Charge radii of atomic nuclei and shell effects

Abstract

In the present work, we study the experimental data on the root mean square charge radii of the spherical atomic nuclei. The purpose of this analysis is to clarify what is the manifestation of the neutron shells in the considered observable and to find regularities in the behavior of the charge radii when a shell neutron is crossed. As the result, we have found manifestations of the shells N_sh=8,28,50 and 82. It turns out that the well-known shells with the neutron numbers 20 and 126 do not show up. The present analysis is performed by means of the relative charge radius x(N,N_sh,Z). This value is equal to the charge radius of a given isotope over the charge radius of the isotope of the given element with the closed neutron shell. It is shown that the values of x form groups corresponding to different values of N_sh. Prediction for unknown charge radius of sulfur-30 has been made.