Application of an ab-initio-inspired energy density functional to nuclei: impact of the effective mass and the slope of the symmetry energy on bulk and surface properties

TL;DR

This study applies the YGLO energy density functional to analyze ground-state properties of nuclei from Oxygen to Lead, exploring how effective mass and symmetry energy slope influence bulk and surface nuclear features.

Contribution

It demonstrates the first application of the YGLO functional to nuclei, linking nuclear properties with the equation of state and identifying the impact of effective mass and symmetry energy slope.

Findings

Effective mass influences proton radii and density tails.

Symmetry energy slope correlates with neutron skin thickness.

Low effective mass of YGLO suggests areas for improvement.

Abstract

The YGLO (Yang-Grasso-Lacroix-Orsay) functional is applied for the first time to investigate ground-state properties of different isotopic chains, from Oxygen to Lead. Mean-field Hartree-Fock calculations are carried out to analyze global trends for separation energies, binding energies, radii, neutron skins, and density profiles. We have three objectives: i) we study whether this functional leads to a reasonable description of ground-state properties (despite the fact that it was not adjusted on nuclei) and we discuss the associated limitations; ii) we investigate whether the correct description of the low-density nuclear gas, which is the peculiarity of this functional, has any relevant impact on predictions for nuclei; iii) we connect nuclear energies, radii and density profiles with properties of the corresponding equations of state of infinite matter. In particular, we identify a link existing between the isoscalar effective mass and spatial properties in neutron-deficient nuclei, namely proton radii and tails of proton densities. On the other side, we show that the slope of the symmetry energy is connected with spatial properties in neutron-rich nuclei: the slope computed at saturation density is related to neutron skin thicknesses, as already well known, whereas the slope calculated at lower densities is linked to the tails of neutron densities. The YGLO effective mass turns out to be quite low. Directions to improve this aspect are explored and suggested at the end of the manuscript.