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BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article

Front. Phys.
Sec. Nuclear Physics​
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fphy.2025.1510848
This article is part of the Research Topic Modern Advances in Direct Reactions for Nuclear Structure View all 6 articles

Systematic trends in the spin-orbit splitting towards weak-binding

Provisionally accepted
Jie Chen Jie Chen *
  • Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Spin-orbit (SO) splitting in atomic nuclei results from the coupling between a nucleon's spin and its orbital angular momentum, fundamentally influencing nuclear structure, especially near the magic numbers. This paper reviews the impact of various effects on the SO-splitting, including tensor and weak-binding effects in neutron-rich and weakly bound nuclei, focusing on both theoretical interpretations and recent experimental results. The study summarizes new experimental results on SO splitting in isotopes such as 34 Si, 32 Si, and 132 Sn, showing a consistent smooth reduction in SO energy for weakly bound orbits, attributed to extended radial wave functions rather than a reduced SO potential strength. These findings reinforce the need for further experimental research with advanced radioactive ion beam facilities to understand the intricate behaviors of SO interactions in exotic nuclei.

    Keywords: Spin-orbital splitting, Transfer reactions, shell model, Density function theory, weak-binding effect

    Received: 14 Oct 2024; Accepted: 22 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Chen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Jie Chen, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China

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