Nuclear and neutron matter studies

We are studying nuclear and neutron matter with the new Argonne v{sub 18} NN and Urbana 3N potentials. We use variational wave functions and a diagrammatic cluster expansion with Fermi hypernetted and single-operator chain (FHNC/SOC) integral equations to evaluate the energy expectation value. Initial results show some interesting differences with our previous calculations with the older Argonne v{sub 14} potential. In particular, there are a number of diagrams involving L{center_dot}S and L{sup 2} terms which were small with the older model and were rather crudely estimated or even neglected. It appears that these terms are more important with the new potential and will have to be evaluated more accurately. Work on this subject is in progress. A simple line of attack is to just add additional diagrams at the three-body cluster level. A longer term approach may be to adapt some of the methods for evaluating nucleon clusters used in the few-body and closed shell nuclei described above.