Description
Energy density functional (EDF) methods provide one of the most powerful approaches for describing nuclei across the nuclear chart, but conventional functionals typically require many phenomenological parameters fitted to finite-nucleus data. We present a systematic investigation of a Skyrme quark–meson coupling (SQMC) energy density functional derived from the quark–meson coupling (QMC) model, which incorporates the internal quark structure of the nucleon and significantly reduces the number of adjustable parameters.
The SQMC functional is benchmarked against the widely used SLy4d Skyrme parameterisation through calculations of binding energies, two-nucleon separation energies, charge radii, and quadrupole deformations for even–even nuclei across the nuclear chart. Despite being constrained primarily by infinite nuclear matter properties, SQMC provides a level of agreement with experimental data comparable to, and in some cases better than, SLy4d. In particular, it achieves improved reproduction of charge radii and competitive accuracy for binding and separation energies while employing substantially fewer free parameters.
We also examine the isovector dependence of the spin–orbit interaction, which emerges naturally within the QMC framework from relativistic and finite-size effects rather than requiring phenomenological adjustment. The resulting spin–orbit functional exhibits a strong isovector component, similar to that obtained in modern optimised EDFs, with important implications for the structure of neutron-rich nuclei relevant to the r-process.
These results demonstrate that incorporating quark-level physics into nuclear energy density functionals offers a promising route towards more predictive and microscopically constrained descriptions of nuclear structure.
| I am the presenting author | Yes |
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