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The only available electroweak measurement of the $^{208}\mathrm{Pb}$ neutron skin, $\Delta R_{\rm{np}}$, performed by the PREX-II Collaboration through polarized electron-lead scattering, shows a mild tension with respect to both the theoretical nuclear-model predictions and a host of measurements. However, the dependence on the weak mixing angle should be incorporated in the calculation, since its low-energy value is experimentally poorly known. We first repeat the PREX-II analysis confirming their measurement by fixing the weak mixing angle to its standard model value. Then, we show the explicit dependence of the PREX-II measurement on the weak mixing angle, obtaining that it is fully degenerate with the neutron skin. To break this degeneracy, we exploit the weak mixing angle measurement from atomic parity violation on lead, obtaining a slightly thinner neutron skin but with about doubled uncertainties, possibly easing the PREX tension. Relying on the theoretical prediction, $\Delta R_{\rm{np}}^{\mathrm{th}}\approx 0.13-0.19\ \mathrm{fm}$, and using it as a prior in the fit, we find a weak mixing angle value about $1.2\sigma$ smaller than the standard model prediction. Thus, we suggest a possible solution of the PREX-II tension by showing that, considering its underlying dependence on the weak mixing angle, the PREX-II neutron skin determination could be in agreement with the other available measurements and predictions if the weak mixing angle at the proper energy scale is smaller than the standard model prediction., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures. Matches published version

Background: In a previous series of papers we investigated the domain of applicability of chiral potentials to the construction of a microscopic optical potential (OP) for elastic nucleon-nucleus scattering. The OP was derived at the first order of the spectator expansion of the Watson multiple scattering theory and its final expression was a folding integral between the nucleon-nucleon ($NN$) $t$ matrix and the nuclear density of the target. In the calculations $NN$ and three-nucleon ($3N$) chiral interactions were used for the target density and only the $NN$ interaction for the $NN t$ matrix.Purpose: The purpose of this work is to achieve another step towards the calculation of a more consistent OP introducing the $3N$ force also in the dynamic part of the OP.Methods: The full treatment of the $3N$ interaction is beyond our present capabilities. Thus, in the present work it is approximated with a density dependent $NN$ interaction obtained after the averaging over the Fermi sphere. In practice, in our model the $3N$ force acts as a medium correction of the bare $NN$ interaction used to calculate the $t$ matrix. Even if the $3N$ force is treated in an approximate way, this method naturally extends our previous model of the OP and allows a direct comparison of our present and previous results.Results: We consider as case studies the elastic scattering of nucleons off $^{12}\mathrm{C}$ and $^{16}\mathrm{O}$. We present results for the differential cross section and the spin observables for different values of the projectile energy. From the comparison with the experimental data and with the results of our previous model we assess the importance of the $3N$ interaction in the dynamic part of the OP.Conclusions: Our analysis indicates that the contribution of the $3N$ force in the $t$ matrix is small for the differential cross section and it is sizable for the spin observables, in particular, for the analyzing power. We find that the two-pion exchange term is the major contributor to the $3N$ force. A chiral expansion order-by-order analysis of the scattering observables confirms the convergence of our results at the next-to-next-to-next-to-leading-order, as already established in our previous work.

We study the fermionic Matsubara Green functions in medium-mass nuclei at finite temperature. The single-fermion Dyson equation with the dynamical kernel of the particle-vibration-coupling (PVC) origin is formulated and solved in the basis of Dirac spinors, which minimize the grand canonical potential with the meson-nucleon covariant energy density functional. The PVC correlations beyond mean field are taken into account in the leading approximation for the energy-dependent self-energy, and the full solution of the finite-temperature Dyson equation is obtained for the fermionic propagators. Within this approach, we investigate the fragmentation of the single-particle states and its evolution with temperature for the nuclear systems $^{56,68}$Ni and $^{56}$Fe relevant for the core-collapse supernova. The energy-dependent, or dynamical, nucleon effective mass is extracted from the PVC self-energy at various temperatures., Article: 10 pages, 11 figures

Elastic scattering is a very important process to understand nuclear interactions in finite nuclei. Despite decades of efforts, the goal of reaching a coherent description of this physical process in terms of microscopic forces is still far from being completed. In previous papers (Phys. Rev. C93, 034619 (2016), Phys. Rev. C96, 044001 (2017)) we derived a nonrelativistic theoretical optical potential from nucleon-nucleon chiral potentials at fourth (N3LO) and fifth order (N4LO). We checked convergence patterns and established theoretical error bands. With this work we study the performances of our optical potential in comparison with those of a successful nonrelativistic phenomenological optical potential in the description of elastic proton scattering data on several isotopic chains at energies around and above 200 MeV. We use the same framework and the same approximations of our previous papers, where the nonrelativistic optical potential is derived at the first-order term within the spectator expansion of the multiple scattering theory and adopting the impulse approximation and the optimum factorization approximation. The cross sections and analyzing powers for elastic proton scattering off calcium, nickel, tin, and lead isotopes are presented for several incident proton energies, exploring the range $156 \le E \le 333$ MeV, where experimental data are available. In addition, we provide theoretical predictions for Ni56 at 400 MeV, which is of interest for the future experiments at EXL. Our results indicate that microscopic optical potentials derived from nucleon-nucleon chiral potentials at N4LO can provide reliable predictions for the cross section and the analyzing power both of stable and exotic nuclei, even at energies where the reliability of the chiral expansion starts to be questionable., 26 pages, 10 figures, submitted to PRC

Background: Elastic scattering is probably the main event in the interactions of nucleons with nuclei. Even if this process has been extensively studied in the last years, a consistent description, i.e. starting from microscopic two- and many-body forces connected by the same symmetries and principles, is still under development. Purpose: In this work we study the domain of applicability of microscopic two-body chiral potentials in the construction of an optical potential. Methods: We basically follow the KMT approach to build a microscopic complex optical potential and then we perform some test calculations on 16O at different energies. Results: Our conclusion is that a particular set of potentials with a Lippmann-Schwinger cutoff at relatively high energies (above 500 MeV) has the best performances reproducing the scattering observables. Conclusions: Our work shows that building an optical potential within Chiral Perturbation Theory is a promising approach to the description of elastic proton scattering, in particular, in view of the future inclusion of many-body forces that naturally arise in such framework., Comment: 15 pages and 12 figures. Accepted version (Physical Review C) with major changes in Sect. III and IV and new figures (5,10,11,12)