A proton density bubble in the doubly magic ${}^{34}$Si nucleus

Abstract

Many properties of the atomic nucleus, such as vibrations, rotations and incompressibility, can be interpreted as due to a two component quantum liquid of protons and neutrons. Electron scattering measurements on stable nuclei demonstrate that their central densities are saturated, as for liquid drops. In exotic nuclei near the limits of mass and charge, with large imbalances in their proton and neutron numbers, the possibility of a depleted central density, or a 'bubble' structure, has been discussed in a recurrent manner since the 1970s. Here we report first experimental evidence that points to a depletion of the central density of protons in the short-lived nucleus 34Si. The proton-to-neutron density asymmetry in 34Si offers the possibility to place constraints on the density and isospin dependence of the spin--orbit force-on which nuclear models have disagreed for decades-and on its stabilizing effect towards limits of nuclear existence.

arXiv comment6 pages, 3 figures

References in corpus (21)

• Nuclear magic numbers: new features far from stability
• Shell structure of superheavy nuclei in self-consistent mean-field models
• Self-consistent Green's function method for nuclei and nuclear matter
• Isospin Dependence of the Spin-Orbit Force and Effective Nuclear Potentials,
• Isospin Dependence of the Spin-Orbit Force and Effective Nuclear Potentials
• Systematics of intermediate-energy single-nucleon removal cross sections
• Reduction of the spin-orbit potential in light drip-line nuclei
• Role of Long-Range Correlations on the Quenching of Spectroscopic Factors
• Are Occupation Numbers Observable?
• Shell Effects in Nuclei Near Neutron Drip
• Unveiling the intruder deformed 0${}_2^{+}$ state in ${}^{34}$Si
• Detecting bubbles in exotic nuclei
• Non-observable nature of the nuclear shell structure. Meaning, illustrations and consequences
• Central depression in nuclear density and its consequences for the shell structure of superheavy nuclei
• Evolution of the N=28 shell closure: a test bench for nuclear forces
• Experimental study of the two-body spin-orbit force
• Beyond-mean-field study of the possible "bubble" structure of 34Si
• Nuclear energy density functional from chiral two- and three-nucleon interactions
• Relativistic Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov model for deformed nuclei
• Spectroscopy of ${}^{35}$P using the one-proton knockout reaction
• Spin-orbit splitting in low-j neutron orbits and proton densities in the nuclear interior

Cited by in corpus (44)

• Quenching of single-particle strength from direct reactions with stable and rare-isotope beams
• Ab initio calculation of the potential bubble nucleus ${}^{34}$Si
• Central depression in nucleonic densities: Trend analysis in nuclear density-functional-theory approach
• Bubble Structure in Magic Nuclei
• Recent progress in laser spectroscopy of the actinides
• Two-Proton Radioactivity with 2p halo in light mass nuclei A$=$18$-$34
• Angular momentum projection in the deformed relativistic Hartree-Bogoliubov theory in continuum
• Nuclear charge radii of silicon isotopes
• Bubble nuclei with shape coexistence in even-even isotopes of Hf to Hg
• Relativistic Brueckner-Hartree-Fock theory for neutron drops
• Proton and neutron skins and symmetry energy of mirror nuclei
• The structure of ${}^{36}$Ca under the Coulomb magnifying glass
• Imprint of nuclear bubble in nucleon-nucleus diffraction
• Properties of exotic nuclei and their linkage to the nucleonic interaction
• Anti-bubble effect of temperature \& deformation: a systematic study for nuclei across all mass regions between A $=$ 20$-$300
• Spin-orbit splittings of neutron states in $N=20$ isotones from covariant density functionals and their extensions
• Effect of Finite Binding on the Apparent Spin-Orbit Splitting in Nuclei
• Normal and intruder configurations in ${}^{34}$Si populated in the ${\beta }^{-}$ decay of ${}^{34}$Mg and ${}^{34}$Al
• Taming nucleon density distributions with deep neural network method
• A systematic study of the factors affecting central depletion in nuclei
• Calibration of nuclear charge density distribution by back-propagation neural networks
• Structural properties and decay modes of Z $=$ 122, 120 and 118 superheavy nuclei
• Probing nuclear bubble configuration by proton induced reaction
• Imaging Freeze-out Sources and Extracting Strong Interaction Parameters in Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collisions
• Evolution of single-particle structure of silicon isotopes
• Isospin dependent properties of the isotopic chain of Scandium and Titanium nuclei within the relativistic mean-field formalism
• The Structure of ${}^{33}$Si and the magicity of the N=20 gap at Z=14
• Bubble nuclei: single-particle versus Coulomb interaction effects
• Analytical solutions for the radial Scarf II potential
• Matter distribution and spin-orbit force in spherical nuclei
• Restoration of pseudo-spin symmetry in $N=32$ and $34$ isotones described by relativistic Hartree-Fock theory
• Distinct ground state features and the decay chains of Z = 121 Superheavy Nuclei
• In-beam $\gamma$-ray spectroscopy of ${}^{32}$Mg via direct reactions
• Quantum and Coulomb repulsion effects on the bubble structures in ${}^{204,206}$Hg
• Relativistic atomic structure calculations in support of spectroscopy
• Global analysis of the non-uniformity of nucleon density distributions
• Persistence of the N = 50 shell closure over the isotopic chains of Sc, Ti, V and Cr nuclei using relativistic energy density functional
• Search for the $1/2^{+}$ intruder state in ${}^{35}$P
• Novel feature of doubly bubble nuclei in 50$\le$Z(N)$\le$82 region along with magicity and weakly bound structure
• Deformation, halo, and bubble structure: A paradigm shift of exotic phenomena in light to medium mass nuclei
• Existence problem of proton semi-bubble structure in the $2_1^{+}$ state of ${}^{34}$Si
• Quenching of the proton $\pi 0p_{3/2}$-$\pi 0p_{1/2}$ spin-orbit splitting in ${}^{20}$O and the effect of the tensor force
• Fusion of halo nucleus ${}^{6}He$ on ${}^{238}U$: evidence for tennis-ball (bubble) structure of the core of the halo (even the giant-halo) nucleus
• Model for independent particle motion