Density dependence of nuclear symmetry energy constrained by mean-field calculations

TL;DR

This paper establishes correlations among key parameters of nuclear symmetry energy using mean-field models, constrains its density dependence, and explores implications for neutron skin thickness and neutron star properties.

Contribution

It introduces a correlation among symmetry energy parameters and constrains the density dependence of symmetry energy based on mean-field calculations, improving understanding of nuclear and astrophysical phenomena.

Findings

Correlation between $S_0$, $L$, and $K_{sym}$ established.

Density dependence of symmetry energy constrained around saturation density.

Standard simple expressions do not accurately reproduce the mean-field predicted density dependence.

Abstract

We establish a correlation for the symmetry energy at saturation density $S_{0}$, slope parameter $L$ and curvature parameter $K_{\text{sym}}$ based on widely different mean field interactions. With the help of this correlation and available empirical and theoretical information, the density dependent behavior around the saturation density is determined. We compare the results obtained with the present approach with those by other analyses. With this obtained density dependent behavior of the symmetry energy, the neutron skin thickness of $^{208}$Pb and some properties of neutron stars are investigated. In addition, it is found that the expression $S(\rho)=S_{0}(\rho /\rho_{0})^{\gamma}$ or $S(\rho)=12.5(\rho /\rho_{0}) ^{2/3}+C_{p}(\rho /\rho_{0}) ^{\gamma}$ does not reproduce the density dependence of the symmetry energy as predicted by the mean-field approach around nuclear saturation density.