Physical Review C
Separable-Pair Method
David Goss
Abstract
A method for describing the motion of many-body systems that interact solely through two-body forces is introduced. The general form of the Hamiltonian is found, and applied to the case of particles interacting through Hooke's law forces. The general form of the wave function is exhibited and the means of antisymmetrization discussed. It is shown that the kinetic energy of the center of mass can be separated from the Hamiltonian by transforming to a new set of external (pair c.m.) coordinates. A particular approximation to the system boundary conditions is applied to light nuclei, and some of the implications of the use of current nucleon-nucleon forces discussed.