Bulk Properties of Nuclear Matter From Excitations of Nuclei

Abstract

We consider the predictive power of Hartree‐Fock (HF) approximation in determining properties of finite nuclei and thereby in extracting bulk properties of infinite nuclear matter (NM) by extrapolation. In particular, we review the current status of determining the value of NM incompressibility coefficient K, considering the most sensitive method of analyzing the recent accurate experimental data on excitation strengths of compression modes of nuclei within microscopic relativistic and non‐relativistic theoretical models. We discuss the consequences of common violations of self‐consistency in HF based random‐phase‐approximation calculations of strength functions and present results of highly accurate calculations of centroid energies and excitation cross sections of giant resonances. Explanations (resolutions) of long standing discrepancies in the value of K are presented.