Cause of the charge radius isotope shift at the N=126 shell gap

We discuss the mechanism causing the ‘kink’ in the charge radius isotope shift at the N = 126 shell closure. The occupation of the 1i11/2 neutron orbital is the decisive factor for reproducing the experimentally observed kink. We investigate whether this orbital is occupied or not by different Skyrme effective interactions as neutrons are added above the shell closure. Our results demonstrate that several factors can cause an appreciable occupation of the 1i11/2 neutron orbital, including the magnitude of the spinorbit field, and the isoscalar effective mass of the Skyrme interaction. The symmetry energy of the effective interaction has little influence upon its ability to reproduce the kink.