Dependence of nuclear binding on hadronic mass variation

We examine how the binding of light ($A\leq 8$) nuclei depends on possible variations of hadronic masses, including meson, nucleon, and nucleon-resonance masses. Small variations in hadronic masses may have occurred over time; the present results can help evaluate the consequences for big bang nucleosynthesis. Larger variations may be relevant to current attempts to extrapolate properties of nucleon-nucleon interactions from lattice QCD calculations. Results are presented as derivatives of the energy with respect to the different masses so they can be combined with different predictions of the hadronic mass-dependence on the underlying current-quark mass $m_q$. As an example, we employ a particular set of relations obtained from a study of hadron masses and sigma terms based on Dyson-Schwinger equations and a Poincar\'{e}-covariant Faddeev equation for confined quarks and diquarks. We find that nuclear binding decreases moderately rapidly as the quark mass increases, with the deuteron becoming unbound when the pion mass is increased by $\sim$60% (corresponding to an increase in $X_q=m_q/\Lambda_{QCD}$ of 2.5). In the other direction, the dineutron becomes bound if the pion mass is decreased by $\sim$15% (corresponding to a reduction of $X_q$ by $\sim$30%). If we interpret the disagreement between big bang nucleosynthesis calculations and measurements to be the result of variation in $X_q$, we obtain an estimate $\delta X_q/X_q=K \cdot (0.013 \pm 0.002)$ where $K \sim 1$ (the expected accuracy in $K$ is about a factor of 2). The result is dominated by $^7$Li data.Comment: 28 pages including 3 figures v2:additional citations/acknowledgments adde

Nuclear matter hole spectral function in the Bethe-Brueckner-Goldstone approach

The hole spectral function is calculated in nuclear matter to assess the relevance of nucleon-nucleon short range correlations. The calculation is carried out within the Brueckner scheme of many-body theory by using several nucleon-nucleon realistic interactions. Results are compared with other approaches based on variational methods and transport theory. Discrepancies appear in the high energy region, which is sensitive to short range correlations, and are due to the different many-body treatment more than to the specific N-N interaction used. Another conclusion is that the momentum dependence of the G-matrix should be taken into account in any self consistent approach.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure

Tensor correlations in the Unitary Correlation Operator Method

We present a unitary correlation operator that explicitly induces into shell model type many-body states short ranged two-body correlations caused by the strong repulsive core and the pronounced tensor part of the nucleon-nucleon interaction. Alternatively an effective Hamiltonian can be defined by applying this unitary correlator to the realistic nucleon-nucleon interaction. The momentum space representation shows that realistic interactions which differ in their short range behaviour are mapped on the same correlated Hamiltonian, indicating a successful provision for the correlations at high momenta. Calculations for He4 using the one- and two-body part of the correlated Hamiltonian compare favorably with exact many-body methods. For heavier nuclei like O16 and Ca40 where exact many-body calculations are not possible we compare our results with other approximations. The correlated single-particle momentum distributions describe the occupation of states above the Fermi momentum. The Unitary Correlation Operator Method (UCOM) can be used in mean-field and shell model configuration spaces that are not able to describe these repulsive and tensor correlations explicitly.Comment: 73 pages, 65 figure

Nuclei of Double-Charm Hyperons

The ground states of double-charm hyperons form a spin 1/2 isospin 1/2 multiplet analogous to that of nucleons. Their main strong interaction may be inferred directly from the corresponding nucleon-nucleon interaction by multiplication of the interaction components by the appropriate fractional difference between interaction strengths for pairs of light flavor quarks and pairs of triplets, e.g. nucleons, of light flavor quarks. By construction of the interaction between the recently discovered double-charm hyperons by this method from several realistic nucleon-nucleon interaction models it is shown that double-charm hyperons are likely to form bound (or possibly meta-stable) states akin to the deuteron in the spin triplet state. Double beauty baryons would form corresponding deeply bound states. Nucleons and double charm (beauty) hyperons will also form bound states. The existence of hypernuclei with double-charm and double-beauty hyperons, which are stable against the strong decay, is very likely.Comment: Revised version. Conclusions unchange

Photodisintegration of Three-Body Nuclei with Realistic 2N and 3N Forces

Total photonuclear absorption cross sections of $^3$H and $^3$He are studied using realistic NN and NNN forces. Final state interactions are fully included. Two NN potential models, the AV14 and the r-space Bonn-A potentials, are considered. For the NNN forces the Urbana-VIII and Tucson-Melbourne models are employed. We find the cross section to be sensitive to nuclear dynamics. Of particular interest in this work is the effect which NNN forces have on the cross section. The addition of NNN forces not only lowers the peak height but increases the cross section beyond 70 MeV by roughly 15%. Cross sections are computed using the Lorentz integral transform method.Comment: Results for Bonn potential with model Bonn rA instead of model rB. The Bonn rB results contained a small inexactness. After the correction it turned out that Bonn rA is more suited for our purpose because it leads to a binding energy of 8.15 MeV (about 0.25 MeV more than Bonn rB). In addition the results for the other realistic potentials models are improved at low energies (HH expansion was not completely convergent for the low-energy results). LaTeX, 8 pages, 4 ps figure

Correlation effects on the weak response of nuclear matter

The consistent description of the nuclear response at low and high momentum transfer requires a unified dynamical model, suitable to account for both short- and long-range correlation effects. We report the results of a study of the charged current weak response of symmetric nuclear matter, carried out using an effective interaction obtained from a realistic model of the nucleon-nucleon force within the formalism of correlated basis functions. Our approach allows for a clear identification of the kinematical regions in which different interaction effects dominate