Abstract
Besides earlier predictions based on both phenomenological models and modern microscopic many-body theories, circumstantial evidence was recently found for a reduced kinetic symmetry energy of isospin-asymmetric nucleonic matter compared to the free Fermi gas model prediction due to the short-range correlation of high-momentum neutron-proton pairs. While keeping the total symmetry energy near the saturation density of nuclear matter consistent with existing experimental constraints, we examine the correspondingly enhanced role of the isospin degree of freedom in heavy-ion collisions at intermediate energies due to the reduced (enhanced) kinetic (potential) symmetry energy. Important observable consequences are investigated.
1 More- Received 28 December 2014
- Revised 12 March 2015
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.91.044601
©2015 American Physical Society