GROUND STATE PROPERTIES OF SUPERHEAVY NUCLEI USING RELATIVISTIC MEAN FIELD APPROACH WITH DENSITY-DEPENDENT PAIRING INTERACTIONS

Abstract

The synthesis and investigation of superheavy nuclei (SHN; Z ≥ 104) represent among the major frontiers of contemporary nuclear physics because their existence is governed by quantum shell effects rather than macroscopic liquid-drop stability. In this investigation, density-dependent pairing interactions were incorporated into the relativistic mean-field (RMF) framework to analyse the ground-state features of superheavy nuclei. Multiple RMF parameterizations were employed to evaluate binding energies, charge radii, quadrupole deformations, two-proton and two-neutron separation energies, proton and neutron shell closures, and fission-related stability indicators across the superheavy region. The calculations demonstrated decent agreement with available experimental binding energies for currently synthesized superheavy nuclei while highlighting the influence of model parameterization on shell-closure predictions. The results indicated that proton shell closures are predominantly predicted near Z = 120, with Z = 126 remaining a competing candidate in selected density-dependent interactions, whereas neutron shell closures showed stronger agreement near N = 184, although N = 172 persisted as an alternative prediction in some models. Pairing correlations and nuclear deformation were found to significantly influence shell structure, equilibrium configurations, and overall nuclear stability. Comparison with non-relativistic and macroscopic-microscopic approaches revealed that, despite broad agreement regarding the existence of an island of stability, uncertainties associated with effective interactions continue to affect the predicted location of the next doubly magic superheavy nucleus. These findings emphasize the need for continued refinement of RMF models and future experimental investigations to further constrain theoretical predictions and improve our understanding of superheavy nuclear structure.