LOCV CALCULATION OF NUCLEAR-MATTER WITH PHENOMENOLOGICAL 2-NUCLEON INTERACTION OPERATORS

The lowest-order constrained variational (LOCV) method is developed fo r the wide range of phenomenological two-nucleon interaction operators such as V-8, V-12 and UV14 potentials. The calculation is performed f or both nuclear and neutron matter with the state-dependent correlatio n operators. The validity of our lowest-order approximation is tested by calculating the three-body cluster energy with the state-averaged c orrelation functions. It is shown that while the three-body cluster en ergy improves the nuclear matter saturation density, the LOCV method s till overbinds nuclear matter with the above potentials. Finally, we f ind that our LOCV results are similar to those calculations which have been performed by using more sophisticated many-body techniques.