The phase diagram of the superfluid phase coupled to spin singlet (S=0) and isospin triplet (T=1) states in infinite nuclear matter is analyzed within the nonrelativistic Skyrme model. We use an approach that allows a unified and consistent treatment of the particle-hole and particle-particle channels. The gap equation is solved for the full range of accessible densities, isospin asymmetries, and temperatures. The characteristic features of each of the components Tz=0, +1, -1 are emphasized. The search for signatures of a BCS-BEC crossover yields negative results within the scheme proposed.
We investigate the $^1S_0$ neutron and proton superfluidity in isospin asymmetric nuclear matter. We have concentrated on the isospin dependence of the pairing gaps and the effect of a microscopic three-body force. It is found that as the isospin asymmetry goes higher, the neutron $^1S_0$ superfluid phase shrinks gradually to a smaller density domain, while the proton one extends rapidly to a much wider density domain. The three-body force turns out to weaken the neutron $^1S_0$ superfluidity slightly, but it suppresses strongly the proton $^1S_0$ superfluidity at high densities in nuclear mat…
A correct determination of the spin-isospin properties of the nuclear effective interaction should lead, among other improvements, to an accurate description of the Gamow-Teller Resonance (GTR). These nuclear excitations impact on a variety of physical processes: from the response in charge-exchange reactions of nuclei naturally present in the Earth, to the description of the stellar nucleosynthesis, and of the pre-supernova explosion core-collapse evolution of massive stars in the Universe. A reliable description of the GTR provides also stringent tests for neutrinoless double-$β$ decay calcu…
We investigate the effects of the spin-isospin channel of the Skyrme energy functional on predictions for Gamow-Teller distributions and superdeformed rotational bands. We use the generalized Skyrme interaction SkO' to describe even-even ground states and then analyze the effects of time-odd spin-isospin couplings, first term by term and then together via linear regression. Some terms affect the strength and energy of the Gamow-Teller resonance in finite nuclei without altering the Landau parameter g_0' that to leading order determines spin-isospin properties of nuclear matter. Though the exis…
Self-consistent mean field methods based on phenomenological Skyrme effective interactions are known to exhibit spurious spin and spin-isospin instabilities both at zero and finite temperatures when applied to homogeneous nuclear matter at the densities encountered in neutron stars and in supernova cores. The origin of these instabilities is revisited in the framework of the nuclear energy density functional theory and a simple prescription is proposed to remove them. The stability of several Skyrme parametrizations is reexamined.
In the present work we take the non relativistic limit of relativistic models and compare the obtained functionals with the usual Skyrme parametrization. Relativistic models with both constant couplings and with density dependent couplings are considered. While some models present very good results already at the lowest order in the density, models with non-linear terms only reproduce the energy functional if higher order terms are taken into account in the expansion.
The magnetic dipole (M1) and the Gamow-Teller (GT) excitations of finite nuclei have been studied in a fully self-consistent Hartree-Fock (HF) plus random phase approximation (RPA) approach by using a Skyrme energy density functional with spin and spin-isospin densities. To this end, we adopt the extended SLy5st interaction which includes spin-density dependent terms and stabilize nuclear matter with respect to spin instabilities. The effect of the spin-density dependent terms is examined in both the mean field and the spin-flip excited state calculations. The numerical results show that those…
We investigate pion superfluidity and its effect on meson properties and equation of state at finite temperature and isospin and baryon densities in the frame of standard flavor SU(2) NJL model. In mean field approximation to quarks and random phase approximation to mesons, the critical isospin chemical potential for pion superfluidity is exactly the pion mass in the vacuum, and corresponding to the isospin symmetry spontaneous breaking, there is in the pion superfluidity phase a Goldstone mode which is the linear combination of the normal sigma and charged pion modes. We calculate numerically…
Our paper aims at providing an answer to the question whether one can reliably describe the properties of the most important spin-isospin nuclear excitations, by using the available non-relativistic Skyrme energy functionals. Our method, which has been introduced in a previous publication devoted to the Isobaric Analog states, is the self-consistent Quasiparticle Random Phase Approximation (QRPA). The inclusion of pairing is instrumental for describing a number of experimentally measured spherical systems which are characterized by open shells. We discuss the effect of isoscalar and isovector …
We develop the isospin-invariant Skyrme-EDF method by considering local densities in all possible isospin channels and proton-neutron (p-n) mixing terms as mandated by the isospin symmetry. The EDF employed has the most general form that depends quadratically on the isoscalar and isovector densities. We test and benchmark the resulting p-n EDF approach, and study the general properties of the new scheme by means of the cranking in the isospin space. We extend the existing axial DFT solver HFBTHO to the case of isospin-invariant EDF approach with all possible p-n mixing terms. Explicit expressi…
A quantisation of chiral symmetry within the Skyrme crystal is carried out. The definition of global isospin in the crystal is explored, and found to be ambiguous. However, the state corresponding to a neutron crystal is identified, and the leading quantum correction to the classical mass is computed. The results are compared to those of Klebanov for a crystal of whole skyrmions.
We parameterize the recently proposed generalized Skyrme effective force (GSEF) containing extended density dependence. The parameters of the GSEF are determined by the fit to several properties of the normal and isospin-rich nuclei. We also include in our fit a realistic equation of state for the pure neutron matter up to high densities so that the resulting Skyrme parameters can be suitably used to model the neutron star with the "canonical" mass ($\sim 1.4 M_\odot$). For the appropriate comparison we generate a parameter set for the standard Skyrme effective force (SSEF) using exactly the s…
The formalism of linear response theory for a Skyrme functional including spin-orbit and tensor terms is generalized to the case of infinite nuclear matter with arbitrary isospin asymmetry. Response functions are obtained by solving an algebraic system of equations, which is explicitly given. Spin-isospin strength functions are analyzed varying the conditions of density, momentum transfer, asymmetry and temperature. The presence of instabilities, including the spinodal one, is studied by means of the static susceptibility.
The isospin dependence of incompressibility is investigated in the Skyrme Hartree-Fock (SHF) and relativistic mean field (RMF) models. The correlations between the nuclear matter incompressibility and the isospin dependent term of the finite nucleus incompressibility is elucidated by using the Thomas-Fermi approximation. The Coulomb term is also studied by using various different Skyrme Hamiltonians and RMF Lagrangians. The symmetry energy coefficient of incompressibility is extracted to be K_τ=-(500\pm50) MeV from the recent experimental data of isoscalar giant monopole resonances (ISGMR) in …
Recent analysis of the isospin diffusion data from heavy-ion collisions based on an isospin- and momentum-dependent transport model with in-medium nucleon-nucleon cross sections has led to the extraction of a value of $L=88\pm 25$ MeV for the slope of the nuclear symmetry energy at saturation density. This imposes stringent constraints on both the parameters in the Skyrme effective interactions and the neutron skin thickness of heavy nuclei. Among the 21 sets of Skyrme interactions commonly used in nuclear structure studies, the 4 sets SIV, SV, G$_σ$, and R$_σ$ are found to give $L$ values tha…
We investigate pion superfluidity in the frame of two flavor Nambu--Jona-Lasinio model beyond mean field approximation. We calculate the thermodynamics to the next to leading order in an expansion in the inverse number of colors, including both quark and meson contributions at finite temperature and baryon and isospin density. Due to the meson fluctuations, the Sarma phase which exists at mean field level is washed away, and the Bose-Einstein condensation region at low isospin density is highly suppressed.
Generalized symmetry energy coefficients of asymmetric nuclear matter are obtained as screening functions. The dependence of the isospin symmetry energy coefficient on the neutron proton (n-p) asymmetry may be determined unless by a constant (exponent) $Z$ which depend on microscopic properties. The dependence of the generalized symmetry energy coefficients with Skyrme forces on the n-p asymmetry and on the density, only from .5 up to 1.5 $ρ_0$, are investigated in the isospin and scalar channels. The use of Skyrme-type effective forces allows us to obtain analytical expressions for these para…
We study the effect of the splitting of neutron and proton effective masses with isospin asymmetry on the properties of the Skyrme energy density functional. We discuss the ability of the latter to predict observable of infinite matter and finite nuclei, paying particular attention to controlling the agreement with ab-initio predictions of the spin-isospin content of the nuclear equation of state, as well as diagnosing the onset of finite size instabilities, which we find to be of critical importance. We show that these various constraints cannot be simultaneously fulfilled by the standard Sky…
The density dependence of the nuclear symmetry energy is inspected using the Statistical Multifragmentation Model with Skyrme effective interactions. The model consistently considers the expansion of the fragments' volumes at finite temperature at the freeze-out stage. By selecting parameterizations of the Skyrme force that lead to very different equations of state for the symmetry energy, we investigate the sensitivity of different observables to the properties of the effective forces. Our results suggest that, in spite of being sensitive to the thermal dilation of the fragments' volumes, it …
We develop a new framework of the self-consistent deformed proton-neutron quasiparticle-random-phase approximation (pnQRPA), formulated in the Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov (HFB) single-quasiparticle basis. The same Skyrme force is used in both the HFB and pnQRPA calculations except in the proton-neutron particle-particle channel, where an S=1 contact force is employed. Numerical application is performed for Gamow-Teller (GT) strength distributions and $β$-decay rates in the deformed neutron-rich Zr isotopes located around the path of the rapid-neutron-capture process nucleosynthesis. It is found th…
We use the classical BPS soliton solutions of the BPS Skyrme model together with corrections from the collective coordinate quantization of spin and isospin, the electrostatic Coulomb energies, and a small explicit breaking of the isospin symmetry - accounting for the proton-neutron mass difference - to calculate nuclear binding energies. We find that the resulting binding energies are already in excellent agreement with their physical values for heavier nuclei, demonstrating thereby that the BPS Skyrme model is a distinguished starting point for a detailed quantitative investigation of nuclea…
We present the explicit form of the next-to-next-to-leading order (N$^2$LO) Skyrme interaction in momentum space by including the fourth-order gradient potentials to the standard Skyrme interaction. With the N$^2$LO Skyrme interaction, we evaluate the second-order corrections to the nuclear bulk quantities of nuclear matter: equation of state (EoS) of isospin symmetric and pure neutron matter, density-dependent in-medium effective nucleon mass, isospin-asymmetry energy, pressure and incompressibility. These second-order contributions are ultraviolet (UV) divergent due to the zero range charact…
It is shown that under lowering density or temperature a nucleon Fermi superfluid can undergo a phase transition to a new superfluid state corresponding to superposition of states with singlet-triplet (ST) and triplet-singlet (TS) pairing of nucleons (in spin and isospin spaces). Such states arise as a result of branching from one-gap solution of the self-consistent equations, describing ST pairing of nucleons. The density and temperature dependence of the order parameters for new two-gap solutions is determined in the model with Skyrme effective forces.
We consider the semiclassical rigid-body quantization of Skyrmion solutions of mass numbers B = 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12. We determine the allowed quantum states for each Skyrmion, and find that they often match the observed states of nuclei. The spin and isospin inertia tensors of these Skyrmions are accurately calculated for the first time, and are used to determine the excitation energies of the quantum states. We calculate the energy level splittings, using a suitably chosen parameter set for each mass number. We find good qualitative and encouraging quantitative agreement with experiment. In pa…
This paper focuses on the isospin properties of the asymmetric nuclear-matter liquid-gas phase transition analyzed in a mean-field approach, using Skyrme effective interactions. We compare two different mechanisms of phase separation for low-density matter: equilibrium and spinodal decomposition. The isospin properties of the phases are deduced from the free-energy curvature, which contains information both on the average isospin content and on the system fluctuations. Some implications on experimentally accessible isospin observables are presented.
An alternative way to constrain the density dependence of the symmetry energy with the slope of the neutron skin thickness of nuclei which shows a linear relation to both the isospin asymmetry and the nuclear charge with a form of Z^{2/3} is proposed. The linear dependence of the neutron skin thickness on the nuclear charge and isospin asymmetry is systematically studied with the data from antiprotonic atom measurement experimentally and the extended Thomas-Fermi approach incorporated the Skyrme energy density functional theoretically. An obviously linear relationship between the slope paramet…
We present the formalism of linear response theory both at zero and finite temperature in the case of asymmetric nuclear matter excited by an isospin flip probe. The particle-hole interaction is derived from a general Skyrme functional that includes spin-orbit and tensor terms. Response functions are obtained by solving a closed algebraic system of equations. Spin strength functions are analyzed for typical values of density, momentum transfer, asymmetry and temperature.
The effects of a zero-range tensor component of the effective interaction on nuclear response functions are determined in the so-called RPA approach. Explicit formula in the case of symmetric homogeneous isotropic nuclear matter are given for each spin-isospin excitation channel. It is shown for a typical interaction with tensor couplings that the effects are quantitatively important, mainly in vector channels.
We discuss the contributions to the Equation of State for the N$\ell$LO Skyrme pseudo-potential ($\ell$=2,3). We show that by adding 4th and 6th order gradient terms, it is possible to fairly reproduce the spin/isospin decomposition of an equation of state obtained from \emph{ab-initio} methods. Moreover, by inspecting the partial-wave decomposition of the equation of state, we show for the first time a possible way to add explicit constraints on the sign of the tensor terms of the Skyrme interaction.
The semiclassical description of Skyrmions at small isospin chemical potential $μ_I$ is carefully analyzed. We show that when the calculation of the energy of a nucleon is performed using the straightforward generalization of the vacuum sector techniques ($μ_I=0$), together with the "natural" assumption $μ_I = {\cal O} (N_c^0)$, the proton and neutron masses are nonlinear in $μ_I$ in the regime $|μ_I| < m_π$. Although these nonlinearities turn out to be numerically quite small, such a result fails to strictly agree with the very robust prediction that for those values of $\mui$ the energy exci…
In the frame of flavor SU(2) Nambu--Jona-Lasinio model with $U_A(1)$ breaking term we found that, the structure of two chiral phase transition lines does not exist at low isospin density in real world, and the critical isospin chemical potential for pion superfluidity is exactly the pion mass in the vacuum.
Most of the Skyrme interactions are known to predict spin or isospin instabilities beyond the saturation density of nuclear matter which contradict predictions based on realistic interactions. A modification of the standard Skyrme interaction is proposed so that the ferromagnetic instability is removed. The new terms are density dependent and modify only the spin p-h interaction in the case of spin-saturated system. Consequences for the nuclear response function and neutrino mean free path are shown. The overall effect of the RPA correlations makes dense matter more transparent for neutrino pr…
The isospin dependence of the spin-orbit potential is investigated for an effective Skyrme like energy-functional suitable for density-dependent Hartree-Fock calculations. The magnitude of the isospin dependence is obtained from a fit to experimental data on finite spherical nuclei. It is found to be close to that of relativistic Hartree models. Consequently the anomalous kink in the isotope shifts of Pb nuclei is well reproduced.
The effective Skyrme energy density functionals are widely used in the study of nuclear structure, nuclear reaction and neutron star, but they are less established from the heavy ion collision data. In this work, we find 22 effective Skyrme parameter sets, when incorporated in use the transport model, ImQMD, to describe the heavy ion collision data, such as isospin diffusion data at 35 MeV/u and 50 MeV/u. We use these sets to calculate the neutron skin of $^{208}$Pb based on the restricted density variation method, and obtain the neutron skin of $^{208}$Pb in the range of $δR_{np}=0.18\pm0.04$…
Influence of asymmetry on superfluidity of nuclear matter with triplet-singlet pairing of nucleons (in spin and isospin spaces) is considered within the framework of a Fermi-liquid theory. Solutions of self-consistent equations for the critical temperature and the energy gap at T=0 are obtained. It is shown, that the backward influence of pairing correlations through the normal distribution functions of nucleons leads to the qualitative change: instead of two-valued behavior the energy gap has universal one-valued behavior. At T=0 superfluidity arises as a result of a first order phase transit…
Symmetry energy terms from macroscopic mass formulae are investigated as generalized polarizabilities of nuclear matter. Besides the neutron-proton (n-p) symmetry energy the spin dependent symmetry energies and a scalar one are also defined. They depend on the nuclear densities ($ρ$), neutron-proton asymmetry ($b$), temperature ($T$) and exchanged energy and momentum ($q$). Based on a standard expression for the generalized polarizabilities, a differential equation is proposed to constrain the dependence of the symmetry energy on the n-p asymmetry and on the density. Some solutions are discuss…
Response functions of infinite nuclear matter with arbitrary isospin asymmetry are studied in the framework of the random phase approximation. The residual interaction is derived from a general nuclear Skyrme energy density functional. Besides the usual central, spin-orbit and tensor terms it could also include other components as new density-dependent terms or three-body terms. Algebraic expressions for the response functions are obtained from the Bethe-Salpeter equation for the particle-hole propagator. Applications to symmetric nuclear matter, pure neutron matter and asymmetric nuclear matt…
We apply the direct variational method to derive the equation of state for finite nuclei within the stability valley. The extended Thomas-Fermi approximation for the energy functional with Skyrme forces is used. Using the leptodermous expansion for the profile nucleon densities, we have studied the neutron coat and the isospin symmetry energy for neutron-rich nuclei. Using equation of state for the pressure, we derive the region of spinodal instability of finite nuclei and its dependence on the mass number, the asymmetry parameter and the Skyrme force parameters. We suggest the procedure of de…
The isospin dependence of the spin-orbit potential is investigated for an effective Skyrme-like energy functional suitable for density dependent Hartree-Fock calculations. The magnitude of the isospin dependence is obtained from a fit to experimental data on finite spherical nuclei. It is found to be close to that of relativistic Hartree models. Consequently, the anomalous kink in the isotope shifts of Pb nuclei is well reproduced.
We have performed calculations based on the Skyrme energy density functional (EDF) that includes arbitrary mixing between protons and neutrons. In this framework, single-particle states are generalized as mixtures of proton and neutron components. The model assumes that the Skyrme EDF is invariant under the rotation in isospin space and the Coulomb force is the only source of the isospin symmetry breaking. To control the isospin of the system, we employ the isocranking method, which is analogous to the standard cranking approach used for describing high-spin states. Here, we present results of…
We study the spinodal instabilities of asymmetric nuclear matter at finite temperature within the microscopic Brueckner--Hartree--Fock (BHF) approximation using the realistic Argonne V18 nucleon-nucleon potential plus a three-body force of Urbana type. Our results are compared with those obtained with the Skyrme force SLy230a and the relativistic mean field models NL3 and TW. We find that BHF predicts a larger spinodal region. This result is a direct consequence of the fact that our Brueckner calculation predicts a larger critical temperature and saturation density of symmetric nuclear matter …
The scattering of pions on a dibaryon configuration is analyzed within the $SU(2)$ Skyrme model. It is shown that this model leads to a low-lying $(J^P,I)= (0^-,2)$ resonance. The possibility that this resonance corresponds to one proposed recently in the context of double charge exchange pion scattering on nuclei is discussed. Given the setup used in those experiments we also show that a resonance with isospin assignment $I=0$ cannot be excited according to the description presented here.
Recently, within the space of generalized Skyrme models, a BPS submodel was identified which reproduces some bulk properties of nuclear matter already on a classical level and, as such, constitutes a promising field theory candidate for the detailed and reliable description of nuclei and hadrons. Here we extend and further develop these investigations by applying the model to the calculation of nuclear binding energies. Concretely, we calculate these binding energies by including the classical soliton energies, the excitation energies from the collective coordinate quantization of spin and iso…
We study the role of the tensor term of the Skyrme effective interactions on the spin-orbit splittings in the N=82 isotones and Z=50 isotopes. The different role of the triplet-even and triplet-odd tensor forces is pointed out by analyzing the spin-orbit splittings in these nuclei. The experimental isospin dependence of these splittings cannot be described by Hartree-Fock calculations employing the usual Skyrme parametrizations, but is very well accounted for when the tensor interaction is introduced. The capability of the Skyrme forces to reproduce binding energies and charge radii in heavy n…
We describe the new version (v2.73y) of the code HFODD which solves the nuclear Skyrme Hartree-Fock or Skyrme Hartree-Fock-Bogolyubov problem by using the Cartesian deformed harmonic-oscillator basis. In the new version, we have implemented the following new features: (i) full proton-neutron mixing in the particle-hole channel for Skyrme functionals, (ii) the Gogny force in both particle-hole and particle-particle channels, (iii) linear multi-constraint method at finite temperature, (iv) fission toolkit including the constraint on the number of particles in the neck between two fragments, calc…
We present a new Skyrme energy density functional (EDF) named SAMi [Phys. Rev. C 86 031306(R)]. This interaction has been accurately calibrated to reproduce properties of doubly-magic nuclei and infinite nuclear matter. The novelties introduced in the model and fitting protocol of SAMi are crucial for a better description of the Gamow-Teller Resonance (GTR). Those are, on one side, the two-component spin-orbit potential needed for describing different proton high-angular momentum spin-orbit splitings and, on the other side, the careful description of the empirical hierarchy and positive values…
Within the framework of Skyrme energy-density functional theory, the nucleus-nucleus potential is calculated and potential energy surface is obtained with different effective forces for accurately estimating the formation cross sections of superheavy nuclei in massive fusion reactions. The width and height of the potential pocket are influenced by the Skyrme effective forces SkM, SkM$^{\ast}$, SkP, SIII, Ska and SLy4, which correspond to the different equation of state for the isospin symmetry nuclear matter. It is found that the nucleus-nucleus potential is associated with the collision orien…
Recently, it has been recently shown that the linear response theory in symmetric nuclear matter can be used as a tool to detect finite size instabilities for different Skyrme functionals. In particular it has been shown that there is a correlation between the density at which instabilities occur in infinite matter and the instabilities in finite nuclei. In this article we present a new fitting protocol that uses this correlation to add new additional constraint in Symmetric Infinite Nuclear Matter in order to ensure the stability of finite nuclei against matter fluctuation in all spin and iso…
Isospin-breaking effects in the baryonic sector are studied in the framework of a medium-modified Skyrme model. The neutron-proton mass difference in infinite, asymmetric nuclear matter is discussed. In order to describe the influence of the nuclear environment on the skyrmions, we include energy-dependent charged and neutral pion optical potentials in the s- and p-wave channels. The present approach predicts that the neutron-proton mass difference is mainly dictated by its strong part and that it strongly decreases in neutron matter.
Analytical expressions for the saturation density as well as the binding energy and incompressibility at the saturation density of asymmetric nuclear matter are given exactly up to 4th-order in the isospin asymmetry delta =(rho_n - rho_p)/rho using 11 characteristic parameters defined at the normal nuclear density rho_0. Using an isospin- and momentum-dependent modified Gogny (MDI) interaction and the SHF approach with 63 popular Skyrme interactions, we have systematically studied the isospin dependence of the saturation properties of asymmetric nuclear matter, particularly the incompressibili…
Analogous to the quarkyonic matter at high baryon density in which the quark Fermi seas and the baryonic excitations coexist, it is argued that a "quarksonic matter" phase appears at high isospin density where the quark (antiquark) Fermi seas and the mesonic excitations coexist. We explore this phase in detail in both large $N_c$ and asymptotically free limits: In large $N_c$ limit, we sketch a phase diagram for the quarksonic matter. In the asymptotically free limit, we study the pion superfluidity and thermodynamics of the quarksonic matter by using both perturbative calculations and effecti…
The conventional Skyrme interaction is generalized by adding zero-range charge-symmetry-breaking and charge-independence-breaking terms, and the corresponding energy density functional is derived. It is shown that the extended model accounts for experimental values of mirror and triplet displacement energies (MDEs and TDEs) in sd-shell isospin triplets with, on average, about 100~keV precision using only two additional adjustable coupling constants. Moreover, the model is able to reproduce, for the first time, the A=4n versus A=4n+2 staggering of the TDEs.
Isospin-breaking effects in nuclear matter are studied in the framework of a medium-modified Skyrme model. The proposed effective Lagrangian incorporates both the medium influence of the surrounding nuclear environment on the single nucleon properties and an explicit isospin-breaking effect in the mesonic sector. The approach predicts that the neutron-proton mass difference decreases in isospin-symmetric nuclear matter but by a very small amount only.
Hyperon pairs bound in deuteron like states are obtained within the SU(3) Skyrme model in agreement with general expectations from boson exchange models. The central binding from the flavor symmetry breaking terms increases with the strangeness contents of the interacting baryons whereas the kinetic non-linear $σ$-model term fixes the spin and isospin of the bound pair. We give a complete account of the interactions of octet baryons within the product approximation to baryon number $B=2$ configurations.
