Bubble nuclei with shape coexistence in even-even isotopes of Hf to Hg

The shape of a nucleus is one of the fundamental nuclear properties. We perform a systematic investigation of bubble nuclei that also exhibit shape coexistence in Hf, W, Os, Pt, and Hg even-even isotopes using the deformed relativistic Hartree-Bogoliubov theory in continuum. For a systematic study, we first consider nuclear bubble structures and shape coexistence separately. We confirm that deformations and pairing correlations hinder bubble structures by comparing our results with those from relativistic continuum Hartree-Bogoliubov theory that assumes spherical symmetry in nuclei. We then predict candidate isotopes with both bubble structure and shape coexistence. We observe that the depletion fraction factor that characterizes bubble structure is mostly smaller in oblate deformation than in prolate, while some isotopes such as 206Os have bubble structures both in oblate and prolate deformations. We compare the proton single-particle energy levels for the candidates of shape coexistence both with only prolate bubble structure and with prolate and oblate bubble structures.

Automated summary

The study investigates the shape coexistence in bubble nuclei and predicts candidate isotopes with both bubble structure and shape coexistence using the deformed relativistic Hartree-Bogoliubov theory in continuum.