Eur. Phys. J. A (2024) 60: 251
https://doi.org/10.1140/epja/s10050-024-01464-7

Regular Article - Theoretical Physics

Toward a unified description of the one-neutron halo nuclei $_{}^{15}$C and $_{}^{19}$C from structure to reaction

¹ School of Physics, Beihang University, 100191, Beijing, China
² Institute of Nuclear Physics and Chemistry, China Academy of Engineering Physics, 621900, Mianyang, Sichuan, China
³ Baoding Hospital of Beijing Children’s Hospital, 071000, Baoding, Hebei, China

^a zhangky@caep.cn
^b zss76@buaa.edu.cn

Received: 30 July 2024
Accepted: 5 December 2024
Published online: 25 December 2024

Abstract

To achieve a unified description of the one-neutron halo nuclei $_{}^{15}$C and $_{}^{19}$C from structural properties to reaction dynamics, we combine the microscopic, self-consistent deformed relativistic Hartree–Bogoliubov theory in the continuum (DRHBc) with the Glauber model. For $_{}^{15}$C, the valence neutron orbital with dominant $2s_{1/2}$ components supports the experimental ground-state spin-parity and halo formation. The halo nature of $_{}^{19}$C is attributed to a prolate state with the valence neutron orbital also dominated by $2s_{1/2}$ components. The neutron densities for the halo states of $_{}^{15}$C and $_{}^{19}$C are significantly more dilute than those for $_{}^{14,16,18}$C. With the DRHBc calculated densities of the core nucleus and the wave functions of the valence neutron as inputs, the reaction cross sections (RCSs) of $_{}^{14\text{--}19}$C bombarding a carbon target and the longitudinal momentum distributions of the core residues with one-neutron removal from $_{}^{15,17,19}$C are calculated by the Glauber model. The results not only demonstrate a significant increase of RCS from $_{}^{14}$C to $_{}^{15}$C but also accurately reproduce the measured RCS for the $_{}^{19}$C + $_{}^{12}$C reaction. Compared to the $_{}^{16}$C residue from the one-neutron removal of $_{}^{17}$C, the longitudinal momentum distributions for $_{}^{14}$C and $_{}^{18}$C residues from $_{}^{15}$C and $_{}^{19}$C, respectively, are notably narrower and exhibit clear peak shapes, supporting the halo structure of $_{}^{15}$C and $_{}^{19}$C. These findings further validate the DRHBc + Glauber approach, following its successful applications to the halo nuclei $_{}^{31}$Ne and $_{}^{37}$Mg.