Solution of the Skyrme HF+BCS equation on a 3D mesh. II. A new version of the Ev8 code

TL;DR

This paper presents an improved version of the EV8 code for solving the nuclear Skyrme-Hartree-Fock+BCS equations on a 3D mesh, enhancing accuracy, flexibility, and constraint handling for nuclear structure studies.

Contribution

The new EV8 version introduces advanced numerical methods, increased flexibility for various Skyrme functionals, and improved constraint treatment, surpassing the capabilities of the 2005 version.

Findings

Enhanced numerical accuracy for Coulomb potential and derivatives.

Greater flexibility in using diverse Skyrme energy density functionals.

Improved constraint handling for nuclear shape variations.

Abstract

We describe a new version of the EV8 code that solves the nuclear Skyrme-Hartree-Fock+BCS problem using a 3-dimensional cartesian mesh. Several new features have been implemented with respect to the earlier version published in 2005. In particular, the numerical accuracy has been improved for a given mesh size by (i) implementing a new solver to determine the Coulomb potential for protons (ii) implementing a more precise method to calculate the derivatives on a mesh that had already been implemented earlier in our beyond-mean-field codes. The code has been made very flexible to enable the use of a large variety of Skyrme energy density functionals that have been introduced in the last years. Finally, the treatment of the constraints that can be introduced in the mean-field equations has been improved. The code Ev8 is today the tool of choice to study the variation of the energy of a nucleus from its ground state to very elongated or triaxial deformations with a well-controlled accuracy.