Effect of tensor correlations on the depletion of nuclear Fermi sea within the extended BHF approach

We have investigated the effect of tensor correlations on the depletion of the nuclear Fermi sea in symmetric nuclear matter within the framework of the extended Brueckner-Hartree-Fock approach by adopting the AV 18 two-body interaction and a microscopic three-body force.The contributions from various partial wave channels including the isospin-singlet T = 0 channel,the isospin-triplet T = 1 channel and the T = 0 tensor 3SD1 channel have been calculated.The T =0 neutron-proton correlations play a dominant role in causing the depletion of nuclear Fermi sea.The T =0 correlation-induced depletion turns out to stem almost completely from the 3SD1 tensor channel.The isospin-singlet T = 0 3SD1 tensor correlations are shown to be responsible for most of the depletion,which amounts to more than 70 percent of the total depletion in the density region considered.The three-body force turns out to lead to an enhancement of the depletion at high densities well above the empirical saturation density and its effect increases as a function of density.