Particle-number projection in the finite-temperature mean-field approximation

Finite-temperature mean-field theories, such as the Hartree-Fock (HF) and Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov (HFB) theories, are formulated in the grand-canonical ensemble, and their applications to the calculation of statistical properties of nuclei such as level densities require a reduction to the canonical ensemble. In a previous publication [Y. Alhassid et al., Phys. Rev. C 93, 044320 (2016)], it was found that ensemble-reduction methods based on the saddle-point approximation are not reliable in cases in which rotational symmetry or particle-number conservation is broken. In particular, the calculated HFB canonical entropy can be unphysical as a result of the inherent violation of particle-number conservation. In this work, we derive a general formula for exact particle-number projection after variation in the HFB approximation, assuming that the HFB Hamiltonian preserves time-reversal symmetry. This formula reduces to simpler known expressions in the HF and Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) limits of the HFB. We apply this formula to calculate the thermodynamic quantities needed for level densities in the heavy nuclei Dy-162, Sm-148, and Sm-150. We find that the exact particle-number projection gives better physical results and is significantly more computationally efficient than the saddle-point methods. However, the fundamental limitations caused by broken symmetries in the mean-field approximation are still present.