Isospin Dependence of Nuclear Matter and Applications in Astrophysics and Nuclear Structure

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Amand Fäßler
• Subject Area: Nuclear and Elementary Particle Physics, Quantum Mechanics, Relativity, Fields
• Term: from 2005 to 2009
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 5451657

There have been many studies of symmetric nuclear matter. Studies of asymmetric nuclear matter, however, are rare. The investigation of asymmetric matter is of importance for astrophysical studies [1,2] and for physics related to neutron-rich nuclei [3, 4, 5]. The interest for physics related to neutron-rich nuclei is only of recent date, because data for asymmetric nuclei were scarce in the past. However, this situation is changing with a new generation of high-intensity radioactive beam facilities, e.g. the future GSI facility and the Rare Isotope Accelerator (RIA) planned in the United States of America (USA). In the Tübingen theory group asymmetric nuclear matter was studied at zero temperature in the relativistic Dirac-Brueckner-Hartree-Fock approach using the Bonn A potential [6]. We suggest to further improve the work on the relativistic Dirac-Brueckner-Hartree-Fock approach to asymmetric nuclear matter by refined approximation schemes. Furthermore, we propose to study some applications using the results from the new asymmetric nuclear matter code. In astrophysics, the topics to be investigated are the mean free path of neutrinos, the symmetry energy, and the influence of the equation of state (EOS) on the bulk viscosity. In the field of nuclear physics, spinodal instabilities in asymmetric nuclear matter, and the properties of finite nuclei, such as charge radii and binding energies, are proposed to be investigated.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Participating Person: Privatdozent Dr. Christian Fuchs