https://doi.org/10.1140/epja/i2009-10773-x
Regular Article - Theoretical Physics
Whence the odd-even staggering in nuclear binding?
Department of Physics and Institute of Nuclear Theory, University of Washington Seattle, Washington Seattle, Box 351560, 98915, WA, USA
* e-mail: bertsch@phys.washington.edu
Received:
31
March
2009
Accepted:
1
April
2009
Published online:
6
May
2009
We explore the systematics of odd-even mass staggering with a view to identifying the physical mechanisms responsible. The BCS pairing and mean-field contributions have A - and number parity dependences which can help disentangle the different contributions. This motivates the two-term parametrization c 1 + c 2/A as a theoretically based alternative to the inverse-power form traditionally used to fit odd-even mass differences. Assuming that the A -dependence of the BCS pairing is weak, we find that mean-field contributions are dominant below mass number A ∼ 40 while BCS pairing dominates in heavier nuclei.
PACS: 21.10.Dr Binding energies and masses –
© SIF, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, 2009
