Progress Towards Determining the Density Dependence of the Nuclear Symmetry Energy Using Heavy-Ion Reactions

The latest development in determining the density dependence of the nuclear symmetry energy using heavy-ion collisions is reviewed. Within the IBUU04 version of an isospin- and momentum-dependent transport model using a modified Gogny effective interaction, recent experimental data from NSCL/MSU on isospin diffusion are found to be consistent with a nuclear sym- metry energy of Esym(ρ) ≈ 31.6(ρ/ρ0) 1.05 at subnormal densities. Predictions on several observables sensitive to the density dependence of the symmetry en- ergy at supranormal densities accessible at GSI and the planned Rare Isotope Accelerator (RIA) are also made.

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