Isospin-symmetry restoration within the nuclear density functional theory: formalism and applications

TL;DR

This paper introduces a projection scheme within nuclear density functional theory to restore isospin symmetry, effectively handling both explicit and spontaneous symmetry breaking, and applies it to high-spin states in N=Z nuclei.

Contribution

A novel projection method for isospin symmetry restoration in nuclear density functional theory, addressing issues of spurious divergences and enabling accurate treatment of ground and excited states.

Findings

Effective treatment of isospin breaking in nuclear states.

Application to high-spin states in N=Z nuclei.

Scheme free from common divergences in symmetry restoration.

Abstract

Isospin symmetry of atomic nuclei is explicitly broken by the charge-dependent interactions, primarily the Coulomb force. Within the nuclear density functional theory, isospin is also broken spontaneously. We propose a projection scheme rooted in a mean field theory, that allows the consistent treatment of isospin breaking in both ground and exited nuclear states. We demonstrate that this scheme is essentially free from spurious divergences plaguing particle-number and angular-momentum restoration approaches. Applications of the new technique include excited high-spin states in medium-mass N=Z nuclei, such as superdeformed bands and many-particle-many-hole terminating states.