Extended Skyrme interactions for transport model simulations of heavy-ion collisions

TL;DR

This paper develops an extended Skyrme interaction model including sixth-order momentum terms, improving the description of nucleon optical potentials and enabling more accurate transport simulations of heavy-ion collisions involving neutron-rich nuclei.

Contribution

It introduces an N3LO Skyrme interaction with higher-order momentum terms, enhancing the modeling of nucleon potentials and high-density symmetry energy behavior.

Findings

Extended N3LO Skyrme interaction accurately describes empirical nucleon optical potential.

Constructed interaction sets with varied high-density symmetry energy behaviors.

Applicable to transport simulations of neutron-rich heavy-ion collisions.

Abstract

Based on an extended Skyrme interaction that includes the terms in relative momenta up to sixth order, corresponding to the so-called Skyrme pseudopotential up to next-to-next-to-next-to leading order (N3LO), we derive the expressions of Hamiltonian density and single nucleon potential under general non-equilibrium conditions which can be applied in transport model simulations of heavy-ion collisions induced by neutron-rich nuclei. While the conventional Skyrme interactions, which include the terms in relative momenta up to second order, predict an incorrect behavior as a function of energy for nucleon optical potential in nuclear matter, the present extended N3LO Skyrme interaction can give a nice description for the empirical nucleon optical potential. We also construct three interaction sets with different high-density behaviors of the symmetry energy, by fitting both the empirical nucleon optical potential up to energy of $1$ GeV and the empirical properties of isospin asymmetric nuclear matter. These extended N3LO Skyrme interactions will be useful in transport model simulations of heavy-ion collisions induced by neutron-rich nuclei at intermediate and high energies, and they can also be useful in nuclear structure studies within the mean-field model.