Modern nucleon-nucleon potentials and symmetry energy in infinite matter

We study the symmetry energy in infinite nuclear matter employing a non-relativistic Brueckner-Hartree-Fock approach and using various new nucleon-nucleon (NN) potentials, which fit np and pp scattering data very accurately. The potential models we employ are the recent versions of the Nijmegen group, Nijm-I, Nijm-II, and Reid93, the Argonne V₁₈ potential and the CD-Bonn potential. All these potentials yield a symmetry energy which increases with density, resolving a discrepancy that existed for older NN potentials. The origin of remaining differences is discussed.     

Approximation of the microscopic effective pairing interaction by the off-shell T matrix for free nucleon-nucleon scattering

The effective pairing interaction in the ¹ S ₀ channel as calculated microscopically within the Brueckner method for a planar slab of nuclear matter by using the separable version of the Paris nucleon-nucleon potential is investigated. The effective interaction is determined for the model space including all negative-energy single-particle states. An analysis is performed for two values of the chemical potential, μ=?8 and ?4 MeV. It is shown that, to a high precision, the effective interaction can be approximated by the off-shell T matrix for free nucleon-nucleon interaction, the T matrix in question being taken at a negative value of the total energy of two nucleons E=2μ.     

On the nuclear interaction potential in the reactions with heavy ions

The interaction potential of heavy ions⁴He,⁶Li,¹²C and¹⁶O is constructed in the folding model. The density distribution of nuclear matter for these nuclei is calculated in the framework of the hyperspherical function method. For the calculation of the folding potentials we have employed the Skyrme nucleon-nucleon forces. The influence of several effects on the results of calculations is studied: the role of the three-body forces of the nucleon-nucleon interaction, dependence of the folding potential on the mass numbers of the colliding nuclei and the possibility of observing the monopole resonance in the ion inelastic scattering. Using our folding potential as a real part of the optical potential we have calculated the differential cross section of elastic scattering of⁶Li from¹²C at laboratory energy of lithium ionsT _L =90.0 MeV. Reasonable agreement with experiment is obtained.     

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.     

Variational calculations of asymmetric nuclear matter

We report on variational calculations of the energy E(ρ, β) of asymmetric nuclear matter having ? = ?_n + ?_p = 0.05 to 0.35 fm^?3, and β = (?_n ? ?_p/g9 = 0 to 1. The nuclear h used in this work consists of a realistic two-nucleon interaction, called v₁₄, that fits the available nucleon-nucleon scattering data up to 425 MeV, and a phenomenological three nucleon interaction adjusted to reproduce the empirical properties of symmetric nuclear matter. The variational many-body theory of symmetric nuclear matter is extended to treat matter with neutron excess. Numerical and analytic studies of the β-dependence of various contributions to the nuclear matter energy show that at ? < 0.35 fm^?3 the β⁴ terms are very small, and that the interaction energy EI(ρ, β) defined as E(ρ, β) ? T_F(ρ, β), where T_F is the Fermi-gas energy, is well approximated by EI₀(?) + β²EI₂(ρ). The calculated symmetry energy at equilibrium density is 30 MeV and it increases from 15 to 38 MeV as ? increases from 0.05 to 0.35 fm^?3.     

Nuclear matter equation of state and three-body forces

The energy per particle, symmetry energy, pressure, and free energy are calculated for symmetric nuclear matter using BHF approach with modern nucleon-nucleon CD-Bonn, Nijm1, Argonne v₁₈, and Reid 93 potentials. To obtain saturation in nuclear matter we add three-body interaction terms which are equivalent to a density-dependent two-nucleon interaction a la Skyrme force. Good agreement is obtained in comparison with previous theoretical estimates and experimental data.     

Effective nuclear interaction: Dirac versus conventional approach

The effective interaction in nuclear matter (G-matrix) is calculated, in the relativistic (Dirac-Brueckner-Hartree-Fock) as well as in the conventional Brueckner-Hartree-Fock approach. Starting point is a nucleon-nucleon potential which, in addition to single-meson exchange, contains delta-isobar box diagrams with ππ- and πϱ-exchange, leading to Pauli blocking and dispersive effects. The implications for nuclear matter binding and Landau parameters are investigated.     

Parity non-conservation in low energy scattering of nucleons by light nuclei: (I). Theoretical framework

The low energy scattering of nucleons by ²H, ³He and ⁴He are analyzed for parity non-conserving effects. The asymmetry in the total cross section of longitudinally polarized projectiles is formulated in terms of the optical theorem and a distorted wave Born approximation. For two nucleons at low energies it is only necessary to consider l = 0 to l = 1 matrix elements of the weak nucleon-nucleon potential. The asymmetries in the scattering from nuclear targets are related to the parameters of an effective weak nucleon-nucleon potential, so that they may be used to help differentiate between various proposed theoretical potentials.     

Thermostatic properties of symmetric nuclear matter

The thermostatic properties of symmetric nuclear matter are calculated by extension of a recent Thomas-Fermi approach to ground-state nuclei by Myers and Swiatecki [1]. We have computed the free energy per nucleon f(T, n) in Landau's quasiparticle approximation and have derived from it the relevant thermostatic properties. In view of its application to finite excited nuclei, the degenerate limit of nuclear matter is discussed in particular. As an interesting result we find at higher temperatures van-der-Waals-like isotherms in the p-n plane. Below the critical temperature T_c = 17.3 MeV two phases of nuclear matter, liquid and vapour, are defined by these. Comparing these results with the reduced phase transition data of ³He, ⁴He, and “inert gases,” we find that nuclear matter is similar to the He-isotopes, but differs considerably from the inert gases.     

The reaction mechanism of heavy ion scattering at intermediate energies

The contribution to the real and imaginary nucleus-nucleus (N-N) optical potential from nucleon-nucleon scattering in the medium is calculated in a local density approximation from a two Fermi sphere nuclear matter picture for the N-N collision. This reaction mechanism is shown to be dominant for ¹²C + ¹²C scattering at all considered energies (160 MeV < E_lab < 2250 MeV) giving a weakly energy dependent reaction cross section of about 900 mb. Inclusion of the collective 2⁺, 3^? excitations in a coupled channel calculations gives good agreement for both the measured elastic and inelastic 2⁺ cross section at E_lab = 1016 MeV. This fully microscopic parameter free calculation indicates that the energy dependence of the reaction cross section for this system is mostly due to the decrease of the collective contribution with increasing energy contrary to current theoretical models.     

Thermodynamic properties of superconducting nuclear matter

Phase diagrams of superconducting nuclear matter are calculated by solving a set of finite temperature gap equations, using several Skyrme effective interactions. Our results indicate that nuclear matter may have a superconducting phase in a small region with density near one half of the normal nuclear matter density and temperature k_BT ≲ 1.4 MeV. Our calculation is based on a finite temperature Green's function method with an abnormal pair cutoff approximation. The same approximation is employed in deriving the internal energy, entropy and chemical potential of superconducting nuclear matter. In this way, its equation of state is obtained, and compared with that of normal nuclear matter. The energy gap of superconducting nuclear matter is found to depend rather sensitively on both density and temperature. This dependence is analysed in terms of the Skyrme interaction parameters. The correlation effect on chemical potential is found to be important at high density, and its inclusion is essential in determining the equation of state of superconducting nuclear matter.     

Isospin-dependent relativistic microscopic optical potential in the Dirac Brueckner-Hartree-Fock method

There is growing evidence to suggest that the binding energy of nucleon in nuclear matter comes from a cancellation between large Lorentz scalar and vector potentials[1,2]. The relativistic approach has been of a great success in describing not only the ground state properties of stable nuclei, but also those of exotic nuclei. In the relativistic frame, the spin-orbit coupling can be deduced automatically, which is usually given by hand in the non-relativistic approach. The relativistic method…     

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.     

Saturation of nuclear matter and realistic interactions

In this communication we study symmetric nuclear matter for the Brueckner-Hartree-Fock approach, using two realistic nucleon-nucleon interactions (CD-Bonn and Bonn C). The single-particle energy is calculated self-consistently from the real on-shell self-energy. The relation between different expressions for the pressure is studied in cold nuclear matter. For best calculations the self-energy is calculated with the inclusion of hole-hole (hh) propagation. The effects of hh contributions and a self-consistent treatment within the framework of the Green function approach are investigated. Using two different methods, namely, G-matrix and bare potential, the hh term is calculated. We found that using G-matrix brought about non-negligible contribution to the self-energy, but this difference is very small and can be ignored if compared with the large contribution coming from particle-particle term. The contribution of the hh term leads to a repulsive contribution to the Fermi energy which increases with density. For extended Brueckner-Hartree-Fock approach the Fermi energy at the saturation point fulfills the Hugenholtz-Van Hove relation.     

Electroweak measurements of neutron densities in CREX and PREX at JLab,USA

We analyze microscopic many-body calculations of the nuclear symmetry energy and its density dependence. The calculations are performed in the framework of the Brueckner-Hartree-Fock and the self-consistent Green’s functions methods. Within Brueckner-Hartree-Fock, the Hellmann-Feynman theorem gives access to the kinetic energy contribution as well as the contributions of the different components of the nucleon-nucleon interaction. The tensor component gives the largest contribution to the symmetry energy. The decomposition of the symmetry energy in a kinetic part and a potential energy part provides physical insight on the correlated nature of the system, indicating that neutron matter is less correlated than symmetric nuclear matter. Within the self-consistent Green’s function approach, we compute the momentum distributions and we identify the effects of the high momentum components in the symmetry energy. The results are obtained for the realistic interaction Argonne V18 potential, supplemented by the Urbana IX three-body force in the Brueckner-Hartree-Fock calculations.     

Nuclear-rainbow scattering and nucleus-nucleus potentials at short distances

The elastic scattering of strongly bound nuclei at energies of 10 to 70 MeV per nucleon shows the phenomenon of “rainbow scattering.” A nuclear rainbow appears because of deflection to negative angles. This process involves a strong overlap of nuclear densities, with values of up to twice the saturation density of nuclear matter. The ¹⁶O+¹⁶O system is studied with a high precision over a wide energy range from 7 to 70 MeV per nucleon in several laboratories. Primary Airy maxima and higher order Airy structures are observed. At all energies, excellent fits are obtained with deep potentials as deduced from the double-folding model involving a nucleon-nucleon interaction weakly dependent on the density. It is shown that Pauli blocking expected at low energies is strongly reduced if the local momenta are calculated self-consistently. Systematics confirms a refractive origin of large-angle scattering, at low energies inclusive. Thus, nuclear-rainbow scattering yields unique information about the properties of cold nuclear matter at higher densities.     

The nuclear symmetry energy from relativistic Brueckner-Hartree-Fock model

The microscopic mechanisms of the symmetry energy in nuclear matter are investigated in the framework of the relativistic Brueckner-Hartree-Fock (RBHF) model with a high-precision realistic nuclear potential, pvCDBonn A. The kinetic energy and potential contributions to symmetry energy are decomposed. They are explicitly expressed by the nucleon self-energies, which are obtained through projecting the G-matrices from the RBHF model into the terms of Lorentz covariants. The nuclear medium effects on the nucleon self-energy and nucleon-nucleon interaction in symmetry energy are discussed by comparing the results from the RBHF model and those from Hartree-Fock and relativistic Hartree-Fock models. It is found that the nucleon self-energy including the nuclear medium effect on the single-nucleon wave function provides a largely positive contribution to the symmetry energy, while the nuclear medium effect on the nucleon-nucleon interaction, i.e., the effective G-matrices provides a negative contribution. The tensor force plays an essential role in the symmetry energy around the density. The scalar and vector covariant amplitudes of nucleon-nucleon interaction dominate the potential component of the symmetry energy. Furthermore, the isoscalar and isovector terms in the optical potential are extracted from the RBHF model. The isoscalar part is consistent with the results from the analysis of global optical potential, while the isovector one has obvious differences at higher incident energy due to the relativistic effect.     

Effect of tensor nucleon-nucleon forces on the nucleon-nucleus optical potential

In the approximation of unpolarized nuclear matter, the optical potential for nucleon-nucleus scattering is calculated on the basis of the effective Skyrme interaction with allowance for tensor nucleon-nucleon forces. It is shown that the tensor Skyrme forces make a significant contribution to the imaginary part of the optical potential. The effect of tensor nucleon-nucleon forces on the radial distribution of the imaginary part of the optical potential is investigated by considering the example of elastic neutron scattering by ⁴⁰Ca nuclei at scattering energies of about a few tens of MeV.