Particle number projected energies at finite temperature

TL;DR

This paper introduces a method to incorporate particle number projection into finite-temperature nuclear energy calculations, revealing effects on fission barriers and level densities, with implications for nuclear structure modeling.

Contribution

It presents a novel approach to include particle number projection in finite-temperature Skyrme density functional calculations, improving the accuracy of nuclear energy and level density predictions.

Findings

Gradual reduction of even-odd staggering near critical temperature

Projected energies differ from unprojected at finite temperature

Fission barriers remain similar with and without projection

Abstract

In this work, the particle number projection at finite temperature is incorporated into self-consistent Skyrme density functional calculations. In particular, the energies of compound nuclei as a function of deformations are calculated rigorously based on projected densities. Results show that the even-odd staggering effect in partition function gradually diminishes as the system approaches the critical temperature. The obtained fission barriers are similar to that without projection at finite temperature, although projected energies are different. The nuclear level density at the ground state and the barrier are also studied using the projection method and the discrete Gaussian method.