Effect of three-body interaction on phase transition of hot asymmetric nuclear matter Original Research Article

The properties and the isospin dependence of the liquid–gas phase transition in hot asymmetric nuclear matter have been investigated within the framework of the finite temperature Brueckner–Hartree–Fock approach extended to include the contribution of a microscopic three-body force. A typical Van der Waals structure has been observed in the calculated isotherms (of pressure) for symmetric nuclear matter implying the presence of the liquid–gas phase transition. The critical temperature of the phase transition is calculated and its dependence on the proton-to-neutron ratio is discussed. It is shown that the three-body force gives a repulsive contribution to the nuclear equation of state and reduces appreciably the critical temperature and the mechanical instable region. At fixed temperature and density the pressure of asymmetric nuclear matter increases monotonically as a function of isospin asymmetry. In addition, it turns out that the domain of mechanical instability for hot asymmetric nuclear matter gradually shrinks with increasing asymmetry and temperature. We have compared our results with the predictions of other theoretical models especially the Dirac–Brueckner approach. A possible explanation for the discrepancy between the values of the critical temperature predicted by the present non-relativistic Brueckner calculations including the three-body force and the relativistic Dirac–Brueckner method is given.