We develop a new ab initio many-body approach capable of describing simultaneously both bound and scattering states in light nuclei, by combining the resonating-group method with the use of realistic interactions, and a microscopic and consistent description of the nucleon clusters. This approach preserves translational symmetry and Pauli principle. We present phase shifts for neutron scattering on 3H, 4He and 10Be and proton scattering on {3,4}He, using realistic nucleon-nucleon potentials. Our A=4 scattering results are compared to earlier ab initio calculations. We demonstrate that a proper treatment of the coupling to the n-10Be continuum is essential to explain the parity-inverted ground state in 11Be.
Working in the framework of the ab-initio no-core shell model, we derive two-body effective interactions microscopically for specific harmonic-oscillator basis spaces from the realistic Argonne V8' nucleon-nucleon potential. However, our two-body effective interaction is only the dominant part of the A-body (A >= 3) effective interaction, which also contains three-, four- and, in general, up to A-body components. We model these multi-body components as a simple two-parameter, basis-space-dependent interaction. We then investigate the coupling needed to provide accurate descriptions of selected…
We show the first results for the elastic scattering of neutrons off oxygen and calcium isotopes obtained from ab initio optical potentials. The potential is derived using self consistent Green's function theory (SCGF) with the saturating chiral interaction NNLO$_{\textrm{sat}}$. Our calculations are compared to available scattering data and show that it is possible to reproduce low energy scattering observables in medium mass nuclei from first principles.
We present microscopic calculations of low energy scattering observables in all possible four nucleon systems : n-3H, p-3He and p-3H. Results were obtained by solving Faddeev-Yakubovski equations in configuration space, appropriately modified to include Coulomb and three-nucleon forces.
Ab initio nuclear theory provides not only a microscopic framework for quantitative description of the nuclear many-body system, but also a foundation for deeper understanding of emergent collective correlations. A symplectic Sp(3,R)$\supset$U(3) dynamical symmetry is identified in ab initio predictions, from a no-core configuration interaction approach, and found to provide a qualitative understanding of the spectrum of 7Be. Low-lying states form an Elliott SU(3) spectrum, while an Sp(3,R) excitation gives rise to an excited rotational band with strong quadrupole connections to the ground sta…
We introduce an extension of the ab initio no-core shell model/resonating group method (NCSM/RGM) in order to describe three-body cluster states. We present results for the $^6$He ground state within a $^4$He+n+n cluster basis as well as first results for the phase shifts of different channels of the $^4$He+n+n system which provide information about low-lying resonances of this nucleus.
Based on the spectator expansion of the multiple scattering series we employ a nonlocal translationally invariant nuclear density derived from a chiral next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) and the very same interaction for consistent full-folding calculations of the effective (optical) potential for nucleon-nucleus scattering for light nuclei.
We derive ab initio optical potentials from self-consistent Green's function (SCGF) theory and compute the elastic scattering of neutrons off oxygen and calcium isotopes. The comparison with scattering data is satisfactory at low scattering energies. The method is benchmarked against no-core shell model with continuum (NCSMC) calculations, showing that virtual excitations of the target are crucial to predict proper fragmentation and absorption at higher energies. This is a significant step toward deriving optical potentials for medium mass nuclei and complex many-body systems in general.
We extend the ab initio no-core shell model/resonating-group method (NCSM/RGM) to projectile-target binary-cluster states where the projectile is a deuteron. We discuss the formalism in detail and give algebraic expressions for the integration kernels. Using a soft similarity-renormalization-group evolved chiral nucleon-nucleon potential, we calculate deuteron-4He scattering and investigate 6Li bound and unbound states. Virtual three-body breakup effects are obtained in an approximated way by including excited pseudo-states of the deuteron in the calculation. We compare our results to experime…
We construct effective 2- and 3-body Hamiltonians for the p-shell by performing 12\hbarΩab initio no-core shell model (NCSM) calculations for A=6 and 7 nuclei and explicitly projecting the many-body Hamiltonians onto the 0\hbarΩspace. We then separate these effective Hamiltonians into 0-, 1- and 2-body contributions (also 3-body for A=7) and analyze the systematic behavior of these different parts as a function of the mass number A and size of the NCSM basis space. The role of effective 3- and higher-body interactions for A>6 is investigated and discussed.
Four-body equations in momentum space are solved for neutron-$\He$, proton-$\Hh$, and deuteron-deuteron scattering; all three reactions are coupled. The Coulomb interaction between the protons is included using the screening and renormalization approach as it was recently done for proton-deuteron and proton-$\He$ scattering. Realistic interactions are used between nucleon pairs. For the first time fully converged results for the observables pertaining to the six different elastic and transfer reactions are obtained and compared with experimental data.
We apply the ab initio no-core shell model/resonating group method approach to calculate the cross sections of the 3H(d,n)4He and 3He(d,p)4He fusion reactions. These are important reactions for the Big Bang nucleosynthesis and the future of energy generation on Earth. Starting from a selected similarity-transformed chiral nucleon-nucleon interaction that accurately describes two-nucleon data, we performed many-body calculations that predict the S-factor of both reactions. Virtual three-body breakup effects are obtained by including excited pseudostates of the deuteron in the calculation. Our r…
We investigate cross sections for neutrino-12C exclusive scattering and for muon capture on 12C using wave functions obtained in the ab initio no-core shell model. In our parameter-free calculations with basis spaces up to the 6 hbarOmega we show that realistic nucleon-nucleon interactions, like e.g. the CD-Bonn, under predict the experimental cross sections by more than a factor of two. By including a realistic three-body interaction, Tucson-Melbourne TM'(99), the cross sections are enhanced significantly and a much better agreement with experiment is achieved. At the same time,the TM'(99) in…
We develop a new ab initio many-body approach capable of describing simultaneously both bound and scattering states in light nuclei, by combining the resonating-group method with the use of realistic interactions, and a microscopic and consistent description of the nucleon clusters. This approach preserves translational symmetry and Pauli principle. We outline technical details and present phase shift results for neutron scattering on 3H, 4He and 10Be and proton scattering on 3He and 4He, using realistic nucleon-nucleon (NN) potentials. Our A=4 scattering results are compared to earlier ab ini…
Based on the spectator expansion of the multiple scattering series we employ a chiral next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) nucleon-nucleon interaction on the same footing in the structure as well as in the reaction calculation to obtain an in leading-order consistent effective potential for nucleon-nucleus elastic scattering, which includes the spin of the struck target nucleon. As an example we present proton scattering off $^{12}$C.
Constructing microscopic effective interactions (`optical potentials') for nucleon-nucleus (NA) elastic scattering requires in first order off-shell nucleon-nucleon (NN) scattering amplitudes between the projectile and the struck target nucleon and nonlocal one-body density matrices. While the NN amplitudes and the {\it ab intio} no-core shell-model (NCSM) calculations always contain the full spin structure of the NN problem, one-body density matrices used in traditional microscopic folding potential neglect spin contributions inherent in the one-body density matrix. Here we derive and show th…
$\boldsymbol{\textit{Ab initio}}$ $nα$ scattering using the Efros method
Institute of Modern Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences(中国科学院近代物理研究所);College of Physics and Engineering, Henan University of Science and Technology(河南科技大学物理与工程学院);State Key Laboratory of Heavy Ion Science and Technology, Institute of Modern Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences(中国科学院近代物理研究所重离子科学和技术国家重点实验室);Skobeltsyn Institute of Nuclear Physics, Lomonosov Moscow State University(莫斯科国立大学索别利茨基核物理研究所);Department of Physics and Astronomy, Iowa State University(爱荷华州立大学物理与天文系)
We combine a recently developed ab initio many-body approach capable of describing simultaneously both bound and scattering states, the ab initio NCSM/RGM, with an importance truncation scheme for the cluster eigenstate basis and demostrate its applicability to nuclei with mass numbers as high as 17. Using soft similarity renormalization group evolved chiral nucleon-nucleon interactions, we first calculate nucleon-4He phase shifts, cross sections and analyzing power. Next, we investigate nucleon scattering on 7Li, 7Be, 12C and 16O in coupled-channel NCSM/RGM calculations that include low-lying…
We realize the treatment of bound and continuum nuclear systems in the proximity of a three-body breakup threshold within the ab initio framework of the no-core shell model with continuum. Many-body eigenstates obtained from the diagonalization of the Hamiltonian within the harmonic-oscillator expansion of the no-core shell model are coupled with continuous microscopic three-cluster states to correctly describe the nuclear wave function both in the interior and asymptotic regions. We discuss the formalism in detail and give algebraic expressions for the case of core+$n$+$n$ systems. Using simi…
Balancing theory uncertainties in ab initio nuclear structure calculations: Many-body truncation versus finite basis size
CEA(法国原子能委员会);Université Paris-Saclay(巴黎萨克雷大学);Laboratoire Matière en Conditions Extrêmes(极端条件物质实验室);Technische Universität Darmstadt(达姆施塔特工业大学);Department of Physics(物理系);ExtreMe Matter Institute EMMI(极端物质研究所EMMI);GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung GmbH(GSI亥姆霍兹重离子研究中心有限公司);Université Libre de Bruxelles(布鲁塞尔自由大学);Institut d’Astronomie et d’Astrophysique(天体物理学与天文学研究所);Brussels Laboratory of the Universe – BLU-ULB(布鲁塞尔宇宙实验室);IRFU(核物理研究学院);CEA, DES, IRESNE, DER, SPRC, LEPh;Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik(马克斯·普朗克核物理研究所)
We derive a microscopic optical potential for intermediate energies using ab initio translationally invariant nonlocal one-body nuclear densities computed within the no-core shell model (NCSM) approach utilizing two- and three-nucleon chiral interactions as the only input. The optical potential is derived at first-order within the spectator expansion of the non-relativistic multiple scattering theory by adopting the impulse approximation and using the same chiral nucleon-nucleon interaction as that used to compute densities. The ground state local and nonlocal densities of 4,6,8He, 12C, and 16…
We perform \textit{ab initio} no-core shell-model calculations for $A=18$ and $19$ nuclei in a $4\hbarΩ$, or $N_{\rm max}=4$, model space by using the effective JISP16 and chiral N3LO nucleon-nucleon potentials and transform the many-body effective Hamiltonians into the $0\hbarΩ$ model space to construct the $A$-body effective Hamiltonians in the $sd$-shell. We separate the $A$-body effective Hamiltonians with $A=18$ and $A=19$ into inert core, one-, and two-body components. Then, we use these core, one-, and two-body components to perform standard shell-model calculations for the $A=18$ and $…
An ab-initio description of atomic nuclei that solves the nuclear many-body problem for realistic nuclear forces is expected to possess a high degree of predictive power. In this contribution we treat the main obstacle, namely the short-ranged repulsive and tensor correlations induced by the realistic nucleon-nucleon interaction, by means of a unitary correlation operator. This correlator applied to uncorrelated many-body states imprints short-ranged correlations that cannot be described by product states. When applied to an observable it induces the correlations into the operator, creating fo…
We present an ab initio symmetry-adapted no-core shell-model description for $^{6}$Li. We study the structure of the ground state of $^{6}$Li and the impact of the symmetry-guided space selection on the charge density components for this state in momentum space, including the effect of higher shells. We accomplish this by investigating the electron scattering charge form factor for momentum transfers up to $q \sim 4$ fm$^{-1}$. We demonstrate that this symmetry-adapted framework can achieve significantly reduced dimensions for equivalent large shell-model spaces while retaining the accuracy of…
We perform an ab initio shell-model calculation for ^{18}O in a restricted no-core model space, microscopically deriving a two-body effective interaction and introducing a minimal refinement of one-body energies in the spsd or spsdpf model space. Low-lying energy levels, except for the experimental 0_{2}^{+} and 2_{3}^{+} states, are better described in the spsdpf space than in the spsd space. The structure of low-lying energy levels is discussed with an emphasis on many-particle many-hole states beyond the four-particle two-hole configuration.
[Background:] It is well known that effective nuclear interactions are in general nonlocal. Thus if nuclear densities obtained from {\it ab initio} no-core-shell-model (NCSM) calculations are to be used in reaction calculations, translationally invariant nonlocal densities must be available. [Purpose:] Though it is standard to extract translationally invariant one-body local densities from NCSM calculations to calculate local nuclear observables like radii and transition amplitudes, the corresponding nonlocal one-body densities have not been considered so far. A major reason for this is that t…
We discuss the studies of light nuclei in ab initio No-core Full Configuration approach based on extrapolations to the infinite model space of large-scale No-core Shell Model calculations on supercomputers. The convergence at the end of p shell and beginning of the sd shell can be achieved if only reasonable soft enough NN interactions are used. In particular, good predictions are obtained with a realistic JISP16 NN interaction obtained in J-matrix inverse scattering approach and fitted to reproduce light nuclei observables without three-nucleon forces. We discuss the current status of this NN…
A new framework for $A(d,p)B$ reactions is introduced by merging the microscopic approach to computing the properties of the nucleon-target systems and the three-body $n+p+A$ reaction formalism, thus providing a consistent link between the reaction cross sections and the underlying microscopic structure. In this first step toward a full microscopic description, we focus on the inclusion of the neutron-target microscopic properties. The properties of the neutron-target subsystem are encapsulated in the Green's function which is computed with the Coupled Cluster theory using a chiral nucleon-nuc…
This programmatic paper lays down the possibility to reconcile the necessity to resum many-body correlations into the energy kernel with the fact that safe multi-reference energy density functional (EDF) calculations cannot be achieved whenever the Pauli principle is not strictly enforced, as is for example the case when many-body correlations are parametrized under the form of empirical density dependencies. Our proposal is to exploit a newly developed ab initio many-body formalism to guide the construction of safe, explicitly correlated and systematically improvable parametrizations of the {…
We implement an effective operator formalism for general one- and two-body operators, obtaining results consistent with the no-core shell model (NCSM) wave functions. The Argonne V8' nucleon-nucleon potential was used in order to obtain realistic wave functions for 4He, 6Li and 12C. In the NCSM formalism, we compute electromagnetic properties using the two-body cluster approximation for the effective operators and obtain results which are sensitive to the range of the bare operator. To illuminate the dependence on the range, we employ a Gaussian two-body operator of variable range, finding wea…
Ab initio charge form factors and radii of light isoscalar nuclei: Role of the two-body charge density
Forschungszentrum Jülich(于利希研究中心);Ruhr-Universität Bochum(波鸿鲁尔大学);Universität Bonn(波恩大学);Helmholtz-Institut für Strahlen- und Kernphysik(亥姆霍兹射线与核物理研究所);Bethe Center for Theoretical Physics(贝特理论物理中心);Peng Huanwu Collaborative Center for Research and Education, International Institute for Interdisciplinary and Frontiers, Beihang University(北京航空航天大学国际交叉前沿研究院彭桓武教研协同中心)
Starting from realistic nuclear forces, the chiral N$^3$LO and JISP16, we have applied many-body perturbation theory (MBPT) to the structure of closed-shell nuclei, $^4$He and $^{16}$O. The two-body N$^3$LO interaction is softened by a similarity renormalization group transformation while JISP16 is adopted without renormalization. The MBPT calculations are performed within the Hartree-Fock (HF) bases. The angular momentum coupled scheme is used, which can reduce the computational task. Corrections up to the third order in energy and up to the second order in radius are evaluated. Higher-order …
The four-body equations of Alt, Grassberger and Sandhas are solved for $\nH$ scattering at energies below three-body breakup threshold using various realistic interactions including one derived from chiral perturbation theory. After partial wave decomposition the equations are three-variable integral equations that are solved numerically without any approximations beyond the usual discretization of continuum variables on a finite momentum mesh. Large number of two-, three- and four-nucleon partial waves are considered until the convergence of the observables is obtained. The total $\nH$ cross …
We present the first ab initio coupled-cluster calculations of medium-mass nuclei with explicit chiral three-nucleon (3N) interactions. Using a spherical formulation of coupled cluster with singles and doubles excitations including explicit 3N contributions, we study ground states of 16,24-O, 40,48-Ca and 56-Ni. We employ chiral NN plus 3N interactions softened through a similarity renormalization group (SRG) transformation at the three-body level. We investigate the impact of all truncations and quantify the resulting uncertainties---this includes the contributions from triples excitations, t…
Ab-initio predictions of nuclei with masses up to A~100 or more is becoming possible thanks to novel advances in computations and in the formalism of many-body physics. Some of the most fundamental issues include how to deal with many-nucleon interactions, how to calculate degenerate--open shell--systems, and pursuing ab-initio approaches to reaction theory. Self-consistent Green's function (SCGF) theory is a natural approach to address these challenges. Its formalism has recently been extended to three- and many-body interactions and reformulated within the Gorkov framework to reach semi-magi…
We extend the ab initio no-core shell model/resonating-group method to include three-nucleon (3N) interactions for the description of nucleon-nucleus collisions. We outline the formalism, give algebraic expressions for the 3N-force integration kernels, and discuss computational aspects of two alternative implementations. The extended theoretical framework is then applied to nucleon-4He scattering using similarity-renormalization-group (SRG) evolved nucleon-nucleon plus three-nucleon potentials derived from chiral effective field theory. We analyze the convergence properties of the calculated p…
The exact treatment of nuclei starting from the constituent nucleons and the fundamental interactions among them has been a long-standing goal in nuclear physics. Above all nuclear scattering and reactions, which require the solution of the many-body quantum-mechanical problem in the continuum, represent a theoretical and computational challenge for ab initio approaches. After a brief overview of the field, we present a new ab initio many-body approach capable of describing simultaneously both bound and scattering states in light nuclei. By combining the resonating-group method with the ab ini…
The neon isotopic chain displays a rich phenomenology, ranging from clustering in the ground-state of the self-conjugate doubly open-shell stable $^{20}$Ne isotope to the physics of the island of inversion around the neutron-rich $^{30}$Ne isotope. This second (i.e. Paper II) of the present series proposes an extensive ab initio study of neon isotopes based on two complementary many-body methods, i.e. the quasi-exact in-medium no-core shell model (IM-NCSM) and the projected generator coordinate method (PGCM) that is ideally suited to capturing strong static correlations associated with shape d…
Over the last decade, new developments in Similarity Renormalization Group techniques and nuclear many-body methods have dramatically increased the capabilities of ab initio nuclear structure and reaction theory. Ground and excited-state properties can be computed up to the tin region, and from the proton to the presumptive neutron drip lines, providing unprecedented opportunities to confront two- plus three-nucleon interactions from chiral Effective Field Theory with experimental data. In this contribution, I will give a broad survey of the current status of nuclear many-body approaches, and …
We introduce a symplectic no-core configuration interaction (SpNCCI) framework for ab initio nuclear structure calculations, in a correlated many-body basis which encodes an approximate Sp(3,R) symmetry of the nucleus. Such a scheme potentially provides a means of restricting the many-body space to include only those highly-excited configurations which dominantly contribute to the nuclear wave function. We examine the symplectic symmetry structure arising in an illustrative ab initio SpNCCI calculation for 6Li. We observe both the dominance of symplectic symmetry in individual wave functions a…
The extension of ab initio quantum many-body theory to higher accuracy and larger systems is intrinsically limited by the handling of large data objects in form of wave-function expansions and/or many-body operators. In this work we present matrix factorization techniques as a systematically improvable and robust tool to significantly reduce the computational cost in many-body applications at the price of introducing a moderate decomposition error. We demonstrate the power of this approach for the nuclear two-body systems, for many-body perturbation theory calculations of symmetric nuclear mat…
The ab initio no-core shell model (NCSM) is extended to include a realistic three-body interaction in calculations for p-shell nuclei. The NCSM formalism is reviewed and new features needed in calculations with three-body forces are discussed in detail. We present results of first applications to 6,7Li, 6He, 7,8,10Be, 10,11,12B, 12N and 10,11,12,13C using the Argonne V8' nucleon-nucleon (NN) potential and the Tucson-Melbourne TM'(99) three-nucleon interaction (TNI). In addition to increasing the total binding energy, we observe a substantial sensitivity in the low-lying spectra to the presence…
Low energy capture cross sections are calculated within a microscopic many-body approach using an effective Hamiltonian derived from the Argonne V18 potential. The dynamics is treated within Fermionic Molecular Dynamics (FMD) which uses a Gaussian wave-packet basis to represent the many-body states. A phase-shift equivalent effective interaction derived within the Unitary Correlation Operator Method (UCOM) that treats explicitly short-range central and tensor correlations is employed. As a first application the 3He(alpha,gamma)7Be reaction is presented. Within the FMD approach the microscopic …
The reach of ab initio many-body theories is rapidly extending over the nuclear chart. However, dealing fully with three-nucleon, possibly four-nucleon, interactions makes the solving of the A-body Schrödinger equation particularly cumbersome, if not impossible beyond a certain nuclear mass. Consequently, ab initio calculations of mid-mass nuclei are typically performed on the basis of the normal-ordered two-body (NO2B) approximation that captures dominant effects of three-nucleon forces while effectively working with two-nucleon operators. A powerful idea currently employed to extend ab initi…
We apply the ab initio no-core shell model/resonating group method (NCSM/RGM) approach to calculate the cross section of the 7Be(p,gamma)8B radiative capture. This reaction is important for understanding the solar neutrino flux. Starting from a selected similarity-transformed chiral nucleon-nucleon interaction that accurately describes two-nucleon data, we performed parameter-free many-body calculations that simultaneously predict both the normalization and the shape of the S-factor. We study the dependence on the number of 7Be eigenstates included in the coupled-channel equations and on the s…
At present there are two vastly different ab initio approaches to the description of the the many-body dynamics: the Density Functional Theory (DFT) and the functional integral (path integral) approaches. On one hand, if implemented exactly, the DFT approach can allow in principle the exact evaluation of arbitrary one-body observable. However, when applied to Large Amplitude Collective Motion (LACM) this approach needs to be extended in order to accommodate the phenomenon of surface-hoping, when adiabaticity is strongly violated and the description of a system using a single (generalized) Slat…
Nuclear structure and reaction theory are undergoing a major renaissance with advances in many-body methods, strong interactions with greatly improved links to Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), the advent of high performance computing, and improved computational algorithms. Predictive power, with well-quantified uncertainty, is emerging from non-perturbative approaches along with the potential for new discoveries such as predicting nuclear phenomena before they are measured. We present an overview of some recent developments and discuss challenges that lie ahead. Our focus is on explorations of al…
Calculating microscopic optical potentials for elastic nucleon-nucleus scattering has already led to large body of work in the past. For folding first-order calculations the nucleon-nucleon (NN) interaction and the one-body density of the nucleus were taken as input to rigorous calculations in a spectator expansion of the multiple scattering series. Based on the Watson expansion of the multiple scattering series we employ a nonlocal translationally invariant nuclear density derived from a chiral next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) and the very same interaction for consistent full-folding calc…
A recently modified method to enable low-energy nuclear scattering results to be extracted from the discrete energy levels of the target-projectile clusters confined by harmonic potential traps is tested. We report encouraging results for neutron--$α$ and neutron--$^{24}\mathrm{O}$ elastic scattering from analyzing the trapped levels computed using two different ab initio nuclear structure methods. The $n$--$α$ results have also been checked against a direct ab initio reaction calculation. The $n$--$^{24}\mathrm{O}$ results demonstrate the approach's applicability for a large range of systems …
An {\em ab initio} (i.e., from first principles) theoretical framework capable of providing a unified description of the structure and low-energy reaction properties of light nuclei is desirable to further our understanding of the fundamental interactions among nucleons, and provide accurate predictions of crucial reaction rates for nuclear astrophysics, fusion-energy research, and other applications. In this contribution we review {\em ab initio} calculations for nucleon and deuterium scattering on light nuclei starting from chiral two- and three-body Hamiltonians, obtained within the framewo…
We introduce a fully antisymmetrized treatment of three-cluster dynamics within the ab initio framework of the no-core shell model/resonating-group method (NCSM/RGM). Energy-independent non-local interactions among the three nuclear fragments are obtained from realistic nucleon-nucleon interactions and consistent ab initio many-body wave functions of the clusters. The three-cluster Schrödinger equation is solved with bound-state boundary conditions by means of the hyperspherical-harmonic method on a Lagrange mesh. We discuss the formalism in detail and give algebraic expressions for systems of…