Related papers: Charge, neutron, and weak size of the atomic nucle…
The complex nature of the nuclear forces generates a broad range and diversity of observational phenomena. Heavy nuclei, though orders of magnitude less massive than neutron stars, are governed by the same underlying physics, which is…
A nonlocal dispersive-optical-model analysis has been carried out for neutrons and protons in $^{48}$Ca. Elastic-scattering angular distributions, total and reaction cross sections, single-particle energies, the neutron and proton numbers,…
A new relation between the neutron skin of a heavy nucleus and the radius of a neutron star is proposed: the larger the neutron skin of the nucleus the larger the radius of the star. Relativistic models that reproduce a variety of…
A short review of the present knowledge of the nucleons distribution in nuclei is given. A proposal is made about a possible measurements of the neutron distribution through polarized electron scattering off nuclei.
The neutron skin of atomic nuclei impacts the structure of neutron-rich nuclei, the equation of state of nucleonic matter, and the size of neutron stars. Here we predict the neutron skin of selected light- and medium-mass nuclei using…
A method is presented to extract the neutron-skin thickness of atomic nuclei from the second and fourth moments of the electric charge distribution. We show that the value of the proton fourth moment must be independently known in order to…
Nucleons (protons and neutrons) are the building blocks of atomic nuclei, and are responsible for more than 99\% of the visible matter in the universe. Despite decades of efforts in studying its internal structure, there are still a number…
A neutron star is pictured as a gigantic nucleus overwhelmed by the number of neutrons, unlike real atomic nuclei, that have a similar number of neutrons and protons. Is this true? What if we could find, or create nuclei without protons?…
Radii of charge and neutron distributions are fundamental nuclear properties. They depend on both nuclear interaction parameters related to the equation of state of infinite nuclear matter and on quantal shell effects, which are strongly…
We study relationships between the neutron-rich skin of a heavy nucleus and the properties of neutron-star crusts. Relativistic effective field theories with a thicker neutron skin in $^{208}$Pb have a larger electron fraction and a lower…
It has been recently suggested that differences in the charge radii of mirror nuclei are proportional to the neutron-skin thickness of neutron-rich nuclei and to the slope of the symmetry energy $L$ [B.A. Brown Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 122502…
Understanding how protons and neutrons are located differently in an atomic nucleus can provide fundamental information on nuclear structure and have far-reaching implications for astrophysics. A precise determination of this important…
We have examined modifications to the nuclear weak charge due to small differences between the spatial distributions of neutrons and protons in the Cs nucleus. We derive approximate formulae to estimate the value and uncertainty of this…
We examine how the properties of inhomogeneous nuclear matter at subnuclear densities depend on the density dependence of the symmetry energy. Using a macroscopic nuclear model we calculate the size and shape of nuclei in neutron star…
The neutron skin thickness of nuclei is a sensitive probe of the nuclear symmetry energy having multiple implications for nuclear and astrophysical studies. However, precision measurements of this observable are difficult. The analysis of…
We address two questions pertaining to the uniqueness and usefulness of a new observable: (i) Considering the current theoretical knowledge, what novel information does new measurement bring in? (ii) How can new data reduce uncertainties of…
We present in this article an overview of the problem of neutron star masses. After a brief appraisal of the methods employed to determine the masses of neutron stars in binary systems, the existing sample of measured masses is presented,…
We study the consistency of the description of charge distributions and radii of nuclear clusters obtained with semiclassical nuclear pasta models. These nuclei are expected to exist in the low density outer crust of neutron stars.…
Now 50 years since the existence of the neutron star crust was proposed, we review the current understanding of the nuclear physics of the outer layers of accreting neutron stars. Nuclei produced during nuclear burning replace the nascent…
We discuss some differences and similarities between electron and neutrino scattering off atomic nuclei. We find that, in the giant resonance region, the two processes excite different nuclear modes, therefore the weak and the…