Low-energy modes of spin-imbalanced Fermi gases in BCS phase

The low-energy modes of a spin-imbalanced superfluid Fermi gas in the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) side are studied. The gas is assumed to be sufficiently dilute so that the pairing of atoms can be considered effective only in s-wave between fermions of different internal state. The order parameter at equilibrium is determined by the mean-field approximation, while the properties of the collective modes are calculated within a Gaussian approximation for the fluctuations of the order parameter. In particular we investigate the effects of asymmetry between the populations of the two different components and of temperature on the frequency and damping of collective modes. It is found that the temperature does not much affect the frequency and the damping of the modes, whereas an increase of the imbalance shifts the frequency toward lower values and enhances the damping sensitively. Besides the Bogoliubov-Anderson phonons, we observe modes at zero frequency for finite values of the wave-number. These modes indicate that an instability develops driving the system toward two separate phases, normal and superfluid.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, submitted to European Physical Journal D for publicatio

Kinetic-theory description of isoscalar dipole modes

A semiclassical model, based on a solution of the Vlasov equation for finite systems with moving-surface, is employed to study the isoscalar dipole modes in nuclei. It is shown that, by taking into account the surface degree of freedom, it is possible to obtain an exact treatment of the centre of mass motion. It is also shown that a method often used to subtract the spurious strength in RPA calculations does not always give the correct result. An alternative analytical formula for the intrinsic strength function is derived in a simple confined-Fermi-gas model. In this model the intrinsic isoscalar dipole strength displays essentially a two-resonance structure, hence there are two relevant modes. The interaction between nucleons couples these two modes and changes the compressibility of the system. The evolution of the strength profile is then studied as a function of the compressibility of the nuclear fluid. Comparison with available data favours values of the incompressibility parameter of nuclear matter smaller than those suggested by the analysis of the monopole ``breathing'' mode.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figures, revised version to be published in Nucl. Phys.

Unified semiclassical approach to isoscalar collective modes in heavy nuclei

A semiclassical model based on the solution of the Vlasov equation for finite systems with a sharp moving surface has been used to study the isoscalar quadrupole and octupole collective modes in heavy spherical nuclei. Within this model, a unified description of both low-energy surface modes and higher-energy giant resonances has been achieved by introducing a coupling between surface vibrations and the motion of single nucleons. Analytical expressions for the collective response functions of different multipolarity can be derived by using a separable approximation for the residual interaction between nucleons. The response functions obtained in this way give a good qualitative description of the quadrupole and octupole response in heavy nuclei. Although shell effects are not explicitly included in the theory, our semiclassical response functions are very similar to the quantum ones. This happens because of the well known close relation between classical trajectories and shell structure. The role played by particular nucleon trajectories and their connection with various features of the nuclear response is displayed most clearly in the present approach, we discuss in some detail the damping of low-energy octupole vibrations and give an explicit expression showing that only nucleons moving on triangular orbits can contribute to this damping.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures, Talk presented at the 8th International Spring Seminar on Nuclear Physics on Key Topics in Nuclear Structure, Paestum, Italy, May 23-27, 200

Influence of vector interactions on the hadron-quark/gluon phase transition

The hadron-quark/gluon phase transition is studied in the two-phase model. As a further study of our previous work, both the isoscalar and isovector vector interactions are included in the Polyakov loop modified Nambu--Jona-Lasinio model (PNJL) for the quark phase. The relevance of the exchange (Fock) terms is stressed and suitably accounted for. The calculation shows that the isovector vector interaction delays the phase transition to higher densities and the range of the mixed phase correspondingly shrinks. Meanwhile the asymmetry parameter of quark matter in the mixed phase decreases with the strengthening of this interaction channel. This leads to some possible observation signals being weakened, although still present. We show that these can be rather general effects of a repulsion in the quark phase due to the symmetry energy. This is also confirmed by a simpler calculation with the MIT--Bag model. However, the asymmetry parameter of quark matter is slightly enhanced with the inclusion of the isoscalar vector interaction, but the phase transition will be moved to higher densities. The largest uncertainty on the phase transition lies in the undetermined coupling constants of the vector interactions. In this respect new data on the mixed phase obtained from Heavy Ion Collisions at Intermediate Energies appear very important.Comment: submitted to Phys. Rev.

Instabilities in a Mean-field dynamics of Asymmetric Nuclear Matter

We discuss the features of instabilities in asymmetric nuclear matter, in particular the relation between the nature of fluctuations, the types of instabilities and the properties of the interaction. We show a chemical instability appears as an instability against isoscalar-like fluctuations. Then starting from phenomenological hadronic field theory (QHD), including exchange terms, we discuss the symmetry energy and the relation to the dynamical response inside the spinodal region.Comment: 8 pages, 5 Postscript figures, talk at Cortona 2000 Conference, Oct. 17 - Oct. 20, Italy, World Scientific (in press