Deformation, halo, and bubble structure: A paradigm shift of exotic phenomena in light to medium mass nuclei

Abstract

The emergence of exotic nuclear structures, such as deformation, one- and two-neutron halos, and bubble configurations, marks a paradigm shift in our understanding of light- to medium-mass nuclei far from stability, particularly near and within the island of inversion extending across $N=20-28$. In this review, we integrate microscopic structure calculations using the antisymmetrized molecular dynamics method with reaction theories such as the Glauber model for high-energy collisions, and highlight the use of the fully quantum mechanical finite-range distorted wave Born approximation for calculating both inclusive and exclusive Coulomb breakup observables for these medium mass systems. These theoretical frameworks enable precise probing of nuclear density profiles through observables such as total reaction cross sections, neutron removal cross sections, relative energy spectra, parallel momentum distributions, and angular distributions. Applications to several nuclei in the island of inversion reveal enhanced halo extensions, neutron-neutron correlations in Borromean nuclei, and central density depletions in bubbles, challenging traditional shell-model paradigms. Furthermore, the sensitivity of astrophysical reaction rates to these exotic inputs is explored, demonstrating their role in the refinement of r-process nucleosynthesis models and elemental abundance predictions. This unified approach not only bridges nuclear structure and reactions, but also highlights the driplines as frontiers for unraveling nuclear matter under extreme conditions, with implications for rare-isotope beam experiments and beyond.

arXiv commentReview article, accepted for publication in "Progress in Particle and Nuclear Physics"

References in corpus (149)

• The Shell Model as Unified View of Nuclear Structure
• Origin of the Heaviest Elements: the Rapid Neutron-Capture Process
• Nuclear magic numbers: new features far from stability
• Abundances of the elements in the solar system
• The impact of individual nuclear properties on $r$-process nucleosynthesis
• Binary Neutron Star Mergers: Mass Ejection, Electromagnetic Counterparts and Nucleosynthesis
• The R-matrix theory
• Evolution of shell structure in exotic nuclei
• Tables of Nuclear Cross Sections and Reaction Rates: an Addendum to the Paper "Astrophysical Reaction Rates from Statistical Model Calculations"
• Ab initio predictions link the neutron skin of ${}^{208}$Pb to nuclear forces
• Merger and Mass Ejection of Neutron-Star Binaries
• Structure of Light Unstable Nuclei Studied with Antisymmetrized Molecular Dynamics
• Matter radii of light halo nuclei
• General relativistic effects on neutrino-driven wind from young, hot neutron star and the r-process nucleosynthesis
• Pairing correlations in nuclei on the neutron-drip line
• The merging of the islands of inversion at N=20 and N=28
• New Nuclear Reaction Flow during r-Process Nucleosynthesis in Supernovae: Critical Role of Light Neutron-Rich Nuclei
• Neutrino-driven wind simulations and nucleosynthesis of heavy elements
• SkyNet: A modular nuclear reaction network library
• Recent development of complex scaling method for many-body resonances and continua in light nuclei
• Reaction cross sections of carbon isotopes incident on a proton
• Dynamical r-process studies within the neutrino-driven wind scenario and its sensitivity to the nuclear physics input
• Integrated Nucleosynthesis in Neutrino Driven Winds
• Continuum-discretized coupled-channels method for four-body nuclear breakup in ${}^6$He+${}^{12}$C scattering
• Direct mass measurements of 19B, 22C, 29F, 31Ne, 34Na and other light exotic nuclei
• Systematic analysis of reaction cross sections of carbon isotopes
• One-neutron removal reactions on light neutron-rich nuclei
• Four-body continuum-discretized coupled-channels calculations using a transformed harmonic oscillator basis
• Proton distribution radii of ${}^{12-19}$C illuminate features of neutron halos
• The continuum discretized coupled-channels method and its applications
• FaCE: a tool for Three Body Faddeev calculations with core excitation
• Eigenvector Continuation as an Efficient and Accurate Emulator for Uncertainty Quantification
• Multi-step effects in subcoulomb breakup
• A proton density bubble in the doubly magic ${}^{34}$Si nucleus
• Spectroscopy of 32Ne and the Island of Inversion
• Determination of the structure of ${}^{31}$Ne by full-microscopic framework
• Probing the weakly-bound neutron orbit of ${}^{31}$Ne with total reaction and one-neutron removal cross sections
• A two-neutron halo is unveiled in ${}^{29}$F
• Relative contributions of the weak, main and fission-recycling r-process
• Deformed nuclear halos
• Ground-state properties of neutron-rich Mg isotopes
• The r-process in the neutrino-driven wind from a black-hole torus
• Nilsson diagrams for light neutron-rich nuclei with weakly-bound neutrons
• Deformation of Ne isotopes in the island-of-inversion region
• Ab initio calculation of the potential bubble nucleus ${}^{34}$Si
• Electromagnetic Dissociation as a Tool for Nuclear Structure and Astrophysics
• Electromagnetic strength of neutron and proton single-particle halo nuclei
• Glauber-model analysis of total reaction cross sections for Ne, Mg, Si, and S isotopes with Skyrme-Hartree-Fock densities
• Interpretation of Coulomb breakup of 31Ne in terms of deformation
• Implications of a matter-radius measurement for the structure of Carbon-22
• Coupled-channels calculations for nuclear reactions: from exotic nuclei to superheavy elements
• ${}^6$He nucleus in halo effective field theory
• Novel Techniques for Constraining Neutron-Capture Rates Relevant for r-Process Heavy-Element Nucleosynthesis
• Continuum-Discretized Coupled-Channels calculations with core excitation
• The Pauli principle in a three-body cluster model and the momentum distributions after fragmentation of 6He and 11Li
• Nuclear Theory and Science of the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams
• Efficient emulators for scattering using eigenvector continuation
• Sensitivity of r-Process Nucleosynthesis to Light-Element Nuclear Reactions
• Deformation effect on total reaction cross sections for neutron-rich Ne-isotopes
• Unbound excited states in 19,17C
• Projectile structure effects in the Coulomb breakup of one-neutron halo nuclei
• Neutron shell structure and deformation in neutron-drip-line nuclei
• Constraints on two-neutron separation energy in the Borromean ${}^{22}$C nucleus
• Interplay between valence and core excitation mechanisms in the breakup of halo nuclei
• Efimov Physics around the neutron rich Calcium-60 isotope
• Exploring the anomaly in the interaction cross section and matter radius of 23O
• Scaling and Interference in the Dissociation of Halo Nuclei
• Relativistic continuum-continuum coupling in the dissociation of halo nuclei
• Coulomb-Nuclear Coupling and Interference Effects in the Breakup of Halo Nuclei
• Neutron skin and signature of the $N$ = 14 shell gap found from measured proton radii of ${}^{17-22}$N
• Collapse of the $N=28$ shell closure in the newly discovered ${}^{39}$Na and the development of deformed halos towards the neutron dripline
• Elastic and total reaction cross sections of oxygen isotopes in Glauber theory
• Analytical transformed harmonic oscillator basis for three-body nuclei of astrophysical interest: Application to 6He
• Convergence of Eigenvector Continuation
• Transfer to the continuum and Breakup reactions
• Two-neutron halo structure of ${}^{31}$F
• Proton distribution radii of ${}^{16-24}$O: signatures of new shell closures and neutron skin
• Examination of the ${}^{22}$C radius determination with interaction cross sections
• Intertwined effects of pairing and deformation on neutron halos in magnesium isotopes
• Fusion reactions with the one-neutron halo nucleus 15C
• Bubble nuclei with shape coexistence in even-even isotopes of Hf to Hg
• Modeling ${}^{19}$B as a ${}^{17}$B-n-n three-body system in the unitary limit
• Three-body Thomas-Ehrman shifts of analog states of ${}^{17}$Ne and ${}^{17}$N
• Deformation effects in the Coulomb breakup of 31Ne
• Structure of ^{19}C from Coulomb dissociation studies
• Nuclear surface diffuseness revealed in nucleon-nucleus diffraction
• Extended 9Li+n+n three-body model of 11Li with the pairing correlation in 9Li
• Proton vs. neutron halo breakup
• Coulomb dissociation of 9Li and the rate of the 8Li(n,g)9Li reaction
• Pairing in the continuum: the quadrupole response of the Borromean nucleus 6He
• Projectile fragmentation of 129Xe at Elab=790 AMeV
• Emergence of clusters: Halos, Efimov states, and experimental signals
• Reaction cross sections of the deformed halo nucleus 31Ne
• Two-neutron halo structure of ${}^{31}$F and a novel pairing anti-halo effect
• Electric multipole response of the halo nucleus ${}^6$He
• Coulomb breakup in a Transformed Harmonic Oscillator Basis
• Dissociation of Relativistic Projectiles with the Continuum-Discretized Coupled-Channels Method
• Core swelling in spherical nuclei: An indication of the saturation of nuclear density
• The ${}^{29}$F nucleus as a lighthouse on the coast of the island of inversion
• Difference between interaction cross sections and reaction cross sections
• Effect of Finite Binding on the Apparent Spin-Orbit Splitting in Nuclei
• Interplay between the 0+_2 resonance and the nonresonant continuum of the drip-line two-neutron halo nucleus 22C
• Determination of N* amplitudes from associated strangeness production in p+p collisions
• Determining $B(E1)$ distributions of weakly bound nuclei from breakup cross sections using Continuum Discretized Coupled Channels calculations. Application to ${}^{11}$Be
• Coulomb breakup of ${}^{37}$Mg and its ground state structure
• Intermediate energy four-body breakup calculations for 22C
• Complete Glauber calculations for proton-nucleus inelastic cross sections
• Coulomb and nuclear effects in breakup and reaction cross sections
• A full quantal theory of one-neutron halo breakup reactions
• Low-lying dipole strengths for probable $p$-wave one-neutron halos in the medium mass region
• Density profiles near nuclear surface of ${}^{44,52}$Ti: An indication of $\alpha$ clustering
• Uncertainty quantification in electromagnetic observables of nuclei
• Coulomb and nuclear breakup of three-body halo nuclei
• Coulomb breakup of 22C in a four-body model
• Imprints of $\alpha$ clustering in the density profiles of ${}^{12}$C and ${}^{16}$O
• Transfer reactions of exotic nuclei including core deformations: ${}^{11}$Be and ${}^{17}$C
• Interference effects in the Coulomb dissociation of 15,17,19C
• Evidence of bicluster structure in the ground state of ${}^{20}$Ne
• Coulomb dissociation of ${}^{20,21}$N
• High precision studies of soft dipole mode in two-neutron halo nuclei: ${}^6$He case
• Exploring the structure of ${}^{29}$Ne
• Structure and Coulomb dissociation of 23O within the quark-meson coupling model
• Application of the Lagrange mesh method in continuum-discretized coupled-channels calculations
• Bubble nuclei: single-particle versus Coulomb interaction effects
• Revisiting the helium isotope-shift puzzle with improved uncertainties from nuclear structure corrections
• Two-neutron correlations in a Borromean ${}^{20}\mathrm{C}+n+n$ system: Sensitivity of unbound subsystems
• Simulating core excitation in breakup reactions of halo nuclei using an effective three-body force
• Role of Higher Multipole Excitations in the Electromagnetic Dissociation of One Neutron Halo Nuclei
• Prediction of two-neutron halos in the $N=28$ isotones ${}^{40}$Mg and ${}^{39}$Na
• Impact of level densities and $\gamma$-strength functions on $r$-process simulations
• Deconstructing experimental decay energy spectra: the ${}^{26}$O case
• Weak binding effects on the structure of ${}^{40}$Mg
• Ab initio no-core shell model study of neutron-rich ${}^{18,19,20}$C isotopes
• Greedy Emulators for Nuclear Two-Body Scattering
• Three-body description of ${}^9$C: Role of low-lying resonances in breakup reactions
• Enlarged deformation region in neutron-rich Zr isotopes by the second intruder orbit
• Combining Halo-EFT descriptions of nuclei and precise models of nuclear reactions
• Coulomb-nuclear dynamics in the weakly-bound 8Li breakup
• A Vision for the Science of Rare Isotopes
• Pairing enhancement in a two-neutron transfer process through the continuum
• Global analysis of the non-uniformity of nucleon density distributions
• Systematic study on the role of various higher-order processes in the breakup of weakly-bound projectiles
• Simplified dynamical eikonal approximation
• Pauli Blocking effects in Nilsson states of weakly bound exotic nuclei
• Breakup of ${}^8$B and the ${}^7$Be($p,\gamma {)}^8$B reaction
• Two-cluster approach to the properties of one- and two-neutron-halo nuclei
• Status of experimental knowledge on the unbound nucleus ${}^{13}$Be
• Investigating the rate of ${}^{10}$Be(n,$\gamma$)${}^{11}$Be radiative capture reaction within the FRDWBA framework
• Projectile deformation effects in the breakup of ${}^{37}$Mg