Stars of strange matter?

We investigate suggestions that quark matter with strangeness per baryon of order unity may be stable. We model this matter at nuclear matter densities as a gas of close packed Λ-particles. From the known mass of the Λ-particle we obtain an estimate of the energy and chemical potential of strange matter at nuclear densities. These are sufficiently high to preclude any phase transition from neutron matter to strange matter in the region near nucleon matter density. Including effects from gluon exchange phenomenologically, we investigate higher densities, consistently making approximations which underestimate the density of transition. In this way we find a transition density ρ_tr≳7ρ₀, where ρ₀ is nuclear matter density is not far from the maximum density in the center of the most massive neutron stars that can be constructed. Since we have underestimated ρ_tr and still find it to be ∼7ρ₀, we do not believe that the transition from neutron to quark matter is likely in neutron stars. Moreover, measured masses of observed neutron stars are ≅1.4 M_⊙, where M_⊙ is the solar mass. For such masses, the central (maximum) density is ρ_c<5ρ₀. Transition to quark matter is certainly excluded for these densities.     

Isospin and density waves in asymmetric nuclear matter

The excitation of small density oscillations (zero sound) and isospin oscillations (isospin sound) in cold asymmetric nuclear matter (in the ground state ?⁰_n> ?⁰_p, ?⁰ = ?⁰_n+?⁰_p = 0.17 nucleons/fm³) is investigated within the framework of the Landau theory of normal Fermi liquids. There is only one undamped mode of excitation, which consists predominantly of isospin oscillations, with some admixture of density oscillations. The phase velocity of this undamped wave depends very weakly on the neutron excess and is close to that of a pure isospin wave (isospin sound) in symmetric nuclear matter of the same density. At the neutron excess corresponding to that existing in heavy nuclei the amplitude of the density oscillations constitutes about 30 % of the amplitude of the neutron excess density oscillations. Calculation with a suitably parametrized charge dependent quasiparticle interaction in asymmetric nuclear matter shows that for (?⁰_n??⁰_p)/?⁰ > 0.63 both zero sound and isospin sound are strongly damped.     

Resummation of in-medium ladder diagrams: s-wave effective range and p-wave interaction

An exploratory study of chiral four-nucleon interactions in nuclear and neutron matter is performed. The leading-order terms arising from pion-exchange in combination with the chiral 4??-vertex and the chiral NN3??-vertex are found to be very small. Their attractive contribution to the energy per particle stays below 0.6 MeV in magnitude for densities up to ?? = 0.4 fm^?3. We consider also the four-nucleon interaction induced by pion-exchange and twofold ??-isobar excitation of nucleons. For most of the closed four-loop diagrams the occurring integrals over four Fermi spheres can either be solved analytically or reduced to easily manageable one- or two-parameter integrals. After summing the individually large contributions from 3-ring, 2-ring and 1-ring diagrams of alternating signs, one obtains at nuclear matter saturation density ?? ₀ = 0.16 fm^?3 a moderate contribution of 2.35 MeV to the energy per particle. The curve $\bar E(\rho )$ rises rapidly with density, approximately with the third power of ??. In pure neutron matter the analogous chiral four-body interactions lead, at the same density ?? _n , to a repulsive contribution that is about half as strong. The present calculation indicates that long-range multi-nucleon forces, in particular those provided by the strongly coupled ??N??-system with its small mass-gap of 293 MeV, can still play an appreciable role for the equation of state of nuclear and neutron matter.     

Antikaon production in proton-nucleus reactions and the K− properties in nuclear matter

We calculate the momentum-dependent potentials for K⁺ and K⁻ mesons in a dispersion approach at nuclear density ϱ₀ using the information from the vacuum K⁺N and K⁻N scattering amplitudes, however, leaving out the resonance contributions for the in-medium analysis. Whereas the K⁺ potential is found to be repulsive (≈ + 25 MeV) and to show only a moderate momentum dependence, the K⁻ self-energy at normal nuclear matter density turns out to be ≈ − 140 ± 25 MeV at zero momentum roughly in line with K⁻ atomic data, however, decreases rapidly in magnitude for higher momenta. The antikaon production in p + A reactions is calculated within a coupled channel transport approach and compared to the data at KEK including different assumptions for the antikaon potentials. Furthermore, detailed predictions are made for p+¹²C and p+²⁰⁷Pb reactions at 2.5 GeV in order to determine the momentum-dependent antikaon potential experimentally.     

Some characteristics of nuclear densities

We propose a simple expression for nuclear densities, which brings out the following important nuclear properties: (i) shell effects in proton and neutron central densities, (ii) approximate global constancy of neutron central densities, (iii) approximate constancy ofRN ^?1/3 and R_pZ^?1/3 whereR is the nuclear half-density radius andR _p is the rms radius of the proton density, (iv) larger surface thickness and rms radius for neutron density as compared to those for proton density.     

Phase transitions (π-condensation) in nuclei and neutron stars

It is shown that in nuclear matter at Z = N for density n < n₀ (n₀ nuclear density) an electrically neutral condensate of π⁺, π^-, π⁰ mesons arises. The results of the calculations for the case of the neutron star (Z ? N) are given.In this case there are two phase transitions: one corresponds to π⁰ condensation and second to the electrically neutral π⁺, π^- condensation. The π^- condensate apparently does not appear even at very high densities.     

Fragmentation of 7- to 9-GeV/c deuterons to cumulative kaons

Experimental results concerning the kaon yield in the reaction d + Be → K ^±(0°) + X for values of the cumulative variable x _c in the range between 0.88 and 1.37 are presented. Values in the region of x _c ≥ 1 correspond to short nucleon-nucleon distances (deuteron-core region) at which nucleon wave functions begin overlapping each other, forming a cluster (flucton) where the hadron-matter density is higher than the average matter density in the nucleus. The behavior of the K ⁺/K ^? yield ratio in this region may be interpreted within the hypothesis that the quark sea in nuclei becomes harder because of the presence of a flucton component in nuclear matter.     

Nuclear matter approach to the heavy-ion optical potential: (II). Imaginary part

The heavy-ion optical potentials are constructed in a nuclear matter approach, for the ¹⁶O + ¹⁶O, ⁴⁰Ca + ¹⁶O and ⁴⁰Ca + ⁴⁰Ca elastic scattering at the incident energies per nucleon E^lab/A ? 45 MeV. The energy density formalism is employed assuming that the complex energy density of colliding heavy ions is a functional of the nucleon density ?(r), the intrinsic kinetic energy density τ⁽²⁾(r) and the average momentum of relative motion per nucleon K_r(≦ 1.5 fm^?1). The complex energy density is numerically evaluated for the two units of colliding nuclear matter with the same values of ρ, τ⁽²⁾ and K_r. The Bethe-Goldstone equation is solved for the corresponding Fermi distribution in momentum space using the Reid soft-core interaction. The “self-consistent” single-particle potential for unoccupied states which is continuous at the Fermi surface plays a crucial role to produce the imaginary part. It is found that the calculated optical potentials become more attractive and absorptive with increasing incident energy. The elastic scattering and the reaction cross sections are in fair agreement with the experimental data.     

Quark matter formation in dense stellar objects

It is expected that at very large densities and/or temperatures a quark-hadron phase transition takes place. Lattice QCD calculations at zero baryon density indicate that the transition occurs at T _c ∼ 150–170 MeV. The transition is likely to be second order or a cross over phenomenon. Although not much is known about the density at which the phase transition takes place at small temperatures, it is expected to occur around the nuclear densities of few times nuclear matter density. Also, there is a strong reason to believe that the quark matter formed after the phase transition is in colour superconducting phase. The matter densities in the interior of neutron stars being larger than the nuclear matter density, the neutron star cores may possibly consist of quark matter which may be formed during the collapse of supernova. Starting with the assumption that the quark matter, when formed consists of predominantly u and d quarks, we consider the evolution of s quarks by weak interactions in the present work. The reaction rates and time required to reach the chemical equilibrium are computed here. Our calculations show that the chemical equilibrium is reached in about 10⁻⁷ seconds. Further more during the equilibration process enormous amont of energy is released and copious numbers of neutrinos are produced. Implications of these on the evolution of supernovae will be discussed.     

Superfluid states in β-stable nuclear matter

Two superfluid states of nuclear matter, which are supposed to play an important role in neutron stars, are discussed: the first one due to the proton-proton ¹ S ₀ pairing in β-equilibrium nuclear matter; the second one due to the anisotropic neutron-neutron ³ PF ₂ pairing in neutron matter. Since the two phases appear at high density of nuclear matter, the three-body forces were added to the pairing interaction and the strong correlation effects in the single-paricle spectrum. The energy gaps, obtained solving the extended BCS equations, significantly deviate from the values without medium effects so as to limit the role of these two superfluid states in the interpretation of phenomena occurring in the neutron-star core.     

Selective excitation in kaon-nucleus inelastic scattering

The K⁺ meson (kaon) inelastic excitation of low-lying (E_x = 0–15 MeV) T = 0 collective states in ¹⁶O is theoretically studied as a function of energy and momentum transfer. The distorted wave impulse approximation is used to calculate angular distributions and total inelastic cross sections for exciting the first J^π = 2⁺, 3^?, 4⁺ and 5^? states at lab energies from threshold to 400 MeV. The distortions are represented in a Kisslinger-type optical potential constructed from elementary K⁺-nucleon amplitudes. Total nuclear elastic and reaction K⁺-nucleus cross sections are computed to demonstrate sensitivity to choice in K⁺-nucleon amplitudes. Fermi motion effects are also assessed using a simple averaging procedure. The weak absorption character of the kaon is reflected in the inelastic calculations which predict selective excitation of low spin states at low momentum transfer and high spin states at high momentum transfer.     

On the validity of pre-equilibrium model assumptions

The Hartree-Fock calculation is performed for nuclear matter using the Skyrme interaction. It is shown that a stable density wave periodic in only one direction exists at densities below about one-third of the normal nuclear density. The critical densityρ _c below which the energy of the density wave is lower than that of the Fermi gas is determined for Skyrme interactions SKI to SKVI. It is further shown that even at densities slightly higher thanρ _c the density wave still exists as ametastable state in the sense that its energy is a local minimum in the variation parameter space. The density wave solution suddenly disappears at a higher density, since there the local minimum changes to an inflection point.     

Constraints on the symmetry energy using the mass-radius relation of neutron stars

The nuclear symmetry energy is intimately connected with nuclear astrophysics. This contribution focuses on the estimation of the symmetry energy from experiment and how it is related to the structure of neutron stars. The most important connection is between the radii of neutron stars and the pressure of neutron star matter in the vicinity of the nuclear saturation density n_s. This pressure is essentially controlled by the nuclear symmetry energy parameters S_v and L , the first two coefficients of a Taylor expansion of the symmetry energy around n_s. We discuss constraints on these parameters that can be found from nuclear experiments. We demonstrate that these constraints are largely model-independent by deriving them qualitatively from a simple nuclear model. We also summarize how recent theoretical studies of pure neutron matter can reinforce these constraints. To date, several different astrophysical measurements of neutron star radii have been attempted. Attention is focused on photospheric radius expansion bursts and on thermal emissions from quiescent low-mass X-ray binaries. While none of these observations can, at the present time, determine individual neutron star radii to better than 20% accuracy, the body of observations can be used with Bayesian techniques to effectively constrain them to higher precision. These techniques invert the structure equations and obtain estimates of the pressure-density relation of neutron star matter, not only near n_s, but up to the highest densities found in neutron star interiors. The estimates we derive for neutron star radii are in concordance with predictions from nuclear experiment and theory.     

Direct experimental estimate of parameters that determine the cascade gamma decay of compound states of heavy nuclei

A method is proposed for simultaneously determining the interval of the most probable values of the density of levels excited in the radiative capture of slow neutrons and the sum of radiative E1 and M1 strength functions in the excitation-energy interval extending nearly up to the neutron binding energy. Experimental data on the intensities of two-step photon cascades between the compound state and a given low-lying level of the nucleus being studied are analyzed together with the total radiative widths of neutron resonances. Such an analysis can be performed for nuclei having an arbitrary level density, including deformed ones. The resulting data demonstrate that there are significant deviations from the predictions of commonly accepted level-density models—for example, the Fermi gas model—and specify the range of nuclei and the regions of their excitation energies where a further experimental investigation can furnish new important information about the properties of nuclear matter.     

The spin-isospin decomposition of the nuclear symmetry energy from low to high density

The energy per particle BA in nuclear matter is calculated up to high baryon density in the whole isospin asymmetry range from symmetric matter to pure neutron matter.The results,obtained in the framework of the Brueckner-Hartree-Fock approximation with two-and three-body forces,confirm the well-known parabolic dependence on the asymmetry parameterβ=(N?Z)/A(β^2 law)that is valid in a wide density range.To investigate the extent to which this behavior can be traced back to the properties of the underlying interaction,aside from the mean field approximation,the spin-isospin decomposition of BA is performed.Theoretical indications suggest that theβ^2 law could be violated at higher densities as a consequence of the three-body forces.This raises the problem that the symmetry energy,calculated according to theβ^2 law as a difference between BA in pure neutron matter and symmetric nuclear matter,cannot be applied to neutron stars.One should return to the proper definition of the nuclear symmetry energy as a response of the nuclear system to small isospin imbalance from the Z=N nuclei and pure neutron matter.     

Nuclear level densities and level spacing distributions from 20F to 244Am

The parameters of nuclear level density formulae have been determined from extensive and complete level schemes and neutron resonance densities for 24 nuclei between ²⁰F and ²⁴⁴Am. The constant temperature level-density formula and the Bethe formula are compared with the experimental level densities. Both formulae reproduce experimental densities equally well. The same nuclei have been used to obtain an A-dependent spin cut-off parameter for low-lying levels. The spacing distribution of levels with equal spins and parities at lower excitation energies is found to be much closer to an exponential distribution than to the Wigner distribution especially for even-even nuclei. This is at variance with previous theoretical expectations and interpretations of nuclear data compilations. It gives evidence for a further good quantum number at low excitation energies in addition to spin and parity or for very different structures.     

Parity dependence of the nuclear level density at high excitation

The basic underlying assumption ϱ(l + 1, J) = ϱ(l, J) in the level density function π(U, J, π) has been checked on the basis of high quality data available on individual resonance parameters (E₀, Γ_n, J^π) for s- and p-wave neutrons in contrast to the earlier analysis where information about p-wave resonance parameters was meagre. The missing level estimator based on the partial integration over a Porter-Thomas distribution of neutron reduced widths and the Dyson-Mehta Δ₃ statistic for the level spacing have been used to ascertain that the s- and p-wave resonance level spacings D(0) and D(1) are not in error because of spurious and missing levels. The present work does not validate the tacit assumption π(l + 1, J) = π(l, J) and confirms that the level density depends upon parity at high excitation. The possible implications of the parity dependence of the level density on the results of statistical model calculations of nuclear reaction cross sections as well as on pre-compound emission have been emphasized.     

Finite nuclei to nuclear matter: a leptodermous approach

The liquid drop model (LDM) expansions of energy and incompressibility of finite nuclei are studied in an analytical model using Skyrme-like effective interactions to examine, whether such expansions provide an unambiguous way to go from finite nuclei to nuclear matter, and thereby can yield the saturation properties of the latter, from nuclear masses. We show that the energy expansion is not unique in the sense that, its coefficients do not necessarily correspond to the ground state of nuclear matter and hence, the mass formulas based on it are not equipped to yield saturation properties. The defect is attributed to its use of liquid drop without any reference to particles as its basis, which is classical in nature. It does not possess an essential property of an interacting many-fermion system namely, the single particle property, in particular the Fermi state. It is shown that, the defect is repaired in the infinite nuclear matter model by the use of generalized Hugenholtz–Van Hove theorem of many-body theory. So this model uses infinite nuclear matter with well defined quantum mechanical attributes for its basis. The resulting expansion has the coefficients which are at the ground state of nuclear matter. Thus a well defined path from finite nuclei to nuclear matter is found out. Then using this model, the saturation density 0.1620 fm⁻³ and binding energy per nucleon of nuclear matter 16.108 MeV are determined from the masses of all known nuclei. The corresponding radius constant r₀ equal to 1.138 fm thus determined, agrees quite well with that obtained from electron scattering data, leading to the resolution of the so-called ‘r₀-paradox’. Finally a well defined and stable value of 288±20 MeV for the incompressibility of nuclear matter K_∞ is extracted from the same set of masses and a nuclear equation of state is thus obtained.     

Nuclear matter approach to the heavy-ion optical potential

An energy-dependent local potential for heavy-ion (HI) scattering is derived from Reid's softcore interaction using the Brueckner theory. The Bethe-Goldstone equation in momentum space is first solved with the outgoing boundary condition for two colliding systems of nuclear matter with the relative momentum K_r per nucleon. The Fermi distribution is assumed to consist of two spheres without double counting of their intersection separated by the relative momentum K_r. The angle-averaged Pauli projection function is given in the form of a one-dimensional integral. Secondly the optical potential for HI scattering is evaluated using the energy-density formalism. The energy density is calculated for two limiting cases: (i) the sudden approximation in which the spatial distribution of the two HI is described by an antisymmetrized cluster wave function, and (ii) the adiabatic limit represented by an antisymmetrized two-centre wave function. The complex HI potential is defined in terms of the energy density from nuclear matter so that both volume elements in the finite and the infinite systems have the same nucleon and kinetic energy density. This method is applied to the ¹⁶O + ¹⁶O, ⁴⁰Ca + ¹⁶O, and ⁴⁰Ca + ⁴⁰Ca potentials. The calculated results are compared with phenomenological potentials. Though in principle our approach can generate an imaginary part for the HI potential, the magnitude is too small. Reasons and possible improvements of this point are discussed.