Nuclear Theory

Mutual entrainment effects in cold neutron-proton mixtures are studied in the framework of the self-consistent nuclear energy-density functional theory. Exact expressions for the mass currents, valid for both homogeneous and inhomogeneous systems, are directly derived from the time-dependent Hartree-Fock equations with no further approximation. The equivalence with the Fermi-liquid expression is also demonstrated. Focusing on neutron-star cores, a convenient and simple analytical formulation of the entrainment matrix in terms of the isovector effective mass is found, thus allowing to relate entrainment phenomena in neutron stars to isovector giant dipole resonances in finite nuclei. Results obtained with different functionals are presented. These include the Brussels-Montreal functionals, for which unified equations of state of neutron stars have been recently calculated.

The status of different extensions of the Random Phase Approximation (RPA) is reviewed. The general framework is given within the Equation of Motion Method and the equivalent Green's function approach for the so-called Self-Consistent RPA (SCRPA). The role of the Pauli principle is analyzed. A comparison among various approaches to include Pauli correlations, in particular, renormalized RPA (r-RPA), is performed. The thermodynamic properties of nuclear matter are studied with several cluster approximations for the self-energy of the single-particle Dyson equation. More particle RPA's are shortly discussed with a particular attention to the alpha-particle condensate. Results obtained concerning the Three-level Lipkin, Hubbard and Picket Fence Models, respectively, are outlined. Extended second RPA (ESRPA) is presented.

Detection rates for the elastic and inelastic scattering of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMP) off 23 Na are calculated within the framework of Deformed Shell Model (DSM) based on Hartree-Fock states. First the spectroscopic properties like energy spectra and magnetic moments are calculated and compared with experiment. Following the good agreement for these, DSM wave functions are used for obtaining elastic and inelastic spin structure functions, nuclear structure coefficients etc. for the WIMP- 23 Na scattering. Then, the event rates are also calculated with a given set of supersymmetric parameters. In the same manner, using DSM wavefunctions, nuclear structure coefficients and event rates for elastic scattering of WIMP from 40 Ar are also obtained. These results for event rates and also for annual modulation will be useful for the upcoming and future WIMP detection experiments involving detectors with 23 Na and 40 Ar.

We study photon production in the early stage of heavy-ion collisions using a multistage model combining IP-Glasma, KøMPøST and relativistic hydrodynamics. We discuss the small momentum anisotropy of these photons, highlighting the role of the photon-hadron event-plane decorrelation. We comment that this singular characteristic of early photons could be used to provide dynamical information on the complex pre-hydrodynamics phase of heavy-ion collisions.

A regular pattern, revealing the leading role of the light-fragment nuclear charge, is found to emerge from a consistent analysis of the experimental information collected recently on low-energy asymmetric fission of neutron-deficient nuclei around lead. The observation is corroborated by a theoretical investigation within a microscopic framework, suggesting the importance of proton configurations driven by quadrupole-octupole correlations. This is in contrast to the earlier theoretical interpretations in terms of dominant neutron shells. The survey of a wider area of the nuclear chart by a semi-empirical approach points to the lack of understanding of the competition between the different underlying macroscopic and microscopic forces in a quantitative manner. Combined with previously identified stabilizing forces, the present finding shows a striking connection between the "old" (actinide) and "new" (pre-actinide) islands of asymmetric fission which could steer the strive for an unified theory of fission.

We present a scattering model for nuclei with similar masses. In this three-body model, the projectile has a core+valence structure, whereas the target is identical to the core nucleus. The three-body wave functions must be symmetrized for the exchange of the cores. This property gives rise to non-local potentials, which are computed without approximation. The present model is an extension of the Continuum Discretized Coupled Channel (CDCC) formalism, with an additional treatment of core exchange. We solve the coupled-channel system, including non-local terms, by the R -matrix method using Lagrange functions. This model is applied to the 13 C + 12 C, 13 N + 12 C and 16 O + 12 C systems. Experimental scattering cross sections are fairly well reproduced without any parameter fitting. The backward-angle enhancement of the elastic cross sections is due to the non-local potential. We discuss in more detail the various non-local contributions and present effective local potentials.

We extend the excluded-volume model of isospin symmetric two-flavor dense quarkyonic matter [Phys. Rev. C 101, 035201 (2020)] including strange particles and address its implications for neutron stars. The effective sizes of baryons are defined from the diverging hard-core potentials in the short interdistance regime. Around the hard-core density, the repulsive core between baryons at short distances leads to a saturation in the number density of baryons and generates perturbative quarks from the lower phase space, which leads to the shell-like distribution of baryons by the Pauli exclusion principle. The strange-quark Fermi sea always appears at high densities but the Λ hyperon shell only appears when the effective size of the Λ hyperon is smaller than the effective size of nucleons. We find that the pressure of strange quarkyonic matter can be large enough to support neutron stars with two times solar mass and can have a large sound speed, c 2 s ≃0.7 . The fraction of the baryon number carried by perturbative quarks is about 30% at the inner core of most massive neutron stars.

The tensor-force effects on the evolution of the spin-orbit splittings in the neutron drops are investigated within the framework of the relativistic Hartree-Fock theory. For fair comparisons on the pure mean-field level, the results of the relativistic Brueckner-Hartree-Fock calculation with the Bonn A interaction are adopted as meta-data. Through a quantitative analysis, we certify that the ? -pseudovector ( ? -PV) coupling affects the evolutionary trend through the tensor force embedded. The strength of the tensor force is explored by enlarging the strength f ? of the ? -PV coupling. It is found that weakening the density dependence of f ? is slightly better than enlarging it with a factor. We thus provide a semiquantitative support for the \textit{renormalization persistency} of the tensor force within the framework of density functional theory. This will serve as an important guidance for the further development of the relativistic effective interactions with particular focus on the tensor force.

We report on recent progress concerning theoretical description of event-by-event fluctuations in heavy-ion collisions. Specifically we discuss a new Cooper-Frye particlization routine -- the subensemble sampler -- which is designed to incorporate effects of global conservation laws, thermal smearing and resonance decays on fluctuation measurements in various rapidity acceptances. First applications of the method to heavy-ion collisions at the LHC energies are presented and further necessary steps to analyze fluctuations from RHIC beam energy scan are outlined.

The Lipkin-Meshkov-Glick (LMG) model was devised to test the validity of different approximate formalisms to treat many-particle systems. The model was constructed to be exactly solvable and yet non-trivial, in order to capture some of the main features of real physical systems. In the present contribution, we explicitly review the fact that different many-body approximations commonly used in different fields in physics clearly fail to describe the exact LMG solution. With similar assumptions as those adopted for the LMG model, we propose a new Hamiltonian based on a general two-body interaction. The new model (Extended LMG) is not only more general than the original LMG model and, therefore, with a potentially larger spectrum of applicability, but also the physics behind its exact solution can be much better captured by common many-body approximations. At the basis of this improvement lies a new term in the Hamiltonian that depends on the number of constituents and polarizes the system; the associated symmetry breaking is discussed, together with some implications for the study of more realistic systems.