No Arabic abstract
The equations of state of spin-polarized nuclear matter and pure neutron matter are studied in the framework of the Brueckner-Hartree-Fock theory including a three-body force. The energy per nucleon $E_A(delta)$ calculated in the full range of spin polarization ${delta} = frac{rho_{uparrow}-rho_{downarrow}}{rho}$ for symmetric nuclear matter and pure neutron matter fulfills a parabolic law. In both cases the spin-symmetry energy is calculated as a function of the baryonic density along with the related quantities such as the magnetic susceptibility and the Landau parameter $G_0$. The main effect of the three-body force is to strongly reduce the degenerate Fermi gas magnetic susceptibility even more than the value with only two body force. The EOS is monotonically increasing with the density for all spin-aligned configurations studied here so that no any signature is found for a spontaneous transition to a ferromagnetic state.
We analyze the spinodal instabilities of spin polarized asymmetric nuclear matter at zero temperature for several configurations of the neutron and proton spins. The calculations are performed with the Brueckner--Hartree--Fock (BHF) approach using the Argonne V18 nucleon-nucleon potential plus a three-nucleon force of Urbana type. An analytical parametrization of the energy density, which reproduces with good accuracy the BHF results, is employed to determine the spinodal instability region. We find that, independently of the of the orientation of the neutron and proton spins, the spinodal instability region shinks when the system is polarized, being its size smaller smaller when neutron and proton spins are antiparallel than when they are oriented in a parallel way. We find also that the spinodal instability is always dominated by total density fluctuation independently of the degree of polarization of the system, and that restoration of the isospin symmetry in the liquid phase, {it i.e.,} the so-called isospin distillation or fragmentation effect, becomes less efficient with the polarization of the system.
Using the Hellmann--Feynman theorem we analyze the contribution of the different terms of the nucleon-nucleon interaction to the spin symmetry energy of neutron matter. The analysis is performed within the microscopic Brueckner--Hartree--Fock approach using the Argonne V18 realistic potential plus the Urbana IX three-body force. The main contribution to the spin-symmetry energy of neutron matter comes from the S=0 channel, acting only in the non-polarized neutron matter, in particular the $^1S_0$ and the $^1D_2$ partial waves. The importance of correlations in spin-polarized neutron matter is estimated by evaluating the kinetic energy difference between the correlated system and the underlying Fermi sea.
We study the properties of a spin-down neutron impurity immersed in a low-density free Fermi gas of spin-up neutrons. In particular, we analyze its energy ($E_downarrow$), effective mass ($m^*_downarrow$) and quasiparticle residue ($Z_downarrow$). Results are compared with those of state-of-the-art quantum Monte Carlo calculations of the attractive Fermi polaron realized in ultracold atomic gases experiments, and with those of previous studies of the neutron polaron. Calculations are performed within the Brueckner--Hartree--Fock approach using the chiral two-body nucleon-nucleon interaction of Entem and Machleidt at N$^3$LO with a 500 MeV cut-off and the Argonne V18 phenomenological potential. Only contributions from the $^1S_0$ partial wave, which is the dominant one in the low-density region considered, are included. Contributions from three-nucleon forces are expected to be irrelevant at these densities and, therefore, are neglected in the calculation. Our results show that for Fermi momenta between $sim 0.25$ and $sim 0.45$ fm$^{-1}$ the energy, effective mass and quasiparticle residue of the impurity vary only slightly, respectively, in the ranges $-0.604,E_F < E_downarrow < -0.635,E_F $, $1.300,m < m^*_downarrow < 1.085, m$ and $0.741 <Z_downarrow< 0.836$ in the case of the chiral interaction, and $-0.621,E_F < E_downarrow < -0.643,E_F $, $1.310,m < m^*_downarrow < 1.089, m$ and $0.739 <Z_downarrow< 0.832$ when using the Argonne V18 potential. These results are compatible with those derived from ultracold atoms and show that a spin-down neutron impurity in a free Fermi gas of spin-up neutrons with a Fermi momentum in the range $0.25lesssim k_F lesssim 0.45$ fm$^{-1}$ exhibits properties very similar to those of an attractive Fermi polaron in the unitary limit.
We have recently developed an efficient method of performing the full quantum number projection from the most general mean-field (HFB type) wave functions including the angular momentum, parity as well as the proton and neutron particle numbers. With this method, we have been investigating several nuclear structure mechanisms. In this report, we discuss the obtained quantum rotational spectra of the tetrahedral nuclear states formulating certain experimentally verifiable criteria, of the high-spin states, focussing on the wobbling- and chiral-bands, and of the drip-line nuclei as illustrative examples.
Using two-nucleon and three-nucleon interactions derived in the framework of chiral perturbation theory (ChPT) with and without the explicit $Delta$ isobar contributions, we calculate the energy per particle of symmetric nuclear matter and pure neutron matter in the framework of the microscopic Brueckner-Hartree-Fock approach. In particular, we present for the first time nuclear matter calculations using the new fully local in coordinate-space two-nucleon interaction at the next-to-next-to-next-to-leading-order (N3LO) of ChPT with $Delta$ isobar intermediate states (N3LO$Delta$) recently developed by Piarulli et al. [arXiv:1606:06335]. We find that using this N3LO$Delta$ potential, supplemented with a local N2LO three-nucleon interaction with explicit $Delta$ isobar degrees of freedom, it is possible to obtain a satisfactory saturation point of symmetric nuclear matter. For this combination of two- and three-nucleon interactions we also calculate the nuclear symmetry energy and we compare our results with the empirical constraints on this quantity obtained using the excitation energies to isobaric analog states in nuclei and using experimental data on the neutron skin thickness of heavy nuclei, finding a very good agreement with these empirical constraints in all the considered nucleonic density range. In addition, we find that the explicit inclusion of $Delta$ isobars diminishes the strength of the three-nucleon interactions needed the get a good saturation point of symmetric nuclear matter. We also compare the results of our calculations with those obtained by other research groups using chiral nuclear interactions with different many-body methods, finding in many cases a very satisfactory agreement.