N=16 Magicity Revealed at the Proton Drip Line through the Study of Ca35

Feb 28, 2023
5 pages
Published in:
  • Phys.Rev.Lett. 131 (2023) 9, 092501
  • Published: Aug 29, 2023
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Abstract: (APS)
The last proton bound calcium isotope Ca35 has been studied for the first time, using the Ca37(p,t)Ca35 two neutron transfer reaction. The radioactive Ca37 nuclei, produced by the LISE spectrometer at GANIL, interacted with the protons of the liquid hydrogen target CRYPTA, to produce tritons t that were detected in the MUST2 detector array, in coincidence with the heavy residues Ca or Ar. The atomic mass of Ca35 and the energy of its first 3/2+ state are reported. A large N=16 gap of 4.61(11) MeV is deduced from the mass measurement, which together with other measured properties, makes Ca36 a doubly magic nucleus. The N=16 shell gaps in Ca36 and O24 are of similar amplitude, at both edges of the valley of stability. This feature is discussed in terms of nuclear forces involved, within state-of-the-art shell model calculations. Even though the global agreement with data is quite convincing, the calculations underestimate the size of the N=16 gap in Ca36 by 840 keV.