Inspired by recent experimental studies of two-proton radioactivity in the light-medium mass region, we have employed relativistic mean-field plus state dependent BCS approach (RMF+BCS) to study the ground state properties of selected even-Z nuclei in the region 20 ≤ Z ≤ 40. It is found that the effective potential barrier provided by the Coulomb interaction and that due to centrifugal force may cause a long delay in the decay of some of the nuclei even with small negative proton separation energy. This may cause the existence of proton rich nuclei beyond the proton drip-line. Nuclei 38 Ti, 42 Cr, 45 Fe, 48 Ni, 55 Zn, 60 Ge, 63,64 Se, 68 Kr, 72 Sr and 76 Zr are found to be the potential candidates for exhibiting two-proton radioactivity in the region 20 ≤ Z ≤ 40. The reliability of these predictions is further strengthened by the agreement of the calculated results for the ground state properties such as binding energy, one-and two-proton separation energy, proton and neutron radii, and deformation with the available experimental data for the entire chain of the isotopes of the nuclei in the region 20 ≤ Z ≤ 40.

RMF + BCS description of drip-line nucleiRecently it has been demonstrated, considering Ni and Ca isotopes as prototypes, that the relativistic mean-field plus BCS (RMF+BCS) approach wherein the single particle continuum corresponding to the RMF is replaced by a set of discrete positive energy states for the calculation of pairing energy provides a good approximation to the full relativistic Hartree-Bogoliubov (RHB) description of the ground state properties of the drip-line neutron rich nuclei. The applicability of RMF+BCS approach even for the drip-line nuclei is essentially due to the fact that the main contribution to the pairing correlations for the neutron rich nuclei is provided by the low-lying resonant states, in addition to the contributions coming from the states close to the Fermi surface. In order to show the general validity of this approach we present here the results of our detailed calculations for the ground state properties of the chains of isotopes of O, Ca, Ni, Zr, Sn and Pb nuclei. The TMA force parameter set has been used for the effective meanfield Lagrangian with the nonlinear terms for the sigma and omega mesons. Further, to check the validity of our treatment for different mean-field descriptions, calculations have also been carried out for the NL-SH force parameterization usually employed for the description of drip-line nuclei. Comprehensive results for the two neutron separation energy, rms radii, single particle pairing gaps and pairing energies etc. are presented. Especially, the Ca isotopes are found to exhibit distinct features near the neutron drip line whereby it is found that further addition of neutrons causes a rapid increase in the neutron rms radius with almost no increase in the binding energy, indicating the occurrence of halos. It is mainly caused by the pairing correlations and results in the existence of bound states of extremely neutron rich exotic nuclei. Similar characteristics though less pronounced, are also exhibited by the neutron rich Zr isotopes. A comparison of these results with the available experimental data and with the recent continuum relativistic Hartree-Bogoliubov (RCHB) calculations amply demonstrates the validity and usefulness of this fast RMF+BCS approach for the description of nuclei including those near the drip-lines.

The existence of bubble nuclei identified by the central depletion in nucleonic density is studied for the conventional magic N (Z) = 8, 20, 28, 40, 50, 82, 126 isotones (isotopes) and recently speculated magic N = 164, 184, 228 superheavy isotones. Many new bubble nuclei are predicted in all regions. Study of density profiles, form factor, single particle levels and depletion fraction (DF) across the periodic chart reveals that the central depletion is correlated to shell structure and occurs due to unoccupancy in s-orbit (2s, 3s, 4s) and inversion of (2s, 1d) and (3s, 1h) states in nuclei upto Z ≤ 82. Bubble effect in superheavy region is a signature of the interplay between the Coulomb and nn-interaction and depletion fraction (DF) is found to increase with Z (Coulomb repulsion) and decrease with isospin. Our results are consistent with the available data. The occupancy in s-state in 34 Si increases with temperature which appears to quench the bubble effect.

Two-proton radioactivity with 2p halo is reported theoretically in light mass nuclei A = 18-34. We predict 19 Mg, 22 Si, 26 S, 30 Ar and 34 Ca as promising candidates of ground state 2p-radioactivity with S 2p < 0 and S p > 0. Observation of extended tail of spatial charge density distribution, larger charge radius and study of proton single particle states, Fermi energy and the wave functions indicate 2p halo like structure which supports direct 2p emission. The Coulomb and centrifugal barriers in experimentally identified 2p unbound 22 Si show a quasi-bound state that ensures enough life time for such experimental probes. Our predictions are in good accord with experimental and other theoretical data available so far.

We employ the relativistic mean-field plus BCS (RMF+BCS) approach to study the behavior of [Formula: see text]-shell by investigating in detail the single particle energies, and proton and neutron density profiles along with the deformations and radii of even–even nuclei. Emergence of new shell closure, weakly bound structure and most recent phenomenon of bubble structure are reported in the [Formula: see text]-shell. [Formula: see text]C, [Formula: see text]O and [Formula: see text]S are found to have a weakly bound structure due to particle occupancy in 2[Formula: see text] state. On the other hand [Formula: see text]O, [Formula: see text]Ca and [Formula: see text]Si are found with depleted central density due to the unoccupied 2[Formula: see text] state and hence they are the potential candidates of bubble structure. [Formula: see text]C and [Formula: see text]O emerge as doubly magic with [Formula: see text] in accord with the recent experiments and [Formula: see text]S emerges as a new proton magic nucleus with [Formula: see text]. [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] are predicted as magic numbers in doubly magic [Formula: see text]O, [Formula: see text]Ca and [Formula: see text]Si, respectively. These results are found in agreement with the recent experiments and have consistent with the other parameters of RMF and other theories.