Collisions involving 112Sn and 124Sn nuclei have been simulated with the improved Quantum Molecular Dynamics transport model. The results of the calculations reproduce isospin diffusion data from two different observables and the ratios of neutron and proton spectra. By comparing these data to calculations performed over a range of symmetry energies at saturation density and different representations of the density dependence of the symmetry energy, constraints on the density dependence of the symmetry energy at sub-normal density are obtained. Results from present work are compared to constraints put forward in other recent analysis.
The LIGO-Virgo collaboration detection of the binary neutron-star merger event, GW170817, has expanded efforts to understand the Equation of State (EoS) of nuclear matter. These measurements provide new constraints on the overall pressure, but do not elucidate its origins, by not distinguishing the contribution to the pressure from symmetry energy which governs much of the internal structure of a neutron star. By combining the neutron star EoS extracted from the GW170817 event and the EoS of symmetric matter from nucleus-nucleus collision experiments, we extract the symmetry pressure, which is the difference in pressure between neutron and nuclear matter over the density region from 1.2$rho_{0}$ to $4.5rho_{0}$. While the uncertainties in the symmetry pressure are large, they can be reduced with new experimental and astrophysical results.
The $^{208}$Pb($p$,$ngammabar p$) $^{207}$Pb reaction at a beam energy of 30 MeV has been used to excite the anti-analog of the giant dipole resonance (AGDR) and to measure its $gamma$-decay to the isobaric analog state in coincidence with proton decay of IAS. The energy of the transition has also been calculated with the self-consistent relativistic random-phase approximation (RRPA), and found to be linearly correlated to the predicted value of the neutron-skin thickness ($Delta R_{pn}$). By comparing the theoretical results with the measured transition energy, the value of 0.190 $pm$ 0.028 fm has been determined for $Delta R_{pn}$ of $^{208}$Pb, in agreement with previous experimental results. The AGDR excitation energy has also been used to calculate the symmetry energy at saturation ($J=32.7 pm 0.6$ MeV) and the slope of the symmetry energy ($L=49.7 pm 4.4$ MeV), resulting in more stringent constraints than most of the previous studies.
The nuclear root-mean-square charge radius of $^{54}$Ni was determined with collinear laser spectroscopy to be $R(^{54}$Ni) = 3.737,(3)~fm. In conjunction with the known radius of the mirror nucleus $^{54}$Fe, the difference of the charge radii was extracted as $Delta R_{rm ch}$ = 0.049,(4)~fm. Based on the correlation between $Delta R_{rm ch}$ and the slope of the symmetry energy at nuclear saturation density ($L$), we deduced $20 le L le 70$,MeV. The present result is consistent with the $L$ from the binary neutron star merger GW170817, favoring a soft neutron matter EOS, and barely consistent with the PREX-2 result within 1$sigma$ error bands. Our result indicates the neutron-skin thickness of $^{48}$Ca as 0.15,-,0.19,fm.
The modeling of many neutron star observables incorporates the microphysics of both the stellar crust and core, which is tied intimately to the properties of the nuclear matter equation of state (EoS). We explore the predictions of such models over the range of experimentally constrained nuclear matter parameters, focusing on the slope of the symmetry energy at nuclear saturation density $L$. We use a consistent model of the composition and EoS of neutron star crust and core matter to model the binding energy of pulsar B of the double pulsar system J0737-3039, the frequencies of torsional oscillations of the neutron star crust and the instability region for r-modes in the neutron star core damped by electron-electron viscosity at the crust-core interface. By confronting these models with observations, we illustrate the potential of astrophysical observables to offer constraints on poorly known nuclear matter parameters complementary to terrestrial experiments, and demonstrate that our models consistently predict $L<70$ MeV.
The reaction mechanism of the central collisions and peripheral collisions for $^{112,124}Sn+^{112,124}Sn$ at $E/A=50MeV$ is investigated within the framework of the Improved Quantum Molecular Dynamics model. The results show that multifragmentation process is an important mechanism at this energy region, and the influence of the cluster emission on the double n/p ratios and the isospin transport ratio are important. Furthermore, three observables, double n/p ratios, isospin diffusion and the rapidity distribution of the ratio $R_{7}$ for $^{112,124}Sn+^{112,124}Sn$ at E/A=50MeV are analyzed with the Improved Quantum Molecular Dynamics model. The results show that these three observables are sensitive to the density dependence of the symmetry energy. By comparing the calculation results to the data, the consistent constraint on the density dependence of the symmetry energy from these three observables is obtained.