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The nuclear root-mean-square charge radius of 54 Ni was determined with collinear laser spectroscopy to be R (54 Ni) = 3.737 (3) fm. In conjunction with the known radius of the mirror nucleus 54 Fe, the difference of the charge radii was extracted as R ch = 0.049 (4) fm. Based on the correlation between R ch and the slope of the symmetry energy at nuclear saturation density (L), we deduced 21 = L = 88 MeV. The present result is consistent with the L from the binary neutron star merger GW170817, favoring a soft neutron matter EOS, and barely consistent with the PREX-2 result within 1 s error bands. Our result indicates the neutron-skin thickness of 48 Ca as 0.15-0.21 fm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nuclear root-mean-square charge radius of ^{54}Ni was determined with collinear laser spectroscopy to be R(^{54}Ni)=3.737(3)  fm. In conjunction with the known radius of the mirror nucleus ^{54}Fe, the difference of the charge radii was extracted as ΔR_{ch}=0.049(4)  fm. Based on the correlation between ΔR_{ch} and the slope of the symmetry energy at nuclear saturation density (L), we deduced 21≤L≤88  MeV. The present result is consistent with the L from the binary neutron star merger GW170817, favoring a soft neutron matter EOS, and barely consistent with the PREX-2 result within 1σ error bands. Our result indicates the neutron-skin thickness of ^{48}Ca as 0.15-0.21 fm.