Neutron-skin thickness of $^{208}$Pb, and symmetry-energy constraints from the study of the anti-analog giant dipole resonance

Abstract

The $^{208}$Pb($p$,$nγ\bar p$) $^{207}$Pb reaction at a beam energy of 30 MeV has been used to excite the anti-analog of the giant dipole resonance (AGDR) and to measure its $γ$-decay to the isobaric analog state in coincidence with proton decay of IAS. The energy of the transition has also been calculated with the self-consistent relativistic random-phase approximation (RRPA), and found to be linearly correlated to the predicted value of the neutron-skin thickness ($ΔR_{pn}$). By comparing the theoretical results with the measured transition energy, the value of 0.190 $\pm$ 0.028 fm has been determined for $ΔR_{pn}$ of $^{208}$Pb, in agreement with previous experimental results. The AGDR excitation energy has also been used to calculate the symmetry energy at saturation ($J=32.7 \pm 0.6$ MeV) and the slope of the symmetry energy ($L=49.7 \pm 4.4$ MeV), resulting in more stringent constraints than most of the previous studies.