A survey of Coulomb displacement energies and questions on the anomalous behavior in the upper fp-shell

The recent advances in nuclear mass measurement have sparked discussions on the isospin-symmetry breaking reflected in the Coulomb displacement energy (CDE). The current data suggested that the regular phase of the odd–even staggering in CDE for the T = 1/2 mirror nuclei persists up to A = 67 and changes at A = 69. Shell-model calculations using the modern GXPF1A and JUN45 effective interactions with a proper treatment of the Coulomb and isospin-nonconserving forces cannot describe the observation. Inspired by recent work (Kaneko 2013 Phys. Rev. Lett. 110 172505), we investigate the systematic behavior of CDE along the N = Z line up to the heaviest available masses. Starting from A ≈ 65, a systematic deviation is observed between the experimental data and the model estimations assuming the nucleus as a homogeneously charged sphere. Possibilities that may resolve the conflict between the experimental mass and theoretical expectations for the 69Br-region are discussed, and new mass experiments are called for. (paper)