Proton and neutron skins of light nuclei within the relativistic mean field theory Original Research Article

The relativistic mean field (RMF) theory is applied to the analysis of ground-state properties of Ne, Na, Cl and Ar isotopes. In particular, we study the recently established proton skin in Ar isotopes and neutron skin in Na isotopes as a function of the difference between the proton and the neutron separation energy. We use the TMA effective interaction in the RMF Lagrangian, and describe pairing correlation by the density-independent delta-function interaction. We calculate single neutron and proton separation energies, quadrupole deformations, nuclear matter radii and differences between proton radii and neutron radii, and compare these results with the recent experimental data.