Variational calculation for model nuclear matter using a new integral equation method

Calculations of the energy for two different nuclear matter models are carried out using Jastrow-Slater wave functions and an integral equation developed previously by Chakravarty and Woo. Even though the same variational parameters are used, our results differ significantly with those of Ceperley, Chester, and Kalos who employed a Monte Carlo technique. The discrepancy, mainly in the potential energy, is traced to short-range behavior of the pair correlation function. No satisfactory explanation can be offered at this time. Our integral equation is then subjected to a formal analysis for a weakly interacting Bose gas. It is shown to perform at least as well for boson systems as the Bogoliubov-Born-Green-Kirkwood-Yvon equation.