Symmetry energy, unstable nuclei, and neutron star crusts

Phenomenological approach to inhomogeneous nuclear matter is useful to describe fundamental properties of atomic nuclei and neutron star crusts in terms of the equation of state of uniform nuclear matter. We review a series of researches that we have developed by following this approach. We start with more than 200 equations of state that are consistent with empirical masses and charge radii of stable nuclei and then apply them to describe matter radii and masses of unstable nuclei, proton elastic scattering and total reaction cross sections off unstable nuclei, and nuclei in neutron star crusts including nuclear pasta. We finally discuss the possibility of constraining the density dependence of the symmetry energy from experiments on unstable nuclei and even observations of quasi-periodic oscillations in giant flares of soft gamma-ray repeaters.Comment: 17 pages, 16 figures, to appear in EPJA special volume on symmetry energy. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1303.450

Proton-nucleus elastic scattering and the equation of state of nuclear matter

We calculate differential cross sections for proton-nucleus elastic scattering by using a Glauber theory in the optical limit approximation and nucleon distributions that can be obtained in the framework of macroscopic nuclear models in a way dependent on the equation of state of uniform nuclear matter near the saturation density. We find that the peak angle calculated for unstable neutron-rich nuclei in the small momentum transfer regime increases as the parameter L characterizing the density dependence of the symmetry energy decreases. This is a feature associated with the L dependence of the predicted matter radii.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures, to be published in Phys. Lett.

The symmetry energy at subnuclear densities and nuclei in neutron star crusts

We examine how the properties of inhomogeneous nuclear matter at subnuclear densities depend on the density dependence of the symmetry energy. Using a macroscopic nuclear model we calculate the size and shape of nuclei in neutron star matter at zero temperature in a way dependent on the density dependence of the symmetry energy. We find that for smaller symmetry energy at subnuclear densities, corresponding to larger density symmetry coefficient L, the charge number of nuclei is smaller, and the critical density at which matter with nuclei or bubbles becomes uniform is lower. The decrease in the charge number is associated with the dependence of the surface tension on the nuclear density and the density of a sea of neutrons, while the decrease in the critical density can be generally understood in terms of proton clustering instability in uniform matter.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures; Fig. 6 corrected, typos correcte

Saturation of nuclear matter and radii of unstable nuclei

We examine relations among the parameters characterizing the phenomenological equation of state (EOS) of nearly symmetric, uniform nuclear matter near the saturation density by comparing macroscopic calculations of radii and masses of stable nuclei with the experimental data. The EOS parameters of interest here are the symmetry energy S_0, the symmetry energy density-derivative coefficient L and the incompressibility K_0 at the normal nuclear density. We find a constraint on the relation between K_0 and L from the empirically allowed values of the slope of the saturation line (the line joining the saturation points of nuclear matter at finite neutron excess), together with a strong correlation between S_0 and L. In the light of the uncertainties in the values of K_0 and L, we macroscopically calculate radii of unstable nuclei as expected to be produced in future facilities. We find that the matter radii depend strongly on L while being almost independent of K_0, a feature that will help to determine the L value via systematic measurements of nuclear size.Comment: 26 pages, 7 figure