The occurrence of the proton bubble-like structure has been studied within the relativistic Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov (RHFB) and relativistic Hartree-Bogoliubov (RHB) theories by exploring the bulk properties, the charge density profiles and single pro
ton spectra of argon isotopes and $N = 28$ isotones. It is found that the RHFB calculations with PKA1 effective interaction, which can properly reproduce the charge radii of argon isotopes and the $Z=16$ proton shell nearby, do not support the occurrence of the proton bubble-like structure in argon isotopes due to the prediction of deeper bound proton orbit $pi2s_{1/2}$ than $pi1d_{3/2}$. For $N = 28$ isotones, $^{42}$Si and $^{40}$Mg are predicted by both RHFB and RHB models to have the proton bubble-like structure, owing to the large gap between the proton $pi2s_{1/2}$ and $pi1d_{5/2}$ orbits, namely the $Z=14$ proton shell. Therefore, $^{42}$Si is proposed as the potential candidate of proton bubble nucleus, which has longer life-time than $^{40}$Mg.
The structure of low-lying excitation states of even-even $N=40$ isotones is studied using a five-dimensional collective Hamiltonian with the collective parameters determined from the relativistic mean-field plus BCS method with the PC-PK1 functional
in the particle-hole channel and a separable paring force in the particle-particle channel. The theoretical calculations can reproduce not only the systematics of the low-lying states along the isotonic chain but also the detailed structure of the spectroscopy in a single nucleus. We find a picture of spherical-oblate-prolate shape transition along the isotonic chain of $N=40$ by analyzing the potential energy surfaces. The coexistence of low-lying excited $0^+$ states has also been shown to be a common feature in neutron-deficient $N=40$ isotones.
With the relativistic representation of the nuclear tensor force that is included automatically by the Fock diagrams, we explored the self-consistent tensor effects on the properties of nuclear matter system. The analysis were performed within the de
nsity-dependent relativistic Hartree-Fock (DDRHF) theory. The tensor force is found to notably influence the saturation mechanism, the equation of state and the symmetry energy of nuclear matter, as well as the neutron star properties. Without introducing any additional free parameters, the DDRHF approach paves a natural way to reveal the tensor effects on the nuclear matter system.
Half-life of proton radioactivity of spherical proton emitters is studied within the scheme of covariant density functional (CDF) theory, and for the first time the potential barrier that prevents the emitted proton is extracted with the similarity r
enormalization group (SRG) method, in which the spin-orbit potential along with the others that turn out to be non-negligible can be derived automatically. The spectroscopic factor that is significant is also extracted from the CDF calculations. The estimated half-lives are found in good agreement with the experimental values, which not only confirms the validity of the CDF theory in describing the proton-rich nuclei, but also indicates the prediction power of present approach to calculate the half-lives and in turn to extract the structural information of proton emitters.
We have explored the occurrence of the spherical shell closures for superheavy nuclei in the framework of the relativistic Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov (RHFB) theory. Shell effects are characterized in terms of two-nucleon gaps $delta_{2n(p)}$. Although t
he results depend slightly on the effective Lagrangians used, the general set of magic numbers beyond $^{208}$Pb are predicted to be $Z = 120$, $138$ for protons and $N = 172$, 184, 228 and 258 for neutrons, respectively. Specifically the RHFB calculations favor the nuclide $^{304}$120 as the next spherical doubly magic one beyond $^{208}$Pb. Shell effects are sensitive to various terms of the mean-field, such as the spin-orbit coupling, the scalar and effective masses.
