Isospin coupling-channel decomposition of nuclear symmetry energy in covariant density functional theory

The isospin coupling-channel decomposition of the potential energy density functional is carried out within the covariant density functional theory, and their isospin and density dependence in particular the influence on the symmetry energy is studied. It is found that both isospin-singlet and isospin-triplet components of the potential energy play the dominant role in deciding the symmetry energy, especially when the Fock diagram is introduced. The results illustrate a quite different mechanism to the origin of the symmetry energy from the microscopic Brueckner-Hartree-Fock theory, and demonstrate the importance of the Fork diagram in the CDF theory, especially from the isoscalar mesons, in the isospin properties of the in-medium nuclear force at high density.