Neutron Skin Thickness of 90Zr Determined By Charge Exchange Reactions

Charge exchange spin-dipole (SD) excitations of 90Zr are studied by the 90Zr(p,n) and 90Zr(n,p) reactions at 300 MeV. A multipole decomposition technique is employed to obtain the SD strength distributions in the cross section spectra. For the first time, a model-independent SD sum rule value is obtained: 148+/-12 fm^2. The neutron skin thickness of 90Zr is determined to be 0.07+/-0.04 fm from the SD sum rule value.