Three-body force effect on nucleon momentum distributions in asymmetric nuclear matter within the framework of the extended BHF approach

We have investigated the three-body force (TBF) effect on the neutron and proton momentum distributions in asymmetric nuclear matter within the framework of the extended Brueckner-Hartree-Fock approach by adopting the $AV18$ two-body interaction plus a microscopic TBF. In asymmetric nuclear matter, it is shown that the neutron and proton momentum distributions become different from their common distribution in symmetric nuclear matter. The predicted depletion of the proton hole states increases while the neutron one decreases as a function of isospin-asymmetry. The TBF effect on the neutron and proton momentum distributions turns out to be negligibly weak at low densities around and below the normal nuclear density. The TBF effect is found to become sizable only at high densities well above the saturation density, and inclusion of the TBF leads to an overall enhancement of the depletion of the neutron and proton Fermi seas.