Many-body theory of nuclear matter

We combine the many-body theory and the low-density expansion developed by Brueckner, Bethe and others to investigate several properties of the ground state and of single-particle excited states of symmetric nuclear matter. We calculate the following quantities from Reid's hard core nucleon-nucleon interaction: strength, energy-dependence, nonlocality and density-dependence of the real and of the imaginary parts of the optical-model potential, momentum distribution in the interacting ground state, dependence on density and momentum of the norm of a quasiparticle and of the effective mass, spectral function for particle states, saturation density and average binding energy per nucleon. No free parameter is adjusted in the calculation; good agreement is obtained with empirical values. It is shown that the effective mass has a narrow maximum at the Fermi surface; this is investigated in the framework of analytical models.     

Symmetry energy,unstable nuclei and neutron star crusts

We present an upgraded review of our microscopic investigation on the single-particle properties and the EOS of isospin asymmetric nuclear matter within the framework of the Brueckner theory extended to include a microscopic three-body force. We pay special attention to the discussion of the three-body force effect and the comparison of our results with the predictions by other ab initio approaches. Three-body force is shown to be necessary for reproducing the empirical saturation properties of symmetric nuclear matter within nonrelativistic microscopic frameworks, and also for extending the hole-line expansion to a wide density range. The three-body force effect on nuclear symmetry energy is repulsive, and it leads to a significant stiffening of the density dependence of symmetry energy at supra-saturation densities. Within the Brueckner approach, the three-body force affects the nucleon s.p. potentials primarily via its rearrangement contribution which is strongly repulsive and momentum-dependent at high densities and high momenta. Both the rearrangement contribution induced by the three-body force and the effect of ground-state correlations are crucial for predicting reliably the single-particle properties within the Brueckner framework.     

Brueckner theory and Jastrow approach for finite nuclei

The results of Jastrow variational calculations and of Brueckner theory in lowest order (Brueckner-Hartree-Fock) are compared. The comparison is made for the calculations of ground state properties like binding energy and charge-radius of light and medium weight, closed shell nuclei (⁴He, ¹⁶O, ⁴⁰Ca). For the nucleon-nucleon interaction rather simple forces are used (Brink-Boeker potential B1, Afnan-Tang potential S3). For all cases considered it turns out that the results of the two different methods are in fairly good agreement, with the binding energy calculated in the Brueckner-Hartree-Fock approximation being always slightly below the corresponding upper bounds calculated in the Jastrow variational approach. This good agreement between the two methods indicates, that for light and medium weight nuclei the Jastrow variational approach and the Brueck-ner-Hartree-Fock approximation can be considered as reasonable approximations to a complete solution of the many-body problem.     

Properties of nuclear S-wave matter

Comparative Brueckner and Jastrow studies of the properties of nuclear matter are somewhat hampered by the complexities of realistic nucleon-nucleon potentials. To avoid some of these difficulties we investigate a nuclear matter model called S-wave matter, which consists of nucleons interacting via various of the Aviles S-wave delta function potentials. These potentials all fit the two-body S-wave scattering data for energies up to 500 meV. By using Jastrow methods we find two-body contributions to the ground state energy ranging from 18 to 29 MeV, depending on the particular potential used; the results for a given potential are in good agreement with the Brueckner results of Haftel. In addition, there are significant Jastrow three-body contributions, indicating that the equivalent three-body Brueckner contributions should be evaluated.     

Jastrow approach to nuclear matter without truncation of the cluster expansion

It is shown that an approximate expression in closed form can be obtained for the Jastrow trial energy per particle in nuclear matter. The undesirable truncation of the cluster expansion may thus be avoided.     

The theory of nuclear matter

This article is an account of the present position of theories of nuclear matter initiated some years ago mainly by Jastrow and Brueckner. Section 1 introduces the basic ideas. Section 2 discusses the variational approach. Section 3 develops methods involving partial summations in perturbation theory. The difficulties confronting the latter approach, and their partial resolution by ideas from superconductivity theory, are analysed in § 4.

Much of the formalism is relevant also in the theory of individual nuclei (see for example the review by Eden 1959) and in fields other than nuclear physics (see for example The Many Body Problem, Les Houches, 1958). However, in the selection of material our criterion has been relevance for the ground state of nuclear matter.     

The renormalized variational theory: Its structure,interpretation, and relation to other methods

We apply the Ritz variational principle to a renormalized form of the Iwamoto-Yamada cluster expansion, restricting our discussion to infinite systems. The structure of the resulting theory is governed by the renormalization which keeps track of the normalization denominator in the expectation value. The single-particle potential for hole states (u_i) is introduced as a Lagrange multiplier in the variational principle, and the self-consistent choice of u_i guarantees that the renormalization factors are determined correctly. The importance of the renormalization is illustrated by a discussion of the two-body approximation to our theory. The general formalism is evaluated in more detail for the representation Ψ_T = exp(S)Φ of the trial wave function. Very fundamental considerations show that the theory is especially adapted to that choice of Ψ_T. In addition, if we use that choice of Ψ_T the self-consistent single-particle energies are directly related to experiment, and the theory is almost identical to renormalized Brueckner theory. Thus we are able to clarify many aspects of the latter. We also discuss the relation to the theory of Coester and Kümmel.     

Brueckner theory of nuclei

This paper reviews developments of the Brueckner theory of nuclei, starting with the multiple-scattering approach in the 1954 papers of Brueckner et al. Inevitably, the presentation represents the authors personal view on the problems. Theories rather than calculations have been emphasized. The latter depend very much upon the two-nucleon interaction which is still not known in sufficient detail. The definition of the Brueckner reaction-matrix is discussed at some length with regard to insertions in hole- and particle-lines. Löwdin's Exact Self-Consistent-Field theory that provides an exact many-body reaction matrix is given a short presentation for comparison with Brueckner's theory as applied to finite nuclei. Considerable attention has been given to the shell-model potential required for calculations on finite nuclei. The concept of single-particle energies is discussed in some detail in relation to removal energies. Some numerical results are reviewed either for illustrating the theory or because they are recent.     

Diagrammatic techniques in the Martin-Schwinger-Puff many-body theory

In an attempt to understand the connection between the Martin-Schwinger-Puff Green's function approach to the many-body problem and the diagrammatic approach of Brueckner and Goldstone, the perturbation expansion of the Green's function theory is studied. This expansion leads naturally to a representation of the theory by two sets of time-dependent diagrams—the kinetic energy diagrams and the potential energy diagrams. Rules are given for writing each time-dependent diagram as a sum of time-independent diagrams. Complications arise in the application of these rules to bubble diagrams. A special simple treatment of these diagrams is then proposed. There exists a simple relation between families of kinetic diagrams and potential diagrams. This relation stems from a rather general thermodynamic identity. Both the relation and its thermodynamic origin are described. As a consequence of these studies, some connections between the Brueckner-Goldstone theory and the Green's function theory are made.     

同位旋非对称核物质性质与扩展的BHF方法(III)HVH定理与费米能量

在扩展的同位旋相关的Brueckner—Hartree—Fock理论框架内,在整个同位旋自由度范围内研究了质量算子的空穴线展开中不同等级近似下非对称核物质中Hugenholtz—Van Hove定理的满足程度,并计算了中子和质子的费米能量.结果表明为了使Hugenholtz-Van Hove定理达到令人满意的满足程度,需要同时考虑质量算子中的重排贡献和重正修正,从而指出了基态关联对于非对称核物质中单粒子性质的重要性.     

Density modulation and superconductivity in a system of fermions

An antisymmetrized product of periodic density modulated one particle functions is investigated as a trial wave function for different local twobody forces. The model is compared with a BCS ground state. For some potentials a lower ground state energy has been found for the density modulated state. In lowest order cluster expansion forces with a hard core have been examined. A liquid-solid transition is indicated for³He at a density near the experimental value.     

Cluster-variational calculations for extended nuclear systems

The energy as a function of density is calculated for neutron matter and for symmetrical nuclear matter, based on Jastrow trial wave functions. The energy expectation value is truncated in low cluster order. A detailed analysis of the two- and three-body cluster contributions and a special portion of the four-body contribution is given. Variation of a parameterized two-body correlation function is subjected to constraints designed to confine the trial wave function to the domain corresponding to rapid cluster convergence. Results are presented for a variety of model central potentials containing hard cores, for different sets of constraints, and for two- and three-parameter correlation functions. Calculations constrained by the “average Pauli condition” are found to yield results very close to those constrained by the “normalization” or “unitarity” condition, and the two-parameter correlation function appears to be quite adequate. The convergence of the cluster expansion, as reflected in the low orders, is good except at the highest densities considered. The three-body cluster contribution displays, in all cases, a remarkable internal cancellation between its “two-correlation-line” addends.     

New approach to perturbation theory of many-particle systems

We derive an infinite hierarchy of integral equations for the Green functions of a many-particle system. This set of equations forms the basis of a unified approach to the perturbation theory of many boson and many fermion systems and avoids the introduction of the adiabatic hypothesis. It is demonstrated how a well-known ground state perturbation theory of a system of interacting fermions is obtained without introducing disconnected diagrams. It is shown that the formalism allows a self-consistent determination of the condensate Green function of a condensed Bose system and a derivation of the Beliaev, Hugenholtz, and Pines result for the single-particle k 0 Green function is given. A new self-consistent equation for the k = 0 Green function is solved to yield the well-known self-energy relation ₁₁ – ₀₂ = which plays the role of a self-consistency condition on the theory.     

Role of the gas-liquid phase transition in the theory of nuclear matter

A sufficient condition for the two-nucleon interaction to produce a gaseous instability in the form of the appearance of inhomogeneous-spatial-density single-particle states of lower energy than the (homogeneous) plane-wave states is found to be simply that it gives binding in first order. The critical density at which the instability occurs thus signals the unambiguous breakdown of a plane-wave-based Hartree-Fock perturbation expansion for the ground state properties. Several examples are analysed.     

Perturbation theory of liquid helium-4 at zero temperature

The formal pertubation theory of a Bose liquid, due to Beliaev, Hugenholtz, Pines, Gavoret, and Nozieres, is carefully examined in an effort to surmount the limitations of the Brueckner-Sawada theory of liquid He⁴. In order to make the formal results as directly relevant as possible for Brueckner-theoretic calculations, all of the basic results are rederived by time-independent and number-conserving methods, starting from a linked-cluster expansion for bosons which is the exact analog of the Goldstone expansion for normal fermion systems. The analogy between the ground state and collective excitations of liquid He⁴, and those of a normal Fermi liquid, is emphasized and explored in detail. Several aspects of the difficult problem of convergence are discussed. A specific partial summation procedure is recommended, the compact-cluster scheme, to deal with the short-range correlations within clusters of more than two particles. It is then argued that the very strong depletion of the condensate would lead to an extremely slow convergence for the most obvious class of approximations, and a remedy for this difficulty is proposed. The possibility of establishing a fairly detailed correspondence between the perturbation-theoretic wavefunction and the Jastrow wavefunction, including Feenberg-CBF extensions of the latter, is also pointed out.     

A variational theory of fermion matter with spin dependent correlations

A variational wave function is constructed for a system of fermions interacting with a spin dependent potential. The correlations due to the repulsive core of the potential are described by a spin independent Jastrow product ansatz and the correlations due to the longer range part of the potential, which are assumed to be spin dependent, are described by an independent pair ansatz. A cluster expansion is derived for the variational energy and a set of hypernetted chain (HNC) equations obtained to sum the cluster series in terms of the elementary diagrams. Neglecting the elementary diagrams, the HNC equations are solved numerically for the spin dependent potential, V3, in neutron matter. The introduction of spin dependent correlations is found to give a small lowering of the variational energy in the HNC approximation. The results are very sensitive to an accurate treatment of the many-body terms within the HNC approximation, however, and it is shown that additional approximations can easily lead to an exaggeration of the effect of the spin dependent correlations.     

An alternative definition of the electron propagator in the superoperator form and its relation to linear response theory in a coupled-cluster framework

In this paper it is shown that (i) there exists an alternative definition of the superoperator resolvent for calculation of difference energy satisfying linked cluster theorem for a coupled-cluster choice of the ground-state function which may even be approximate; (ii) the pole-structure of this propagator-like function in superoperator form is shown to contain information similar to that contained in the conventional propagator. (iii) It is demonstrated that suitable “Killer conditions” and completeness of the “operator manifold”—essential for understanding the pole-structure of the propagator—can be established both for an exact and an approximate ground state function in a coupled-cluster form. (iv) It is also demonstrated that difference energies calculated with these propagator-like functions are identical to those obtained from a linear response theory in a coupled-cluster form put forward recently by Mukherjeeet al and Monkhorst.     

Quasiconfigurations and the theory of effective interactions

Perturbation theory is reformulated. Schrödinger's equation is recast as a non linear integral equation which yields by Neumann expansion a linked cluster series for the degenerate, quasi degenerate or non degenerate problem. An effective interaction theory emerges that can be formulated in a biorthogonal basis leading to a non Hermitian secular problem. Hermiticity can be recovered in a clear and rigorous way. As the mathematical form of the theory is dictated by the request of physical clarity the latter is obtained naturally. When written in diagrammatic many body language, the integral equation produces a set of linked coupled equations for the degenerate case. The classic summations (Brueckner, Bethe-Faddeev and RPA) emerge naturally. Possible extensions of nuclear matter theory are suggested.     

An extended time-dependent mean-field theory for strongly correlated nuclear systems

We perform an extension of the time-dependent mean-field theory by an explicit inclusion of strong two-body correlations of short range on a level of microscopic reversibility relating them to realistic nucleon-nucleon forces. Invoking a least action principle for correlated basis functions, equations of motion for the correlation functions and the single-particle model wave function are derived to the lowest order of the FAHT cluster expansion. Higher order effects as well as longrange correlations we consider only to the extent to which they contribute to the mean field via a readjusted phenomenological effective two-body interaction. The corresponding correlated stationary problem is investigated and appropriate initial conditions to describe a heavy ion reaction are proposed. The single-particle density matrix is evaluated. Norm, energy and particle number conservation are proved. Possible simplifications are discussed. Standard TDHF appears as a limiting case if the range of the explicitly considered part of the bare nucleon-nucleon interaction goes to zero.