Ground-state energies, densities and momentum distributions in closed-shell nuclei calculated within a cluster expansion approach and realistic interactions

A linked cluster expansion suitable for the treatment of ground-state properties of complex nuclei, as well as of various particle-nucleus scattering processes, has been used to calculate the ground-state energy, density, and momentum distribution of {sup 16}O and {sup 40}Ca in terms of realistic interactions. First, a benchmark calculation for the ground-state energy is performed with the truncated V8{sup '} potential and consisting of the comparison of our results with the ones obtained by the Fermi hypernetted chain approach, adopting in both cases the same mean-field wave functions and the same correlation functions. The results exhibited a nice agreement between the two methods. Therefore the approach has been applied to the calculation of the ground-state energy, density, and momentum distributions of {sup 16}O and {sup 40}Ca by use of the full V8{sup '} potential, and again a satisfactory agreement was found with the results based on more advanced approaches in which higher-order cluster contributions are taken into account. It appears therefore that the cluster expansion approach can provide accurate approximations for various diagonal and nondiagonal density matrices, so that it could be used for a reliable evaluation of nuclear effects in various medium- and high-energy scattering processes off nuclear targets.more » The developed approach can be readily generalized to the treatment of Glauber-type final-state interaction effects in inclusive, semi-inclusive, and exclusive processes off nuclei at medium and high energies.« less