Probing the nuclear symmetry energy with heavy-ion reactions induced by neutron-rich nuclei

Heavy-ion reactions induced by neutron-rich nuclei provide a unique means to investigate the equation of state of isospin-asymmetric nuclear matter, especially the density dependence of the nuclear symmetry energy. In particular, recent analyses of the isospin diffusion data in heavy-ion reactions have already put a stringent constraint on the nuclear symmetry energy around the nuclear matter saturation density. We review this exciting result and discuss its implications on nuclear effective interactions and the neutron skin thickness of heavy nuclei. In addition, we also review the theoretical progress on probing the high density behaviors of the nuclear symmetry energy in heavy-ion reactions induced by high energy radioactive beams.      

Dependence of flow observables in heavy-ion collisions on the symmetry energy and the in-medium nucleon-nucleon interaction

We employ a QMD transport model to study the influence of the isospin dependent part of the nuclear matter equation of state on the dynamics of heavy-ion collisions at intermediate energies. Parametrization of the in-medium dependence of the nucleon-nucleon elastic cross-sections, as predicted by microscopical models, are used. The sensitivity of flow observables to various parametrizations of the isospin dependent part of the equation of state (symmetry energy) is studied. The experimentally observed splitting of the elliptic flow values in Ru+Zr and Zr+Ru at incident energies of 400 MeV is shown to be due to, to an equal extent, density dependence of the microscopic nucleon-nucleon cross-section and symmetry energy.     

Exploring nuclear symmetry energy with isospin dependence in neutron skin thickness of nuclei

We propose an alternative way to constrain the density dependence of the symmetry energy from the neutron skin thickness of nuclei which shows a linear relation to both the isospin asymmetry and the nuclear charge with a form of Z^2/3. The relation of the neutron skin thickness to the nuclear charge and isospin asymmetry is systematically studied with the data from antiprotonic atom measurement, and with the extended Thomas-Fermi approach incorporating the Skyrme energy density functional. An obviously linear relationship between the slope parameter L of the nuclear symmetry energy and the isospin asymmetry dependent parameter of the neutron skin thickness can be found, by adopting 70 Skyrme interactions in the calculations. Combining the available experimental data, the constraint of -20 MeV L 82 MeV on the slope parameter of the symmetry energy is obtained. The Skyrme interactions satisfying the constraint are selected.     

An imaginary potential with universal normalization for dissipative processes in heavy-ion reactions

In this work we present new coupled channel calculations with the São Paulo potential (SPP) as the bare interaction, and an imaginary potential with system and energy independent normalization that has been developed to take into account dissipative processes in heavy-ion reactions. This imaginary potential is based on high-energy nucleon interaction in nuclear medium. Our theoretical predictions for energies up to ≈100 MeV/nucleon agree very well with the experimental data for the p,n+nucleus, ¹⁶O + ²⁷Al, ¹⁶O + ⁶⁰Ni, ⁵⁸Ni + ¹²⁴Sn, and weakly bound projectile ⁷Li + ¹²⁰Sn systems.     

核物质和夸克物质的对称能（英文）

对称能表征了同位旋非对称强相互作用物质状态方程的同位旋相关部分,它对于理解核物理和天体物理中的许多问题有重要意义。简要总结了关于核物质和夸克物质对称能研究的最新进展。对于核物质对称能,通过对核结构,核反应以及中子星的研究,目前对其亚饱和密度的行为已有比较清楚的认识,同时,对饱和密度附近对称能的约束也取得了很好的研究进展。但如何确定核物质对称能的高密行为仍然是一个挑战。另一方面,在极端高重子数密度条件下,强相互作用物质将以退禁闭的夸克物质状态存在。同位旋非对称夸克物质可能存在于致密星内部,也可能产生于极端相对论重离子碰撞中。对最近关于夸克物质对称能对夸克星性质的影响以及重夸克星的存在对夸克物质对称能的约束的研究工作进行了介绍,结果表明同位旋非对称夸克物质中上夸克和下夸克可能感受到很不一样的相互作用,这对于研究极端相对论重离子碰撞中部分子动力学的同位旋效应有重要启发。The symmetry energy characterizes the isospin dependent part of the equation of state of isospin asymmetric strong interaction matter and it plays a critical role in many issues of nuclear physics and astrophysics. In this talk, we briefly review the current status on the determination of the symmetry energy in nucleon (nuclear) and quark matter. For nuclear matter, while the subsaturation density behaviors of the symmetry energy are relatively well-determined and significant progress has been made on the symmetry energy around saturation density, the determination of the suprasaturation density behaviors of the symmetry energy remains a big challenge. For quark matter, which is expected to appear in dense matter at high baryon densities, we briefly review the recent work about the effects of quark matter symmetry energy on the properties of quark stars and the constraint of possible existence of heavy quark stars on quark matter symmetry energy. The results indicate that the u and d quarks could feel very different interactions in isospin asymmetric quark matter, which may have important implications on the isospin effects of partonic dynamics in relativistic heavy-ion collisions.     

The neutron/proton ratio of squeezed-out nucleons and the high density behavior of the nuclear symmetry energy

Within a transport model it is shown that the neutron/proton ratio of squeezed-out nucleons perpendicular to the reaction plane, especially at high transverse momenta, in heavy-ion reactions induced by high energy neutron-rich nuclei can be a useful tool for studying the high density behavior of the nuclear symmetry energy.     

Nuclear binding energy and symmetry energy of nuclear matter with modern nucleon–nucleon potentials

The binding energy of nuclear matter at zero temperature in the Brueckner–Hartree–Fock approximation with modern nucleon–nucleon potentials is studied. Both the standard and continuous choices of single particle energies are used. These modern nucleon–nucleon potentials fit the deuteron properties and are phase shifts equivalent. Comparison with other calculations is made. In addition we present results for the symmetry energy obtained with different potentials, which is of great importance in astrophysical calculation.     

Nonlinearity of strong interaction and doorway states for one-nucleon transfer reactions

The experimental data on the doorway states for one-nucleon transfer reactions permit to reveal the many-particle nucleon-nucleon forces resulting from the nonlinearity of strong interaction. The three-particle and four-particle forces are found to be of the same magnitude as the two-particle ones in contrast to the finding from the few-nucleon systems. The origin of this difference is explained. Received: 14 May 2002 / Accepted: 4 June 2002 / Published online: 19 November 2002 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: birbrair@thd.pnpi.spb.ru Communicated by V.V. Anisovich