English

Double-magicity of proton drip-line nucleus $^{22}$Si with \textit{ab initio} calculation

Nuclear Theory 2025-12-18 v1

Abstract

New magic numbers have been discovered in the neutron-rich region of the nuclear chart. However, there has been a lack of research on proton-rich nuclei. 22^{22}O, the mirror nucleus of 22^{22}Si, is a double-magic nucleus bearing a high E(21+)E(2_1^+). Whether 22^{22}Si exhibits double-magic characters is an intriguing topic. To investigate this matter, we utilized \textit{ab initio} valence space in-medium similarity renormalization group for 22^{22}Si/22^{22}O, and their nearby nuclei. Our \textit{ab initio} calculations provide good descriptions for the double magicity of 22^{22}O, as well as the shell evolution of N=14N=14 and Z=14Z=14 through E(21+)E(2_1^+). The computed E(21+)E(2_1^+) indicate that the closure of Z=14Z=14 sub-shell in proton-rich nuclei is weaker than the N=14N=14 sub-shell closure in their mirror nuclei. Particularly, the calculated E(21+)E(2_1^+) of 22^{22}Si is 800 keV lower than the one of 22^{22}O. To further explore the magicity of 22^{22}Si, the mirror energy difference (MED) of 26^{26}Si/26^{26}Mg, 24^{24}Si/24^{24}Ne, as well as 22^{22}Si/22^{22}O are calculated. The results demonstrate that the calculated MEDs agree well with available experimental data, and the E(21+)E(2_1^+) values of 22,24,26^{22,24,26}Si are all lower than their respective mirror nuclei due to the Thomas-Ehrman shift with large s1/2s_{1/2} occupation. Moreover, our calculation provides that the many-body configurations of the low-lying state of 22^{22}Si/22^{22}O are nearly identical despite the fact that the states bearing large MED. In conclusion, our \textit{ab initio} results suggest that 22^{22}Si is a double magic nucleus, similar to its mirror nucleus 22^{22}O, albeit with a lower E(21+)E(2_1^+).

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2512.15097,
  title  = {Double-magicity of proton drip-line nucleus $^{22}$Si with \textit{ab initio} calculation},
  author = {J. G. Li and H. H. Li and S. Zhang and Y. M. Xing and W. Zuo},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2512.15097},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

6 Pages, 4 Figures