Average trends of nuclear densities from a self-consistent model with a generalised Strutinsky-type smoothing

Abstract

After a discussion of the generalisation of the Strutinsky method to finite spectra, a N-naveraging method is introduced in the self-consistent energy density model previously developed by the author. It is shown that the accuracy of the smoothing prescription is very good when it is used self-consistently, i.e. the second-order shell corrections are small (~0.5 MeV). It is suggested that the usual plateau condition is not necessary and should be replaced by a smoothness condition for the smooth energies. It is also shown that the dependence of the N-averaged binding energies on deformation is different from the liquid drop prediction. A detailed analysis of the smooth density distributions is then given. The average trends of the core densities, radii and surface diffusenesses near and far from stability are studied. Approximate formulae are given for several of those quantities, and disagreements with the droplet model predictions are pointed out. The amplitude of the shell effects is also determined by the comparison between the smooth results with the self-consistent ones.