Finite-size instabilities in finite-range forces

It has been recently shown that some Gogny finite-range interactions suffer from finite-size instabilities in coordinate-space calculations [Eur. Phys. J. A 55, 150 (2019)]. We confirm this finding by using the Hartree-Fock (HF) method in the quasilocal approximation to finite-range forces. The use of the quasilocal approximation substantially simplifies the calculations as compared with those including the exact exchange contribution to the energy and HF fields. The quantity most affected by the finite-size instabilities in the coordinate-space calculations is the spatial density at the origin that wildly oscillates as the HF iterative process proceeds. In addition to the recent D1M* parametrization of the Gogny force, we find that the D1M parametrization also shows this deficiency in several nuclei. We find that the harmonic-oscillator basis with its ultraviolet cutoff provides converged results in a wide and realistic range of basis sizes. This result serves as a justification of the numerous calculations with D1M and D1M* in finite nuclei that show no trace of instability.