The use of the Boson Loop Expansion is proposed for investigating the static properties of nuclear matter. We explicitly consider a schematic dynamical model in which nucleons interact with the scalar-isoscalar sigma meson. The suggested approximation scheme is examined in detail at the mean field level and at the one- and two-loop orders. The relevant formulas are provided to derive the binding energy per nucleon, the pressure and the compressibility of nuclear matter. Numerical results of the binding energy at the one-loop order are presented for Waleckas sigma-omega model in order to discuss the degree of convergence of the Boson Loop Expansion.
We investigate the properties of 3He, 4He, 6He, 7Li and 16O nuclei in nuclear matter of finite temperature and density. A Dyson expansion of the many-body Green function leads to few-body equations that are solved using the ntegro-Differential Equation Approach (IDEA) and the Antisymmetrized Molecular Dynamics (AMD) methods. The use of the latter method allows us to trace the individual movement of the wave packet for each nucleon and the formation and disintegration of quasi-nuclei in a changing thermodynamical nuclear matter environment.
The constraints imposed by chiral symmetry on hadron correlation functions in nuclear medium are discussed. It is shown that these constraints imply a certain structure for the in-medium hadron correlators and lead to the cancelation of the order $rho m_pi$ term in the in-medium nucleon correlator. We also consider the effect of mixing of the chiral partners correlation functions arising from the interaction of nuclear pions with corresponding interpolating currents. It reflects the phenomena of partial restoration of chiral symmetry. The different scenarios of such restoration are briefly discussed.
A brief overview is given of the properties of spectral functions in finite nuclei as obtained from (e,ep) experiments. Based on recent experimental data from this reaction it is argued that the empirical value of the saturation density of nuclear matter is dominated by short-range correlations. This observation and the observed fragmentation and depletion of the single-particle strength in nuclei provide the motivation for attempting a self-consistent description of the nucleon spectral functions with full inclusion of short-range and tensor correlations in nuclear matter. Results for these ``second generation spectral functions will be discussed with emphasis on the consequences for the saturation properties of nuclear matter. Arguments are presented to clarify the obscuring role of pionic long-range correlations in this long-standing problem.
The notion that the scalar listed as $f_0 (500)$ in the particle data booklet is a pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone (NG) boson of spontaneously broken scale symmetry, explicitly broken by a small departure from an infrared fixed point, is explored in nuclear dynamics. That notion which puts the scalar -- that we shall identify as a dilaton -- on the same footing as the pseudo-scalar pseudo-NG bosons, i.e., octet $pi$, while providing a simple explanation for the $Delta I=1/2$ rule for kaon decay, generalizes the standard chiral perturbation theory (S$chi$PT) to scale chiral perturbation theory, denoted $chi$PT$_sigma$, with {it one infrared mass scale for both symmetries}, with the $sigma$ figuring as a chiral singlet NG mode in non-strange sector. Applied to nuclear dynamics, it is seen to provide possible answers to various hitherto unclarified nuclear phenomena such as the success of one-boson-exchange potentials (OBEP), the large cancellation of strongly attractive scalar potential by strongly repulsive vector potential in relativistic mean field theory of nuclear systems and in-medium QCD sum rules, the interplay of the dilaton and the vector meson $omega$ in dense skyrmion matter, the BPS skyrmion structure of nuclei accounting for small binding energies of medium-heavy nuclei, and the suppression of hyperon degrees of freedom in compact-star matter.
The single-nucleon potential in hot nuclear matter is investigated in the framework of the Brueckner theory by adopting the realistic Argonne V18 or Nijmegen 93 two-body nucleon-nucleon interaction supplemented by a microscopic three-body force. The rearrangement contribution to the single-particle potential induced by the ground state correlations is calculated in terms of the hole-line expansion of the mass operator and provides a significant repulsive contribution in the low-momentum region around and below the Fermi surface. Increasing temperature leads to a reduction of the effect, while increasing density makes it become stronger. The three-body force suppresses somewhat the ground state correlations due to its strong short-range repulsion, increasing with density. Inclusion of the three-body force contribution results in a quite different temperature dependence of the single-particle potential at high enough densities as compared to that adopting the pure two-body force. The effects of three-body force and ground state correlations on the nucleon effective mass are also discussed.