Isovector splitting of nucleon effective masses,<i>ab initio</i>benchmarks and extended stability criteria for Skyrme energy functionals

Abstract

We study the effect of the splitting of neutron and proton effective masses with isospin asymmetry on the properties of the Skyrme energy density functional. We discuss the ability of the latter to predict observables of infinite matter and finite nuclei, paying particular attention to controlling the agreement with ab initio predictions of the spin-isospin content of the nuclear equation of state, as well as diagnosing the onset of finite size instabilities, which we find to be of critical importance. We show that these various constraints cannot be simultaneously fulfilled by the standard Skyrme force, calling at least for an extension of its $P$-wave part.