Signature of magic numbers in light exotic nuclei

Abstract

The advent of technology widened the study of shell closure for nuclei lying far away from the stability line. The classic shell closures are observed to be valid for nuclei near the stability line. The light exotic nuclei exhibit unique behavior compared to those of stable ones. The objective of this work is to study the shell closure in light nuclei near the neutron drip-line to the proton drip-line region. The systematics of two nucleon separation energy difference ([Formula: see text]) between calculated and experimental data are taken as a tool to study the shell closure of light nuclei. Nucleon separation energy is determined using the liquid drop model (LDM) expression with modified asymmetry and pairing energy terms. The light mass numbered isotopes and isotones as a function of even neutron and even proton numbers were considered for this work. The shell structure predicted by [Formula: see text] systematics is compared with the first excitation energy [Formula: see text]. The modified LDM is successful in identifying the shell structure properties of light nuclei in exotic region. The study supports the emergence of new shell closure and the disappearance of existing classic shell closure for both neutron and proton numbers. The shell structure predicted by [Formula: see text] systematics for isotopes (isotones) of magic nucleon number [Formula: see text] was in agreement with the results of [Formula: see text] analysis.