Crucial test for covariant density functional theory with new and accurate mass measurements from Sn to Pa

Abstract

The covariant density functional theory with the point-coupling interaction PC-PK1 is compared with new and accurate experimental masses in the element range from 50 to 91. The experimental data are from a mass measurement performed with the storage ring mass spectrometry at GSI [Chen et al., Nucl. Phys. A 882, 71 (2012)]. Although the microscopic theory contains only 11 parameters, it agrees well with the experimental data. The comparison is characterized by a rms deviation of 0.859 MeV. For even-even nuclei, the theory agrees within about 600 keV. Larger deviations are observed in this comparison for the odd-A and odd-odd nuclei. Improvements and possible reasons for the deviations are discussed in this contribution as well.