Study of the Generalized Momentum Distribution of Model Nuclear Matter

Abstract

Valuable information on the correlation structure of the nuclear medium is stored in the generalized momentum distribution n(p,Q), the Fourier transform of the half-diagonal two-body density matrix ρ_{2η}(r_1,r_2,r'). In this paper, we present a numerical calculation of n(p,Q) for two Jastrow-correlated models of symmetrical nuclear matter based on the structural decomposition of n(p,Q) derived by Ristig and Clark and on a Fermi-hypernetted-chain procedure. Results exhibit significant departures from the ideal Fermi gas case in certain kinematic domains; this behaviour indicates the strong short-range correlations present in these models. Nevertheless, such deviations are less prominent than in earlier low- cluster-order calculations. The results are also used to judge the quality of Silver's approximation for n(p,Q).