The critical temperature for $α$-particle condensation in nuclear matter with Fermi surface imbalance between protons and neutrons is determined. The in-medium four-body Schrödinger equation, generalizing the Thouless criterion of the BCS transition, is applied using a Hartree-Fock wave function for the quartet projected onto zero total momentum in matter with different chemical potentials for protons and neutrons.
A comparison of pairing properties in cuprates and nuclear matter is briefly discussed. Quartet (alpha-particle) condensation is a very important aspect of nuclear physics. The physics of the Hoyle state in 12 C will be outlined and its crucial role for the existence of life on earth explained.
Spectrum of bosonic scalar-mode excitations in a normal Fermi liquid with a local scalar interaction is investigated for various values and momentum dependence of the scalar Landau parameter $f_0$ in the particle-hole channel. For $f_0 >0$ the conditions are found when the phase velocity on the spectrum of the zero sound acquires a minimum at a non-zero momentum. For $-1<f_0 <0$ there are only damped excitations, and for $f_0<-1$ the spectrum becomes unstable against a growth of scalar-mode excitations. An effective Lagrangian for the scalar excitation modes is derived after performing a boson…
In this article we review the present status of alpha clustering in nuclear systems. First of all, an important aspect is condensation in nuclear matter. Second, the alpha container model, recently been proposed by Tohsaki-Horiuchi-Schuck-Roepke (THSR), will be outlined and the ensuing condensate aspect of the Hoyle state at 7.65 MeV in 12C will be investigated in some detail. After 15 years since the proposal of the alpha condensation concept a critical assessment of this idea will be given. Alpha gas states in other nuclei like 16O and 13C will be considered. The THSR wave function can also …
The Bose-Einstein condensation of $α$ partciles in the multicomponent environment of dilute, warm nuclear matter is studied. We consider the cases of matter composed of light clusters with mass numbers $A\leq 4$ and matter that in addition these clusters contains $\isotope[56]{Fe}$ nuclei. We apply the quasiparticle gas model which treats clusters as bound states with infinite life-time and binding energies independent of temperature and density. We show that the $α$ particles can form a condensate at low temperature $T\le 2$ MeV in such matter in the first case. When the $\isotope[56]{Fe}$ nu…
We investigate the quartet correlations in four-component fermionic systems at the thermodynamic limit within a variational many-body theory. The Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS)-type variational wave function is extended to the systems with the coexistence of pair and quartet correlations at zero temperature. Special attention is paid to the application of the present framework to an alpha-particle condensation in symmetric nuclear matter, where the coexistence of deuteron and alpha condensations is anticipated. We also discuss how physical properties, such as quasiparticle dispersion, can be …
We explore the thermodynamic properties of homogeneous cold (zero-temperature) nuclear matter including nucleons and $α$-particle condensation at low densities by using a generalized nonlinear relativistic mean-field (gNL-RMF) model. In the gNL-RMF model, the $α$-particle is included as explicit degree of freedom and treated as point-like particle with its interaction described by meson exchanges and the in-medium effects on the $α$ binding energy is described by density- and temperature-dependent energy shift with the parameters obtained by fitting the experimental Mott density. We find that …
When the density of a nuclear system is decreased, homogeneous states undergo the so-called Mott transition towards clusterised states, e.g. alpha clustering, both in nuclei and in nuclear matter. Here we investigate such a quantum phase transition (QPT) by using microscopic energy density functional (EDF) calculations both with the relativistic and the Gogny approaches on the diluted $^{16}$O nucleus. The evolution of the corresponding single-particle spectrum under dilution is studied, and a Mott-like transition is predicted at about 1/3 of the saturation density. Complementary approaches ar…
In this paper we investigate in the large-$N_c$ limit ($N_c$ is the number of colored quarks) the phase structure of a massless (1+1)-dimensional quark model with four-quark interaction and in the presence of baryon ($μ_B$), isospin ($μ_I$) and chiral isospin ($μ_{I5}$) chemical potentials as well as at nonzero temperature. It is established that chiral isospin chemical potential leads to the generation of charged pion condensation (PC) in dense (nonzero baryon density) and chiral asymmetric quark matter for a wide range of isospin densities. It is shown that there exists a duality corresponde…
As an extension of our previous work, the growth of density fluctuations in the spinodal region of charge asymmetric nuclear matter is investigated in the basis of the stochastic mean-field approach in the non-relativistic framework. A complete treatment of density correlation functions are presented by including collective modes and non-collective modes as well.
We have investigated the compositions of hot and dense nuclear matter with the focus on the quantum-statistical effects for light clusters. Our main observation is that the formation of heavy nuclei in stellar matter leads to the reduction of the number densities of light clusters. As a result, the quantum statistical effects such as Bose-Einstein condensation of deuterons and $α$-particles are suppressed. The deviations in number densities of light clusters between Boltzmann and quantum statistics at sub-nuclear densities and temperatures 1-3 MeV are $\sim$0.2$\%$ at most. The condensation of…
Three body effects are studied for both asymmetric nuclear matter and pure neutron matter to calculate the nuclear Equation of State . The Brueckner Hartree Fock approximation is used using CD Bonn B and Argonne V18 potentials. A two body density dependent Skyrme potential is added to reproduce the empirical saturation point. Good agreement is obtained in comparison with exact calculation including three body forces.
The density and temperature dependence of the nuclear symmetry free energy is investigated using microscopic two- and three-body nuclear potentials constructed from chiral effective field theory. The nuclear force models and many-body methods are benchmarked to properties of isospin-symmetric nuclear matter in the vicinity of the saturation density as well as the virial expansion of the neutron matter equation of state at low fugacities. The free energy per particle of isospin-asymmetric nuclear matter is calculated assuming a quadratic dependence of the interaction contributions on the isospi…
The thermal properties of asymmetric nuclear matter are investigated in a relativistic mean- field approach. We start from free space NN-interactions and derive in-medium self-energies by Dirac-Brueckner theory. By the DDRH procedure we derive in a self-consistent approach density- dependent meson-baryon vertices. At the mean-field level, we include isoscalar and isovector scalar and vector interactions. The nuclear equation of state is investigated for a large range of total baryon densities up to the neutron star regime, the full range of asymmetries from symmetric nuclear matter to pure neu…
