Status of the nuclear matter equation of state as determined from compression modes

Abstract

The nuclear matter (NM) equation of state (EOS) is a very important ingredient in the study of properties of nuclei, heavy-ion collisions, neutron stars and supernova. An accurate determination of the symmetric NM incompressibility coefficient K nm , is needed in order to determine the EOS around the saturation point. We review the current status of K nm , as deduced from a comparison of experimental data on excitation cross sections of isoscalar compression modes with theoretical predictions of relativistic and non-relativistic models. We present our recent theoretical results and discuss the resolutions of the long standing discrepancies in the value of K nm deduced from (i) data on isoscalar monopole and dipole resonances and (ii) relativistic and non-relativistic calculations.