Nuclear condensation and the equation of state of nuclear matter

TL;DR

This paper investigates the phase transition and equation of state of nuclear matter considering cluster formation, revealing a gas-liquid transition and analyzing various observables with potential medium modification effects.

Contribution

It introduces an equilibrium statistical model including cluster degrees of freedom to study nuclear matter's equation of state and phase transition phenomena.

Findings

Clusterized system is more stable than pure nucleonic system.

Features similar to gas-liquid phase transition are observed.

Medium modifications affect observable properties.

Abstract

The isothermal compression of a dilute nucleonic gas invoking cluster degrees of freedom is studied in an equilibrium statistical model; this clusterized system is found to be more stable than the pure nucleonic system. The equation of state (EoS) of this matter shows features qualitatively very similar to the one obtained from pure nucleonic gas. In the isothermal compression process, there is a sudden enhancement of clusterization at a transition density rendering features analogous to the gas-liquid phase transition in normal dilute nucleonic matter. Different observables like the caloric curves, heat capacity, isospin distillation, etc. are studied in both the models. Possible changes in the observables due to recently indicated medium modifications in the symmetry energy are also investigated.