Surface behaviour of the pairing gap in a slab of nuclear matter

The surface behaviour of the pairing gap previously studied for semi-infinite nuclear matter is analyzed in the slab geometry. The gap-shape function is calculated in two cases: (a) pairing with the Gogny force in a hard-wall potential and (b) pairing with the separable Paris interaction in a Saxon-Woods mean-field potential. It is shown that the surface features are preserved in the case of slab geometry, being almost independent of the width of the slab. It is also demonstrated that the surface enhancement is strengthened as the absolute value of chemical potential $|\mu|$ decreases which simulates the approach to the nucleon drip line.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figure

In-medium enhancement of the modified Urca neutrino reaction rates

We calculate modified Urca neutrino emission rates in the dense nuclear matter in neutron star cores. We find that these rates are strongly enhanced in the beta-stable matter in regions of the core close to the direct Urca process threshold. This enhancement can be tracked to the use of the in-medium nucleon spectrum in the virtual nucleon propagator. We describe the in-medium nucleon scattering in the non-relativistic Bruckner-Hartree-Fock framework taking into account two-body as well as the effective three-body forces, although the proposed enhancement does not rely on a particular way of the nucleon interaction treatment. Finally we suggest a simple approximate expression for the emissivity of the n-branch of the modified Urca process that can be used in the neutron stars cooling simulations with any nucleon equation of state of dense matter.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures; accepted for publication in PLB. In v.2 misprint in eq.(9) corrected and discussion of cooling curves expande

Non-locality in the nucleon-nucleon interaction and nuclear matter saturation

We study the possible relationship between the saturation properties of nuclear matter and the inclusion of non-locality in the nucleon-nucleon interaction. To this purpose we compute the saturation curve of nuclear matter within the Bethe-Brueckner-Goldstone theory using a recently proposed realistic non-local potential, and compare it with the corresponding curves obtained with a purely local realistic interaction (Argonne v$_{18}$) and the most recent version of the one-boson exchange potential (CD Bonn). We find that the inclusion of non-locality in the two-nucleon bare interaction strongly affects saturation, but it is unable to provide a consistent description of few-body nuclear systems and nuclear matter.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures; v2: introduction extended, references added, discussion of fig.8 reformulated; to be published in Phys. Rev.

Surface properties of nuclear pairing with the Gogny force in a simplified model

Surface properties of neutron-neutron (T=1) pairing in semi-infinite nuclear matter in a hard wall potential are investigated in BCS approximation using the Gogny force. Surface enhancement of the gap function, pairing tensor and correlation energy density is put into evidence.Comment: 16 pages; 4 figures ; submitted to Phys. Lett.

In medium T-matrix for nuclear matter with three-body forces - binding energy and single particle properties

We present spectral calculations of nuclear matter properties including three-body forces. Within the in-medium T-matrix approach, implemented with the CD-Bonn and Nijmegen potentials plus the three-nucleon Urbana interaction, we compute the energy per particle in symmetric and neutron matter. The three-body forces are included via an effective density dependent two-body force in the in-medium T-matrix equations. After fine tuning the parameters of the three-body force to reproduce the phenomenological saturation point in symmetric nuclear matter, we calculate the incompressibility and the energy per particle in neutron matter. We find a soft equation of state in symmetric nuclear matter but a relatively large value of the symmetry energy. We study the the influence of the three-body forces on the single-particle properties. For symmetric matter the spectral function is broadened at all momenta and all densities, while an opposite effect is found for the case of neutrons only. Noticeable modification of the spectral functions are realized only for densities above the saturation density. The modifications of the self-energy and the effective mass are not very large and appear to be strongly suppressed above the Fermi momentum.Comment: 20 pages, 11 figure

Measuring neutron-star properties via gravitational waves from binary mergers

We demonstrate by a large set of merger simulations for symmetric binary neutron stars (NSs) that there is a tight correlation between the frequency peak of the postmerger gravitational-wave (GW) emission and the physical properties of the nuclear equation of state (EoS), e.g. expressed by the radius of the maximum-mass Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkhoff configuration. Therefore, a single measurement of the peak frequency of the postmerger GW signal will constrain the NS EoS significantly. For plausible optimistic merger-rate estimates a corresponding detection with Advanced LIGO is likely to happen within an operation time of roughly a year.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, accepted by Phys. Rev. Lett., revised version including referee comment

Chaoticity and Dissipation of Nuclear Collective Motion in a Classical Model

We analyze the behavior of a gas of classical particles moving in a two-dimensional "nuclear" billiard whose multipole-deformed walls undergo periodic shape oscillations. We demonstrate that a single particle Hamiltonian containing coupling terms between the particles' motion and the collective coordinate induces a chaotic dynamics for any multipolarity, independently on the geometry of the billiard. The absence of coupling terms allows us to recover qualitatively the "wall formula" predictions. We also discuss the dissipative behavior of the wall motion and its relation with the order-to-chaos transition in the dynamics of the microscopic degrees of freedom.Comment: LateX, 11 pages, 7 figures available on request, to appear in the Proceedings of XXXIV Winter Meeting on Nuclear Physics, Bormio 22-27 January, 199

Accurate nuclear masses from a three parameter Kohn-Sham DFT approach (BCPM)

Given the promising features of the recently proposed Barcelona-Catania-Paris (BCP) functional \cite{Baldo.08}, it is the purpose of this paper to still improve on it. It is, for instance, shown that the number of open parameters can be reduced from 4-5 to 2-3, i.e. by practically a factor of two. One parameter is tightly fixed by a fine-tuning of the bulk, a second by the surface energy. The third is the strength of the spin-orbit potential on which the final result does not depend within the scatter of the values used in Skyrme and Gogny like functionals. An energy rms value of 1.58 MeV is obtained from a fit of these three parameters to the 579 measured masses reported in the Audi and Waspra 2003 compilation. This rms value compares favorably with the one obtained using other successful mean field theories. Charge radii are also well reproduced when compared with experiment. The energies of some excited states, mostly the isoscalar giant monopole resonances, are studied within this model as well.Comment: 23 pages, 12 figure