Probing the symmetries of the Dirac Hamiltonian with axially deformed scalar and vector potentials by similarity renormalization group.

Symmetry is an important and basic topic in physics. The similarity renormalization group theory provides a novel view to study the symmetries hidden in the Dirac Hamiltonian, especially for the deformed system. Based on the similarity renormalization group theory, the contributions from the nonrelativistic term, the spin-orbit term, the dynamical term, the relativistic modification of kinetic energy, and the Darwin term are self-consistently extracted from a general Dirac Hamiltonian and, hence, we get an accurate description for their dependence on the deformation. Taking an axially deformed nucleus as an example, we find that the self-consistent description of the nonrelativistic term, spin-orbit term, and dynamical term is crucial for understanding the relativistic symmetries and their breaking in a deformed nuclear system.