Deformation effect on nuclear density profile and radius enhancement in light- and medium-mass neutron-rich nuclei

Abstract

Mass number dependence of the nuclear radii is closely related to the nuclear matter properties. It is known that the most of nuclei exhibit some deformation. We discuss how the nuclear density profile is modified by the nuclear deformation to elucidate the enhancement mechanism of the nuclear radii through a systematic investigation of neutron-rich Ne, Mg, Si, S, Ar, Ti, Cr, and Fe isotopes. Skyrme-Hartree-Fock calculations are performed in a three-dimensional Cartesian grid to describe the nuclear deformation in a non-empirical way. The role of the nuclear deformation on the nuclear density profiles is explored in comparison to calculations with spherical limit. We find correlations between the nuclear deformation and the internal nuclear density. The evolution of the nuclear radii appears to follow the core swelling mechanism recently proposed in spherical nuclei [Phys. Rev. C 101, 061301(R) (2020)], and the radius is further enhanced by the nuclear deformation. This study demands further theoretical and experimental investigations for the internal density.