Modern nucleon–nucleon interactions and charge-symmetry breaking in nuclei

Abstract

Coulomb displacement energies, i.e., the differences between the energies of corresponding nuclear states in mirror nuclei, are evaluated using recent models for the nucleon–nucleon (NN) interaction. These modern NN potentials account for breaking of isospin symmetry and reproduce pp and pn phase shifts accurately. The predictions by these new potentials for the binding of 16O are calculated. A particular focus of our study are effects due to nuclear correlations and charge-symmetry breaking (CSB). We find that the CSB terms in the modern NN interactions substantially reduce the discrepancy between theory and experiment for the Coulomb displacement energies; however, our calculations do not completely explain the Nolen–Schiffer anomaly. Potential sources for the remaining discrepancies are discussed.