Theses and Dissertations

ORCID

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3950-3134

Advisor

Afanasjev, Anatoli

Committee Member

Novotny, Mark A.

Committee Member

Winger, Jeffry A.

Committee Member

Dutta, Dipangkar

Committee Member

Rupak Lan Tai Moong, Gautam

Date of Degree

5-10-2024

Original embargo terms

Immediate Worldwide Access

Document Type

Dissertation - Open Access

Major

Physics

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D)

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Department of Physics and Astronomy

Abstract

This dissertation applies covariant density functional theory (CDFT), one of the modern theoretical approaches for describing finite nuclei and neutron stars, to investigate the density distribution of nuclei, which is a manifestation of the nodal structure of the single-particle states in physical phenomena, including charge radii and bubbles. A systematic global investigation of differential charge radii has been performed within the CDFT framework for the first time. Available experimental data is compared with theoretical charge radii across the neutron shell closures at N = 28, 50, 82, and 126. Odd-even staggering (OES) in charge radii are believed to be primarily caused by the pairing. Our research proposes a new approach where a considerable contribution to OES in charge radii is provided by the fragmentation of the single-particle content of the ground state in odd-mass nuclei due to particle-vibration coupling. The proton-neutron interaction explained with the nodal structure of the products of the proton and neutron wave functions. However, proton core is responsible for a major contribution to the buildup of differential charge radii. This interaction between protons and neutrons causes a rearrangement of the single-particle density of occupied proton states, which affects the charge radii. According to our microscopic analysis, the shape of the proton potential, the overall proton density, and the energies of the single-particle proton states are all influenced by self-consistency effects, but they have a minimal impact on the differential charge radii. A detailed and microscopic analysis of bubble physics strongly suggests that single-particle processes are primarily responsible for the creation of bubble shapes in superheavy nuclei. The creation of bubble structure is also influenced by nuclear saturation processes and self-consistency effects, and it is dependent on the availability of low-�� single-particle states for occupation since single-particle densities. For the first time, we investigated how nuclear bubbles are formed in the central classically prohibited area at the bottom of the wine bottle potentials, resulting in decreased s state densities at r = 0.

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