Variational Wave Function for Nuclear Matter

Abstract

A variational wave function for large nuclear systems is proposed. The function is written as a product of plane wave and deuteron-like functions. The exclusion principle is conveniently introduced by explicitly cutting out overlap between the plane wave and pair states in a manner equivalent to antisymmetrization. The method is limited to nonsingular potentials. Numerical calculations with saturating Yukawa potentials yield a correlation energy of 1.1 Mev per particle at low density, decreasing with increasing density. The method of introduction of the exclusion principle is applied to a qualitative discussion of elastic scattering by a complex projectile, e.g., an alpha particle. The distortion of the projectile wave function due to the exclusion of low-momentum components reduces the depth of an effective optical potential with respect to the sum of the potentials seen by the component nucleons.