2010/01/31 by J. B. Natowitz, G. Ropke, G. Röpke +13 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomical and nuclear sciences #Energy (signal processing) #Nuclear matter #Nuclear physics #Nuclear physics research studies #Nucleon #Physics #Quantum Chromodynamics and Particle Interactions #Quantum mechanics #Symmetry (geometry) #nucl-th
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.104.202501
published as Phys.Rev.Lett.104:202501,2010 · 4 pages, 2 figures, 1 table
arxiv created 2010/02/25 · openalex publication_date 2010/05/17 · arxiv updated 2010/05/25 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
The symmetry energy of nuclear matter is a fundamental ingredient in the investigation of exotic nuclei, heavy-ion collisions, and astrophysical phenomena. New data from heavy-ion collisions can be used to extract the free symmetry energy and the internal symmetry energy at subsaturation densities and temperatures below 10 MeV. Conventional theoretical calculations of the symmetry energy based on mean-field approaches fail to give the correct low-temperature, low-density limit that is governed by correlations, in particular, by the appearance of bound states. A recently developed quantum-statistical approach that takes the formation of clusters into account predicts symmetry energies that are in very good agreement with the experimental data. A consistent description of the symmetry energy is given that joins the correct low-density limit with quasiparticle approaches valid near the saturation density.