Evidence of a sudden increase in the nuclear size of proton-rich silver-96.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 34321487.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-021-24888-x and PMC identifier 8319127.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Understanding the evolution of the nuclear charge radius is one of the long-standing challenges for nuclear theory. Recently, density functional theory calculations utilizing Fayans functionals have successfully reproduced the charge radii of a variety of exotic isotopes. However, difficulties in the isotope production have hindered testing these models in the immediate region of the nuclear chart below the heaviest self-conjugate doubly-magic nucleus 100Sn, where the near-equal number of protons (Z) and neutrons (N) lead to enhanced neutron-proton pairing. Here, we present an optical excursion into this region by crossing the N = 50 magic neutron number in the silver isotopic chain with the measurement of the charge radius of 96Ag (N = 49). The results provide a challenge for nuclear theory: calculations are unable to reproduce the pronounced discontinuity in the charge radii as one moves below N = 50. The technical advancements in this work open the N = Z region below 100Sn for further optical studies, which will lead to more comprehensive input for nuclear theory development.