Constraints and correlations of nuclear matter parameters from a density-dependent van der Waals model

Abstract

A recently proposed density-dependent van der Waals model, with only $4$ free parameters adjusted to fix binding energy, saturation density, symmetry energy, and incompressibility, is analyzed under symmetric and asymmetric nuclear matter constraints. In a previous paper, it was shown that this model is fully consistent with the constraints related to the binary neutron star merger event named GW170817 and reported by the LIGO and Virgo collaboration. Here, we show that it also describes satisfactorily the low and high-density regions of symmetric nuclear matter, with all the main constraints satisfied. We also found a linear correlation between the incompressibility and the skewness parameter, both at the saturation density and show how it relates to the crossing point presented in the incompressibility as a function of the density. In the asymmetric matter regime, other linear correlations are found, namely, the one between the symmetry energy ($J$) and its slope ($L_0$), and other one establishing the symmetry energy curvature as a function of the combination given by $3J-L_0$.