alpha-Cluster Formation in Medium-Mass and Heavy Even-Even Nuclei
• Neutron-skin values and matter and neutron radii determined from reaction cross sections of proton scattering on ${}^{12}$C, ${}^{40,48}$Ca, ${}^{58}$Ni, ${}^{208}$Pb
• Coherent-Nuclear Pion Photoproduction and Neutron Radii
• The full weak charge density distribution of 48Ca from parity violating electron scattering
• Effects of neutron-skin thickness on direct hard photon emission from reactions induced by the neutron-rich projectile ${}^{50}$Ca
• Measuring the surface thickness of the weak charge density of nuclei
• Nuclear Symmetry Energy and Neutron Skin Thickness of ${}^{208}Pb$ using a finite range effective interaction
• Probe and Prejudice: Classification of compact objects and model comparison using EOS knowledge
• The effect of neutron skin on inclusive prompt photon production in Pb~+~Pb collisions at the LHC
• Elliptic flow in ultra-relativistic collisions with light polarized nuclei
• Constraints on the Nuclear Symmetry Energy from Experiments, Theory and Observations
• Neutron density distribution and neutron skin thickness of ${}^{208}$Pb
• A multi-reflection time-of-flight mass spectrometer for the offline ion source of the PUMA experiment
• The optimized point-coupling interaction for the relativistic energy density functional of Hartree-Bogoliubov approach quantifying the nuclear bulk properties
• EoS from terrestrial experiments: static and dynamic polarizations of nuclear density
• Exclusive vector meson production in heavy ion collisions
• Moving Beyond Chi-Squared in Nuclei and Neutron Stars
• Attosecond gamma-ray flashes and electron-positron pairs in dyadic laser interaction with micro-wire
• Peeling away neutron skin in ultracentral collisions of relativistic nuclei
• Symmetry energy effects on isovector properties of neutron rich nuclei with a Thomas-Fermi approach
• Double parton scattering in pA collisions at the LHC revisited
• A systematic study of the ground state properties of W, Os and Pt isotopes using HFB theory
• Investigation of neutron density distribution of ${}^{208}$Pb nucleus when the proton density is constrained to its experimental distribution
• Initial conditions of bulk matter in ultrarelativistic nuclear collisions
• Ab initio computations of the fourth-order charge density moments of ${}^{48}$Ca and ${}^{208}$Pb
• Isolating the Odderon in central production in high energy $pA$ and $AA$ collisions
• Nuclear energy density functional and the nuclear alpha decay
• The nucleardatapy toolkit for simple access to experimental nuclear data, astrophysical observations, and theoretical predictions
• Electric dipole polarizability constraints on neutron skin and symmetry energy
• Pseudorapidity distributions of charged hadrons in lead-lead collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}$ = 5.36 TeV
• Design and characterisation of an antiproton deceleration beamline for the PUMA experiment
• How do mirror charge radii constrain density dependence of the symmetry energy?
• Low-Energy Antinucleon-Nucleus Interaction Revisited
• Many Facets of Strangeness Nuclear Physics with Stored Antiprotons
• Manipulating strong electromagnetic fields with the average transverse momentum of relativistic nuclear collisions
• Probing neutron skin and symmetry energy with relativistic isobar collisions
• Novel features of asymmetric nuclear matter from terrestrial experiments and astrophysical observations of neutron stars
• Probing small neutron skin variations in isotope pairs by hyperon-antihyperon production in antiproton--nucleus interactions
• Neutron skin of 48Ca deduced from interaction cross section
• Effect of short- and long-range correlations on neutron skins of various neutron-rich doubly magic nuclei
• Weak Charge Form Factor Determination at the Electron-Ion Collider
• Ground-state properties of light kaonic nuclei signaling symmetry energy at high densities
• Four-jet production via double parton scattering in $pA$ collisions at the LHC
• Investigating the possibility of extracting neutron-skin thickness in nuclei by their collisions at intermediate energies
• Nuclear coherent ${\pi }^0$ photoproduction with charge-exchange and spin-flip rescattering
• Bridging reaction theory and nuclear structure in ${\pi }^{\pm }$-${}^{48}$Ca scattering
• Neutron-skin effect and centrality dependence of high-$p_{\mathrm{T}}$ observables in nuclear collisions
• First Extraction of the Matter Radius of ${}^{132}$Sn via Proton Elastic Scattering at 200 MeV/Nucleon