Radii of neutron drops probed via the neutron skin thickness of nuclei

Abstract

Multi-neutron systems are crucial to understanding the physics of neutron-rich nuclei and neutron stars. Neutron drops, neutrons confined in an external field, are investigated systematically in both non-relativistic and relativistic density functional theories and with ab initio calculations. We demonstrate a strong linear correlation, which is universal in the realm of mean-field models, between the rms radii of neutron drops and the neutron skin thickness of Pb-208 and Ca-48; i.e., the difference between the neutron and proton rms radii of a nucleus. Due to its high quality, this correlation can be used to deduce the radii of neutron drops from the measured neutron skin thickness in a model-independent way, and the radii obtained for neutron drops can provide a useful constraint for realistic three neutron forces. This correlation, together with high- precision measurements of the neutron skin thicknesses of Pb-208 and Ca-48, will have an enduring impact on the understanding of multi-neutron interactions, neutron-rich nuclei, neutron stars, etc.

6 pages, 4 figures

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Cited by in corpus (23)

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• Trends of Neutron Skins and Radii of Mirror Nuclei from First Principles
• Skyrme functional with tensor terms from \textit{ab initio} calculations of neutron-proton drops
• Effects of tensor forces in nuclear spin-orbit splittings from ab initio calculations
• Benchmark calculations of infinite neutron matter with realistic two- and three-nucleon potentials
• Effective density functionals beyond mean field
• Relativistic Brueckner-Hartree-Fock theory for neutron drops
• Ab initio and phenomenological studies of the static response of neutron matter
• Ab initio short-range-correlation scaling factors from light to medium-mass nuclei
• Energy-density functionals inspired by effective-field theories: Applications to neutron drops
• Asymmetric Nuclear Matter and Neutron Star Properties in Relativistic ab initio Theory in the Full Dirac Space
• Covariant Density Functional Theory with Localized Exchange Terms
• A first step in the nuclear inverse Kohn-Sham problem: from densities to potentials
• 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
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• Exploring effects of tensor force and its strength via neutron drops
• On deformability of atoms---comparative study between atoms and atomic nuclei
• Skyrme-based extrapolation for the static response of neutron matter
• Effects of Tensor Force in the Relativistic Scheme: A Case Study of Neutron Drops
• Implication of odd-even staggering in the charge radii of calcium isotopes