Calcium-48's 'neutron skin' thinner than previously thought
Monday, November 2, 2015 - 19:30
in Physics & Chemistry
Scientists used America's most powerful supercomputer, Titan, to compute the neutron distribution and related observables of calcium-48, an isotope with an atomic nucleus consisting of 20 protons and 28 neutrons. Computing the nucleus from first principles revealed that the difference between the radii of neutron and proton distributions (called the 'neutron skin') is considerably smaller than previously thought.