Quasiparticle light elements and quantum condensates in nuclear matter

TL;DR

This paper models light nuclear elements as quasiparticles in dense nuclear matter, considering medium effects like self-energy and Pauli blocking, and explores their impact on nuclear matter properties at low densities and temperatures.

Contribution

It introduces an effective Schrödinger equation for light nuclear clusters in medium, accounting for medium effects, and analyzes their role as quasiparticles in nuclear matter.

Findings

Light elements treated as quasiparticles with medium-dependent energies

Quartetting effects become significant at low temperatures

Implications for nuclear matter composition and properties

Abstract

Nuclei in dense matter are influenced by the medium. In the cluster mean field approximation, an effective Schr\"odinger equation for the $A$-particle cluster is obtained accounting for the effects of the surrounding medium, such as self-energy and Pauli blocking. Similar to the single-baryon states (free neutrons and protons), the light elements ($2 \le A \le 4$, internal quantum state $\nu$) are treated as quasiparticles with energies $E_{A,\nu}(P; T, n_n,n_p)$ that depend on the center of mass momentum $\vec P$, the temperature $T$, and the total densities $n_n,n_p$ of neutrons and protons, respectively. We consider the composition and thermodynamic properties of nuclear matter at low densities. At low temperatures, quartetting is expected to occur. Consequences for different physical properties of nuclear matter and finite nuclei are discussed.