Measuring the size of atomic nuclei has sometimes been useful to probe aspects of nucleon-nucleon interaction and the bulk properties of nuclear matter. The charge radius of atomic nuclei, which can be extracted using laser spectroscopy techniques, is sensitive to both the bulk properties of nuclear matter and particularly subtle details of the interactions between protons and neutrons.
Many recent studies have thus examined the properties of nuclei with unbalanced proton-to-neutron ratios, known as exotic nuclei. These exotic nuclei have been found to exhibit new phenomena and thus have proved valuable for testing nuclear theory and improving the current understanding of nuclear forces.
Among other things, examining exotic nuclei can help to identify new magic numbers. In this context, the term 'magic numbers' refers to the number of protons or neutrons that correspond to completely filled shells in these nuclei.
A research team led by physicists at Instituut voor Kern-en Stralingsfysica, KU Leuven, in Belgium and by Peking University in China have recently carried out a study examining exotic potassium isotopes with 32 neutrons, which was predicted to be a magic number. Their paper, published in Nature Physics, presents evidence that challenges state-of-the-art nuclear theories.
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