Satisfying the compressibility sum rule in neutron matter

Abstract

The static-response function of strongly interacting neutron matter contains crucial information on this interacting many-particle system, going beyond ground-state properties. In the present work, we tackle this problem with quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) approaches at several different densities, using both phenomenological forces and (for the first time) chiral effective field theory interactions. We handle finite-size effects via self-consistent energy-density functional (EDF) calculations for 8250 particles in a periodic volume. We combine these QMC and EDF computations in an attempt to produce a model-independent extraction of the static response function. Our results are consistent with the compressibility sum rule, which encapsulates the limiting behavior of the response function starting from the homogeneous equation of state, without using the sum rule as an input constraint. Our predictions on inhomogeneous neutron matter can function as benchmarks for other many-body approaches, thereby shedding light on the physics of neutron-star crusts and neutron-rich nuclei.