Year: 2021
Type: article
Abstract: The effective interactions between two nuclear clusters, $d+d, t+t$, and $\ensuremath{\alpha}+\ensuremath{\alpha}$, are investigated within a cluster model using local nucleon-nucleon ($NN$) forces. It is shown that the interaction in the spin-aligned $d+d$ system is repulsive for all intercluster distances, whereas the $\ensuremath{\alpha}+\ensuremath{\alpha}$ and spin-aligned $t+t$ systems are attractive at intermediate distances. The Pauli blocking between identical-nucleon pairs is responsible for the cluster-cluster repulsion and becomes dominant in the shallow binding limit. We demonstrate that two $d$ clusters could be bound if the $NN$ force has nonzero range and is strong enough to form a deeply bound $d$ cluster, or if the $NN$ force has both even-parity and odd-parity attraction. Effective dimer-dimer interactions for general quantum systems of two-component fermions are also discussed in heavy-light mass limit, where one component is much heavier than the other, and their relation to intercluster interactions in nuclear systems are discussed. Our findings provide a conceptual foundation for conclusions obtained numerically in the literature, that increasing the range or strength of the local part of the attractive nucleon-nucleon interaction results in a more attractive cluster-cluster interaction.
Source: Physical Review C
Authors: Yoshiko Kanada-En'yo, Dean Lee
Language: English
Subfield: Nuclear and High Energy Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W3046976975