The effects of shape evolution, pairing correlation, and isospin asymmetry on the bubble structure and the symmetry energy of nuclei have been studied systematically for the even-even Yb isotopes within the covariant density functional theory. The shape of nuclei turns out to play its role in the central depletion. The prolate shape nuclei exhibit more pronounced bubble characteristics than the nuclei with oblate configuration, while the pairing correlation reduces the depletion. The depletion fraction in the region of the major shell with the $3{\mathrm{s}}_{1/2}$ orbital decreases with an increase in quadrupole deformation, and occupation probabilities of the $3{\mathrm{s}}_{1/2}$ orbital. Beyond the fully occupied $3{\mathrm{s}}_{1/2}$ energy level, the depletion increases with an increase in the isospin asymmetry parameter. The nuclear deformation and the presence of central depletion are found to impact the nuclear charge form factors and phase shifts, and thus provide direct signatures in electron-nucleus scattering. The charge form-factor analysis, including relativistic spin-orbit and Darwin-Foldy corrections, reveals that the observed diffraction patterns in deformed Yb isotopes arise from a nontrivial interplay among central density depletion, nuclear size, and shape-induced modifications of the monopole charge-density distribution. Scaling the momentum transfer with the rms charge radius demonstrates that the form-factor differences cannot be attributed solely to nuclear size, while residual differences indicate a measurable sensitivity to the underlying interior density profile.

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• Nuclear charge distribution
• Nuclear structure & decays
• Nucleon distribution
• 90 ≤ A ≤ 149
• Nuclear density functional theory