Isovector neutron-proton pairing with particle number projected BCS

The particle number projected BCS (PBCS) approximation is tested against the exact solution of the SO(5) Richardson-Gaudin model for isovector pairing in a system of nondegenerate single-particle orbits. Two isovector PBCS wave functions are considered. One is constructed as a single proton-neutron pair condensate; the other corresponds to a product of a neutron pair condensate and a proton pair condensate. The PBCS equations are solved using a recurrence method and the analysis is performed for systems with an equal number of neutrons and protons distributed in a sequence of equally spaced fourfold (spin-isospin) degenerate levels. The results show that although PBCS offers significant improvement over BCS, the agreement of PBCS with the exact solution is less satisfactory than in the case of the SU(2) Richardson model for pairing between like particles.