Charge-changing interactions probing point-proton radii of nuclei

¹ Department of Physics, Saitama University, Saitama 338-8570, Japan
² Department of Physics, Tokyo University of Science, Noda 278-8510, Japan
³ Department of Physics, Niigata University, Niigata 950-2181, Japan
⁴ GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung GmbH, 64291 Darmstadt, Germany
⁵ Institute of Physics, University of Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8571, Japan
⁶ Department of Physics, Osaka University, Toyonaka 560-0043, Japan
⁷ National Institute of Radiological Sciences, Chiba 263-8555, Japan
⁸ RI Center, Niigata University, Niigata 951-8510, Japan
⁹ School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Kochi University of Technology, Kochi 782-502, Japan

^a e-mail: yamaguti@phy.saitama-u.ac.jp

Published online: 20 March 2014

Abstract

The question of whether charge-changing interactions can be used to probe point-proton radii of nuclei remains unanswered. Charge-changing cross sections, σ_cc, were systematically investigated using stable and unstable nuclear beams of intermediateenergy. The ratios of the experimental σ_cc values to the calculated ones obtained from a phenomenological Glauber-type model analysis are found to be nearly constant in a broad range of Z/N for light neutron-rich nuclei. This enables the determination of density distributions, i.e., the radii of protons tightly bound in nuclei. To test the applicability of the present method to all nuclei in the nuclear chart, extensive measurements were performed for medium-mass nuclei ranging from Z = 18 to 32. The present study suggests the potential capability of a new experimental approach for exploring exotic nuclei.