From homogeneous matter to finite nuclei: Role of the effective mass

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel method to derive nuclear energy density functionals directly from a specified equation of state, successfully describing nuclei and predicting neutron skin thickness while showing properties are largely unaffected by the effective mass.

Contribution

It presents the first method to generate a microscopic energy density functional from a fixed EoS, linking infinite matter constraints with finite nuclei modeling.

Findings

Successfully describes closed-shell nuclei using the new method

Predicts neutron skin thickness based on the given EoS

Finds nuclear properties are independent of effective mass assumptions

Abstract

Recent astronomical observations, nuclear-reaction experiments, and microscopic calculations have placed new constraints on the nuclear equation of state (EoS) and revealed that most nuclear structure models fail to satisfy those constraints upon extrapolation to infinite matter. A reverse procedure for imposing EoS constraints on nuclear structure has been elusive. Here we present for the first time a method to generate a microscopic energy density functional (EDF) for nuclei from a given immutable EoS. The method takes advantage of a natural Ansatz for homogeneous nuclear matter, the Kohn-Sham framework, and the Skyrme formalism. We apply it to the realistic nuclear EoS of Akmal-Pandharipande-Ravenhall and describe successfully closed-(sub)shell nuclei. In the process, we provide predictions for the neutron skin thickness of nuclei based directly on the given EoS. Crucially, bulk and static nuclear properties are found practically independent of the assumed effective mass value - a unique result in bridging EDF of finite and homogeneous systems in general.