Nuclear radius and charge distribution

What do we mean by nuclear size or nuclear radius? Rutherford scattering shows departure
from Coulomb law below 10−14 m or 10 fm. This must be due to the penetration of the nucleus by
the projectile. Various methods have been used to determine nuclear radii. Different methods
actually look for different kind of radii and so different values of radii.
Electron scattering: Detailed theory in Roy and Nigam
Electron interact via Coulomb interaction only. Hence scattering of high energy electrons give
information about charge distribution within the nucleus. High energy because Heisenberg
uncertainty demands at least 200 MeV electrons for λ− = 1fm.
eV + m0 c2 = (p2 c2 + m20 c4 )1/2
Squaring we get
p2 c2 = (e2 V 2 + 2m0 c2 eV )
ch−
λ− =
e[V (V + 2m0 c2 /e)]1/2
Always remenber that ch̄=197.33 MeV-fm. At high energy, one can neglect the mass of the
electron m0 and we have
ch−
λ− =
eV
So one can see that at 200 MeV, the wave length becomes 1 fm.
The quantum mechanical expression for differential elastic scattering cross-section from a
spinless target of a relativistic electron at the centre of mass angle θ is given by
σ(θ) = σM (θ)F (q)2 (1)
where σM is the Mott scattering cross-section and �q = (�p − p�� )/h̄, i.e. the change in momentum.
Z 2 e4 cos2 θ/2 1
σ(θ) = (2)
(8π�0 E) sin θ/2 1 + (2E0 /M c2 )2 sin2 θ/2
2 4

E is the energy in the CM frame, M the nuclear mass. the factor cos2 θ/2 in the denominator is
due to spin of the electron if we assume that the incident beam is unpolarized. The last factor
is for the transfer from the CM frame to the Lab frame. This is valid for low Z values. F(q) is
called the form factor and shows the effect of the spread out of the charge in a finite volume as
the Mott scattering formula is valid for a point charge. Because of the destructive interference
between electrons scattered from the different parts of the nucleus, F (q)2 is less than one. Born
approximation shows that in the spherical limit, the form factor is given by
1 � 4π �
F (�q ) = ρ(�r)exp(i�q�r)d3 r = ρ(r)sinqrdr = F (q) (3)
Ze Zeq
�q is the momentum transfer (�p − p�� )/h)
−
and given by
2p
q= sinθ/2
h−
2
Remember that for elastic scattering |�p| = |�p� | The charge density is the Fourier transform of
the form factor. So an accurate determination of σ(θ) enables us to obtain the charge density
within the nucleus. The charge density takes the following form.

For heavier nuclei, A≥ 40 this is usually expressed in the form

ρ0
ρ(r) = (4)
1 + exp[(r − c)/a]
where c is the half density radius and a is a measure of skin thickness. This is known a Fermi
distribution. Actually t=4.4a is the skin thickness. The parameter a is taken to be constant
throughout the periodic table, a= 0.5fm For very light nuclei, various different forms have been
proposed. The core of constant density is not present in lighter nuclei (A≤ 40). For almost all
nuclei, the central density is slightly lower. We define the r.m.s. radius as
��
r= r2 ρ(r)4πr2 dr/Ze (5)

Using the experimentally observed charge density, we find that the radius of almost all nuclei
obey the rule r = R0 A1/3 where R0 is a constant. This shows that the nuclear density is nearly
a constant. The constant R0 has a value 1.3fm for light nuclei (A¡50) and 1.2 for heavy nuclei.
The constant density is nearly ρ0 is nearly 0.17nucleon per fm3 .
Mirror Nuclei: Mirror nuclei are nuclei whose proton and neutron numbers are interchanged,
eg 11 B and 11 C, 7 Li and 7 Be, (O,N)15, (F,O)17, (F,Ne)19, and so on. The difference in their
binding energy is expected to be from the Coulomb contribution alone. Assume a nucleus to
be uniformly charged liquid drop of radius R. The density is then
Ze
ρ=
4/3πR3
The potential at the surface is
1 4
V (R) = πρR2
4π�0 3
E inside at a distance r from the centre is
1 4
E(r) = πrρ
4π�0 3
Integrating we get
1 2
V (r) − V (R) = πρ(R2 − r2 )
4π�0 3

3
 1 Ze
V (r) = 3
(3R2 − r2 )
4π�0 2R
So we finally get the potential energy of a charged liquid drop
1 1� R 1 3 Z 2 e2
Ec = ρV (r)4πr2 dr =
4π�0 2 0 4π�0 5 R
Assuming the same radius for mirror nuclei with charges Ze and (Z+1)e, the change Coulomb
energy is
1 3(2Z + 1)e2
ΔEc = (6)
4π�0 5R
The difference between binding energy is very accurately known. However, this method must
be very approximate as the assumption of a charged liquid drop is not very good. This is clearly
not a direct method. Quantum mechanical corrections and introduction of nuclear structure
effects improve this approximation. The constant r0 has been found out to be 1.28 fm. This
method is applicable to only very light nuclei as mirror nuclei are not posible in in heavy ass
region.
Muonic atoms : Muon or mu-mesons are leptons. It has a charge equal to that of an electron
and does not participate in strong interaction. So in an atom, an electron can be replaced by
a muon. But muons are heavier compared to electrons. mµ = 207me . Hence the Bohr orbits
of muonic atoms are 207 times smaller than that of electron atoms.
− 2
4π�0 (nh)
r=
mZe2
Thus the radius of the first Bohr orbit of muonic atom in 208 Pb is 3.1 fm which is smaller than
that of the nucleus, 5.5fm. The radius of the second orbit is about 12 fm. So there is a large
probability of a muon to be within the nucleus when it is in a lower orbit for heavier masses.
Hence the muon will be affected by only the portion of the charge within the orbit. The lower
energy levels are modified and less bound than expected in the case of a point nuclei. The
muonic X-rays are thus modified. So the study of 2s-1p X-rays can be a very good tool for the
determination of the nuclear radius. The value of r0 estimated from this method is 1.15 -1.2
fm.
Laser spectroscopic method : By measuring the hyperfine spliting in atomic spectroscopy with
a very high accuracy using lasers one can find out the isotopic shift that is the difference between
the mean square values of radii of the different isotopes. However absolute measurement is not
possible in this case.
All the three methods are electromagnetic and hence expected to give the charge radius.
Potential radius is the radius up to which the nuclear force is extended and is expected to be
larger than the charge radius. We need strong probes to measure the potential radius.
Life time of α-emitters: The first method used. The α-particles penetrate through the
Coulomb barrier. The transmission coefficient or penetration probability is given by

T = exp(−G) (7)

4
where
� �
2 M Ze2 b 1/2 R R R2
G = −( ) [cos−1 − − 2] (8)
h π�0 b b b
Here R is the potential radius and b is the distance where α-particle energy is equal to the
Coulomb energy. M is the mass of the particle. Mean life is given by the reciprocal of the
product of the number of collisions per second and the transmission coefficient τm = 1/(nT ).
If one corrects for the finite radius of the α-particle, the value r0 is found out to be 1.4 fm.
Scattering methods: The most prominent among scattering methods is the scattering of
fast monoenergetic neutrons off nuclei. For a fast neutron, the wave length is small, and the
total cross-section is given by 2πr2 , ie. double the cross-section of a sphere of the same radius.
The neutron absorption x-section is πr2 for the nucleus to behave as a perfect black body
w.r.t neutrons. This method actually detects the edge of the potential as there is no Coulomb
interference. The r0 measured in this way is 1.25 fm.
Neutron measures are difficult, so alternative method using proton or alpha scattering has
been used. As usual. in α scattering, one measures the angle at which there is deviation from
α-scattering and find out the distance at which the nuclear force can be felt.
Elastic proton scattering using protons of energy 5 to 200 MeV leads to a diffraction pattern
due to the extension of force beyond the edge. One employs a potential called Woods-Saxon
potential and calculate the radius from it. This potential is called optical potential and is of
the form
V0
V (r) = (9)
1 + exp[(r − R1/2 )/a
The different quantities have the same meaning as the Fermi form of charge density. The value
of r0 is estimated to be 1.33 fm.
The potential radius is greater than the charge radius as expected.
There is another radius known as the mass radius. This is expected to be nearly equal to
the charge radius because we expect the distribution of nuclear charge to follow the pattern of
mass distribution. However, exceptions are found in nuclei which are very far away from the
stability valley. There a long tail may be observed, e.g. in 11 Li.
Angular momentum, parity and symmetry
Nuclear force conserves angular momentum and parity. Hence each state of a nucleus is
associated with an angular momentum and parity quantum number. Neutrons and protons
−
are Fermions and have intrinsic angular momentum h/2. So the total angular momentum of a
state is the vector sum of the orbital angular momentum of all the nucleons and the intrinsic
−
angular momentum. This is called the spin of the nucleus. Frequently we drop the h. There is
a strong spin orbit term in the interaction and hence it is more meaningful to talk of the spin
of the nucleon as j-j coupling is applicable.
The spin of odd mass nucleus is half odd integral while that of even mass nucleus is
integral. Origin. For even even nuclei, the spin of the ground state is always zero. So
nucleon spins tend to cancel. This is also verified by the ground state of the odd mass nuclei
where the maximum spin of the ground state is known to be 9/2. Pairing.

5
 Similarly, each nuclear state is associated with a parity quantum number. As usual P Ψ(x, y, z) =
Ψ(−x, −y, −z) = ±Ψ(x, y, z). The ground state of even even nuclei always have positive par-
ity. This also comes from the pairing theory. The intrinsic parity of proton and neutron are
positive. Hence the parity depend on the angular momentum quantum numbers of the nucleon
states.
The fact that the nuclear states have good angular momentum quantum numbers imply that
the nuclear interaction Hamiltonian and hence the potential is rotationally invariant. Similarly
the fact that states have good parity quantum number show that the force is reflection sym-
metric. Since nuclear force is a manifestation of the strong interaction, this implies that the
strong interaction also obeys these symmetry.
Nuclear Shapes
Nuclei are not always spherical. The lowest energy state may be deformed in nature. In
fact experiments show that most of the nuclei are deformed in their ground state. The shape
of nuclei is a matter of ongoing research with excited nuclei showing a lot of exotic shape
variations. How to measure and quantify this shape? A spherical charge distribution has zero
quadrupole moment. So measurement of quadrupole moment will give us an idea about the
shape of the nuclei. This can be done in two ways, i) Interaction of nuclear charge distribution
with electromagnetic field and with ii) fast charged particles.
Why is the quadrupole moment the most important moment? Any charge distribution can
be regarded as a sum of multipoles. So the first important moment should be the dipole
moment. However, it is easily seen that the static dipole (actually odd ) electric momemt of
any stationary quantum mechanical state with good parity quantum number is identically zero.
Actually this follows because to measure the dipole moment one uses a constant electric field.
The probability of nuclei being oriented in any particular direction is equal for all directions
and hence the dipole moment is smeared out. So the nuclear dipole moment is zero. Of course,
if it was possible to line up the nuclei using a strong field, one would get a dipole moment.
analogous case of polar molecules like NaCl.
The z-component of the electric dipole moment of a charge distribution is given by
Z �
�
Dz = e ezi |ψ(�r1 , �r2 , ...)|2 dτ (10)
i=1

Since parity is a good symmetry for nuclear interaction, we have

|ψ(�r1 , �r2 , ...)|2 = |ψ(−�r1 , −�r2 , ...)|2
an even function. Product of this with a odd function, zi , and integrating over the whole space
gives zero for the integral.
Electric Quadrupole Moment
The usual expression for the quadrupole moment of acharge distribution
�
∗
Q2m = ρ(�r)r2 Y2m (r̂)d3 r (11)

However this is for a point outside the charge distribution. Now suppose one is using per-
turbation of the atomic orbitals to calculate Q. The electron density within the nucleus may

6
be significant and the above expression breaks down. Another alternative way of looking is to
study the energy of a nucleus in an external electric potential Φ
�
W = ρ(�r)Φ(�r)d3 r

The potential can be expanded in a Taylor series around the nuclear origin.
1�
Φ(�r) = Φ(0) + �r · ∇Φ(0) + xi xj ∂i ∂j Φ|0 + ....
2 ij
1� 2
= Φ(0) + �r · ∇Φ(0) + (r δij + qij ∂i ∂j Φ|0 + .... (12)
6 ij

where qij = 3xi xj − r2 δij .

Using the above expressions, one can write the total energy as a sum of two terms

W = Wis + We (13)

where is refer to isotopic shift and e refer to external field. We have

1� ∂Ej
W e = qΦ(0) − P� · E(0)
� − Qij |0 − ...... (14)
6 ij ∂xi

and
�
1
Wis = ∇2 Φ|0 ρr2 d3 r (15)
6
Here q is the total charge Ze and the other terms
�
P� = �rρd3 r (16)
�
Qij = ρ(3xi xj − δij r2 )d3 r (17)

refer to nuclear dipole and quadrupole moment. If we consider the external field only, istopic
shift vanishes as ∇2 Φ|0 = 0. This is of course for a classical description. The QM analogue
is obtained by replacing the classical charge density with the quantum mechanical probability
density multiplied by the total charge.
Z �
�
P� = e�rk ||ψ(�r1 , .., �rA )|2 d3 r1 d32 ...d3 rA (18)
k=1
Z �
�
Qij = e(3xi xj − δij r2 )k |ψ(�r1 , .., �rA )|2 d3 r1 d32 ...d3 rA (19)
k=1

. The dipole moment of course vanishes. It is easily seen that Q for a spherically symmetric
charge distribution is zero.
Now one must distinguish between two types of quadrupole moments, intrinsic and measured.
The definition above for q0 = Qzz is called the intrinsic quadrupole moment and is measured in

7
the intrinsic frame of the nucleus. However, when one measures the quadrupole moment, the
measurement is in the laboratory frame. This of course is related to the intrinsic quadrupole
moment via the usual rotation operators. The quantity qij is a spherical tensor of rank two, that
is it corresponds to a state of angular momentum two. So for states with angular momentum less
than one, the measured quadrupole moment vanishes. Mathematically speaking, the measured
quadrupole moment is the expectation value of the quadrupole m oment operator of the state
|JM = J >. So

1 1
Qo bs =< JJ|Q̂|JJ >= < JJ20|JJ >< J||Q̂||J >= < JJ20|JJ > Q0 (20)
2J + 1 2J + 1
Some properties of the quadrupole moment. The operator is
A
�
Qij = ek (3xi xj − δij r2 )k (21)
k=1

The operator Qz z is positive if the nucleus is prolate, i.e cigar shaped while negatibe if it is
oblate, i.e. pancake shaped.
A simple model assuming a constant charge distribution of a spheroid may be used to illustrate
this point. Assume an ellipsoid of major axis a and minor axis b,b. The volume is V = 4/3πab2 .
The constant charge density is ρ = Ze/V . The quadrupole moment in the body fixed system
is
�
2 4
Qbody = ρ(3z 2 − r2 )dτ = Ze(a2 − b2 ) = ZeσR2 (22)
5 5
where R2 = (a2 + b2 )/2 and similarly for σ = (a2 − b2 )/(a2 + b2 ). It is clear where Q is positive
or negative. σ is called the eccentricity.
The operator Q is symmetric, i.e. Qij = Qji and also it is traceless i.e. Qii = 0. So there are
five independent quantities. Three of them refer to the Eulerian angles and two parameters are
needed to describe the shape of the nuclei. They are called β and γ.
A magic nucleus is expected to be of spherical shape. However, as the number of nucleons
outside the closed shell increase, the deformation increases, the highest deformation being for
the midshell nuclei. Here the shell model picture fails and one has to consider the collective
model.
How to determine the quadrupole moment. The intrinsic quadrupole moment may be derived
from finding out the decay probability of the nuclear levels. In the collective model, the EM
transition probability between two lwvwls is proportional to | < J||Q̂||I > |2 . So a measurement
of lifetime of the concerned level will give us the quadrupole moment. There are various
methods of determining lifetime. Electronic measurement: Coincidence method. Limit about
100 picosecond. In beam measurement: a) RDMi, limit picosecond, b)DSAM, limit fraction of
a picosecond.
Coulomb excitation: A nucleus is excited in a very strong Coulomb field. EM excitation.
Produced by bombarding the target nuclei with a heavy charged projectile. A very strong time
varying field is produced which interacts with the electric quadrupole moment of the nucleus.

8
 The quadrupole moment is usually expressed in barns (10−24 cm2 . Eccentricity for ground
state of nuclei may be as large as 0.3 for prolate and -0.2 for oblate nuclei. Fission isomer and
superdeformed states.
Magnetic dipole moment
Proton and neutron posses intrinsic magnetic dipole moment.
µp = 2.7927µN
µn = −1.9131µN
eh−
µn = (23)
2Mp
the last being called the nuclear magneton and is about 2000 times less than the Bohr magneton.µN =
5.0571X10−27 J/T .
These values are anomalous as Dirac theory which correctly predicts electron magnetic mo-
memnt fails here. This suggests that proton and neutron are not point particles but composite
objects. Neutron and proton have spin half. So the Lande g-factor for proton and neutron is
twice the numerical value of the magnetic dipole moment.
h− e
µp = g p (24)
2 2MN
and similarly for neutron.
For a nucleus, the contribution to magnetic dipole moment must come from both intrinsic as
well as orbital moment. For a charged particle, the contribution from orbital motion is well
known. For protons, the g-factor is one while for neutrons, it must be zero. So for a nucleus,
the total magnetic moment is the summ of the contributions of proton and neutron intrinsic
moment as well as the orbital moment of protons.
Z A
eh− � �
�µ = [ (�lk + gp�sk ) + gn s�k ] (25)
2MN k=1 k=Z+1

In the Schmidt model, the magnetic moment is due to only the odd particle and the contributon
of others cancel in pairs. So for the odd particle in a state l, we have
I� = �l + �s
� = (gl�l + gs�s)µN
µ (26)
We have s=1/2 and so I = l ± 1/2. For proton(neutron), gl = 1(0). The effective magnetic
moment is defined as
� · I� > I�
<µ �
�l · I� > +gs < �s · I� >] I
�µef f = = µ N [g l < (27)
I2 I2
Using the two cases, we have
1 1 1 1
g = [ gs + (I − )gl ] for l = I −
I 2 2 2
1 1 3 1
g= [− gs + (I + )gl ] for l = I + (28)
I +1 2 2 2
9
This forms the two Schmidt lines. The magnetic moment usually falls in between the two
Schmidt values indicating the limitations of the extreme single particle model.
Rabi’s method: Molecular beam resonance method
This method observes the reorientation of moment relative to a constant homogeneous mag-
netic field when an oscillating or rotating magnetic field is superposed. Molecular beam is
used because in spin zero state, the magnetic moment is due to nuclear magneton while for
atomic beam it is bohr magneton. If the frequency of the oscillating field is in resonance with
the frequency of reorientation corresponding to absorption and stimulated emission, resonance
reorientation occurs.
−
hω = ΔEnm = En = Em (29)

where En and Em refer to the energies of the molecular system in the magnetic field between
which magnetic dipole transitions are allowed. The selection rules are

δm = 0. ± 1 ΔF = 0, ±1 ΔMk = 0, ±1 (30)

The first two are for the weak fields while the last one is for a strong magnetic field where each
constituent magnetic field decouples from each other.
A beam of molecules is spread out by an inhomogeneous magnetic field and refocussed in to
a detector by another inhomogemeneous magnetic field after passing through a homogeneous
magnetic field and a loop connected to a radiofrequency oscillator. If a reorientation of the
magnetic moment occurs due to the oscillating field, the focussing condition is destroyed and
the detector current falls off. Changing the frequency of the oscillator one can measure the
beam intensity and a dip occurs at the resonance absorption frequency. The energy of the
magnetic dipole oriented in a homogeneous magnetic field H � 0 is
µI � � µI
W (mI ) = − H0 · I = − H0 m I (31)
I I
where mI is the projection of the angular momentum on the homogeneous field. The resonance
frequency is
δW µI
ν0 = −
= − H0 (32)
2πh 2πhI
One starts the experiment with 1Σ diatomic molecule which has no permanent magnetic
moment.

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