New parametrization for the nuclear covariant energy density functional with point-coupling interaction

TL;DR

This paper introduces PC-PK1, a new parametrization for the nuclear covariant energy density functional with point-coupling interaction, fitted to spherical nuclei data, improving predictions for nuclear matter, finite nuclei, and low-lying excitations.

Contribution

The paper presents PC-PK1, a novel parametrization that enhances the accuracy of nuclear density functional predictions, especially for exotic nuclei, by fitting to a broad set of nuclear observables.

Findings

Improves description of isospin dependence in binding energies.

Accurately predicts properties of finite nuclei and nuclear matter.

Enhances modeling of low-lying nuclear excitations.

Abstract

A new parametrization PC-PK1 for the nuclear covariant energy density functional with nonlinear point-coupling interaction is proposed by fitting to observables for 60 selected spherical nuclei, including the binding energies, charge radii and empirical pairing gaps. The success of PC-PK1 is illustrated in its description for infinite nuclear matter and finite nuclei including the ground-state and low-lying excited states. Particularly, PC-PK1 improves the description for isospin dependence of binding energy along either the isotopic or the isotonic chains, which makes it more reliable for application in exotic nuclei. The predictive power of PC-PK1 is also illustrated for the nuclear low-lying excitation states in a five-dimensional collective Hamiltonian in which the parameters are determined by constrained calculations for triaxial shapes.