Relativistic Corrections to the CBF Effective Nuclear Hamiltonian

TL;DR

This paper explores how relativistic boost corrections influence the effective nuclear Hamiltonian in correlated basis functions, showing they soften the nuclear matter equation of state at high densities.

Contribution

It introduces a method to incorporate relativistic boost corrections into the CBF effective Hamiltonian based on realistic nucleon interactions.

Findings

Relativistic boost corrections depend on the non-relativistic potential model.

The dominant correction reduces the strength of three-nucleon repulsion.

This leads to a significant softening of the nuclear matter equation of state at high densities.

Abstract

We discuss the inclusion of relativistic boost corrections into the CBF effective nuclear Hamiltonian, derived from a realistic model of two- and three-nucleon interactions using the formalism of correlated basis functions and the cluster expansion technique. Different procedures to take into account the effects of boost interactions are compared on the basis of the ability to reproduce the nuclear matter equation of state obtained from accurate many-body calculations. The results of our study show that the repulsive contribution of the boost interaction significantly depends on the underlying model of the non relativistic potential. On the other hand, the dominant relativistic correction turns out to be the corresponding reduction of the strength of repulsive three-nucleon interactions, leading to a significant softening of the equation of state at supranuclear densities.