Temperature dependence of symmetry energy of finite nuclei

TL;DR

This paper investigates how the symmetry energy and free energy coefficients of finite nuclei change with temperature using a finite temperature Thomas-Fermi model, revealing a significant decrease in symmetry energy for finite systems.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed analysis of temperature effects on symmetry energy in finite nuclei, including surface phonon coupling effects, which were less explored before.

Findings

Symmetry energy decreases substantially with temperature in finite nuclei.

Surface phonon coupling reduces symmetry energy at low temperatures.

Finite nuclei show different temperature dependence compared to infinite nuclear matter.

Abstract

The temperature dependence of the symmetry energy and the symmetry free energy coefficients of atomic nuclei is investigated in a finite temperature Thomas-Fermi framework employing the subtraction procedure. A substantial decrement in the symmetry energy coefficient is obtained for finite systems,contrary to those seen for infinite nuclear matter at normal and somewhat subnormal densities. The effect of the coupling of the surface phonons to the nucleonic motion is also considered; this is found to decrease the symmetry energies somewhat at low temperatures.