Nuclear Matter Calculations with Soft-Core Potentials in Momentum Space. II

The binding energy of nuclear matter has been determined with a most up-to-date nucleon-nucleon potential by solving the reaction matrix equation of the Brueckner theory self-consistently in momentum space. The potential has Gaussian soft cores, joins the OPEP at large distances and reproduces two-nucleon scattering data quite satisfactorily. Off-energy-shell propagation has been treated accurately and has been found to reduce the binding energy no more than 0.7 MeV per particle it contrast with the result of Coon and Dabrowski and with Bethe et al.'s arguments. It is found that the calculated binding energy ranges from 10.3 MeV at the equilibrium spacing of 1.15 fm to 13.1 MeV at 1.02 fm as the central-tensor force ratio is varied. This shows that the Brueckner theory, with its first-order calculation, is able to reproduce more than 80% of the semiempirical value for the binding energy of nuclear matter with realistic nucleon-nucleon potentials.