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Pauli energy contribution to the nucleus-nucleus interaction

A. S. Umar, C. Simenel, and K. Godbey
Phys. Rev. C 104, 034619 – Published 17 September 2021

Abstract

Background: The Pauli exclusion principle plays a crucial role as a building block of many-body quantal systems comprised of fermions. It also induces a “Pauli repulsion” in the interaction between di-nuclear systems. It has been shown in [Phys. Rev. C 95, 031601(R) (2017)] that the Pauli repulsion widens the nucleus-nucleus potential barrier, thus hindering sub-barrier fusion.

Purpose: To investigate the proton and neutron contributions to the Pauli repulsion, both in the bare potential neglecting shape polarization and transfer between the reactants, as well as in the dynamical potential obtained by accounting for such dynamical rearrangements.

Methods: As the basis of our study we utilize the Pauli kinetic energy (PKE) obtained by studying the nuclear localization function (NLF). Recently this approach has been generalized to incorporate all of the dynamical and time-odd terms present in the nuclear energy density functional. This approach is employed in the density constrained frozen Hartree-Fock (DCFHF) and in the density constrained time-dependent Hartree-Fock (DC-TDHF) microscopic methods.

Results: The PKE spatial distribution shows that a repulsion occurs in the neck between the nuclei when they first touch. Inside the barrier, neutrons can contribute significantly more to the Pauli repulsion in neutron-rich systems. Dynamical effects tend to lower the Pauli repulsion near the barrier. Proton and neutron dynamical contributions to the PKE significantly differ inside the barrier for asymmetric collisions, which is interpreted as an effect of multinucleon transfer.

Conclusions: The PKE is shown to make a significant contribution to nuclear interaction potentials. Protons and neutrons can play very different roles in both the bare potential and in the dynamical rearrangement. Further microscopic studies are required to better understand the role of transfer and to investigate the effect of pairing and deformation.

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  • Received 11 May 2021
  • Accepted 4 August 2021

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.104.034619

©2021 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Nuclear Physics

Authors & Affiliations

A. S. Umar1,*, C. Simenel2,†, and K. Godbey3,‡

  • 1Department of Physics and Astronomy, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee 37235, USA
  • 2Department of Fundamental and Theoretical Physics and Department of Nuclear Physics and Accelerator Applications, Research School of Physics, Australian National University, Canberra ACT 2601, Australia
  • 3Cyclotron Institute, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843, USA

  • *umar@compsci.cas.vanderbilt.edu
  • cedric.simenel@anu.edu.au
  • Present address: Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, USA; godbey@frib.msu.edu

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Issue

Vol. 104, Iss. 3 — September 2021

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