Dirac phenomenology and nuclear single-particle states

Abstract This paper is concerned with the application of a relativistic shell model to the study of nuclear single-particle states. This relativistic model is applied to medium and heavy nuclei and shown to reproduce satisfactorily the single-particle energies and the rms radii. Energy-independent potentials give a reasonable account of the experimental binding energies, but the empirical analysis of the energy dependence of the potentials reveals a Fermi-surface anomaly. The parameters of the model are also analysed and found to vary systematically with both energy and mass number. The relativistic model is then reformulated in terms of folded-model potentials. The single-particle spectrum and charge rms radius of 40 Ca are reasonably reproduced, with an energy- and density-independent nucleon-nucleon force, and their sensitivity to the model parameters is studied.