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.