Effective Mass and Thermal Properties of Infinite Nuclear Matter with Coupled Cluster Theory

Understanding the properties of nuclear matter at finite temperatures is crucial for comprehending astrophysical phenomena such as core-collapse supernova, proto-neutron stars, and neutron-star mergers. The thermal properties of infinite nuclear matter are investigated through the approximation of a free nucleon gas employing an effective nucleon mass. Coupled cluster theory is employed with realistic nuclear interactions derived from chiral effective field theory to determine these effective masses from the single-nucleon energy band in infinite matter. These results are then applied to the free Fermi gas at different approximations to calculate the thermodynamic behavior of nuclear matter across a range of temperatures.