Off-Energy-Shell Effects in the Brueckner Theory of Nuclear Matter

The binding energy of nuclear matter at the equilibirum density determined by Brueckner and Gammel is calculated with the Brueckner-Gammel-Thaler nuclear forces. The Brueckner theory is applied. It is found that a solution exists for the coupled equations which determine the off-energy-shell elements of the $\mathcal{K}$ matrix of the Brueckner theory. This exact treatment of the off-energy-shell effects increases drastically the single-particle potential at high momenta. The calculated binding energy per nucleon, 7.5 MeV, is much smaller than the value of 15.2 MeV obtained by Brueckner and Gammel. This result is discussed. Two methods of treating the repulsive core—hard core and "hollow hard core"—are compared.