Skyrme-Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov nuclear mass formulas: Crossing the 0.6 MeV threshold with microscopically deduced pairing

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new nuclear mass model using a microscopic pairing force that achieves unprecedented accuracy, with a root mean square deviation of 0.581 MeV, suitable for astrophysical applications.

Contribution

The paper develops a Skyrme-Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov model with a pairing force based on microscopic calculations, improving mass prediction accuracy within the mean-field framework.

Findings

Achieved a rms deviation of 0.581 MeV for nuclear masses.

Pairing force constructed from microscopic pairing gaps including medium effects.

Model constrained by properties of pure neutron matter, suitable for astrophysics.

Abstract

We present a new Skyrme-Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov nuclear-mass model in which the contact-pairing force is constructed from microscopic pairing gaps of symmetric nuclear matter and neutron matter calculated from realistic two- and three-body forces, with medium-polarization effects included. With the pairing being treated more realistically than in any of our earlier models, the rms deviation with respect to essentially all the available mass data falls to 0.581 MeV, the best value ever found within the mean-field framework. Since our Skyrme force is also constrained by the properties of pure neutron matter, this new model is particularly well suited for application to astrophysical problems involving a neutron-rich environment, such as the elucidation of the r process of nucleosynthesis, and the description of supernova cores and neutron-star crusts.