Central depressions in the charge density profiles of the nuclei around ⁴⁶Ar

The occurrence of the proton bubble-like structure has been studied within the relativistic Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov (RHFB) and relativistic Hartree-Bogoliubov (RHB) theories by exploring the bulk properties, the charge density profiles and single proton spectra of argon isotopes and $N = 28$ isotones. It is found that the RHFB calculations with PKA1 effective interaction, which can properly reproduce the charge radii of argon isotopes and the $Z=16$ proton shell nearby, do not support the occurrence of the proton bubble-like structure in argon isotopes due to the prediction of deeper bound proton orbit $\pi2s_{1/2}$ than $\pi1d_{3/2}$. For $N = 28$ isotones, $^{42}$Si and $^{40}$Mg are predicted by both RHFB and RHB models to have the proton bubble-like structure, owing to the large gap between the proton $\pi2s_{1/2}$ and $\pi1d_{5/2}$ orbits, namely the $Z=14$ proton shell. Therefore, $^{42}$Si is proposed as the potential candidate of proton bubble nucleus, which has longer life-time than $^{40}$Mg.