We apply the similarity renormalization group (SRG) approach to evolve a nucleon-nucleon ($NN$) interaction in leading-order (LO) chiral effective field theory (ChEFT), renormalized within the framework of the subtracted kernel method (SKM). We derive a fixed-point interaction and show the renormalization group (RG) invariance in the SKM approach. We also compare the evolution of $NN$ potentials with the subtraction scale through a SKM RG equation in the form of a non-relativistic Callan-Symanzik (NRCS) equation and the evolution with the similarity cutoff through the SRG transformation.
We compare the subtractive renormalization and the Wilsonian renormalization group approaches in the context of an effective field theory for the two-nucleon system. Based on an exactly solvable model of contact interactions, we observe that the standard Wilsonian renormalization group approach with a single cutoff parameter does not cover the whole space spanned by the renormalization scale parameters of the subtractive formalism. In particular, renormalization schemes corresponding to Weinberg's power counting in the case of an unnaturally large scattering length are beyond the region covere…
In this work, we apply the subtracted kernel method (SKM) to the chiral nucleon-nucleon ($NN$) interaction in the $^3P_0$ channel up to next-to-next-to-leading-order ($NNLO$). We demonstrate, by explicit numerical calculations, that the SKM procedure is renormalization group invariant under the change of the subtraction scale provided the driving-term of the subtracted scattering equation is evolved through a non-relativistic Callan-Symanzik (NRCS) flow-equation.
We apply five subtractions in the Lippman-Schwinger (LS) equation in order to perform a non-perturbative renormalization of chiral N3LO nucleon-nucleon interactions. Here we compute the phase shifts for the uncoupled peripheral waves at renormalization scales between $0.1~ \rm{fm}^{-1}$ and $1 ~ \rm{fm}^{-1}$. In this range, the results are scale invariant and provide an overall goof agreement with the Nijmegen partial wave analysis up to at least $E_{\rm{lab}} = 150 ~ \rm{MeV}$, with a cutoff at $Λ= 30~\rm{fm}^{-1}$.
We have developed a subtractive renormalization method with which we can evaluate nucleon-nucleon (NN) scattering phase shifts produced by the NN potential obtained at leading, next-to-leading, and next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) in chiral effective theory ($χ$ET). In this method the low-energy constants associated with short-distance NN physics are eliminated from the Lippmann-Schwinger equation (LSE) for the NN t-matrix, in favor of physical observables. This allows us to straightforwardly compute scattering phase shifts for ultra-violet cutoffs of at least 10 GeV. We then perform detai…
A methodology to renormalize the nucleon-nucleon interaction, using a recursive multiple subtraction approach to construct the kernel of the scattering equation, is presented. We solve the subtracted scattering equation with the next-leading-order (NLO) and next-to-next-leading-order (NNLO) interactions. The results are presented for all partial waves up to $j=2$, fitted to low-energy experimental data. In our renormalizaton group invariant method, when introducing the NLO and NNLO interactions, the subtraction energy emerges as a renormalization scale and the momentum associated with it comes…
The leading-order nucleon-nucleon (NN) potential derived from chiral perturbation theory consists of one-pion exchange plus a short-distance contact interaction. We show that in the 1S0 and 3S1-3D1 channels renormalization of the Lippmann-Schwinger equation for this potential can be achieved by performing one subtraction. This subtraction requires as its only input knowledge of the NN scattering lengths. This procedure leads to a set of integral equations for the partial-wave NN t-matrix which give cutoff-independent results for the corresponding NN phase shifts. This reformulation of the NN s…
We develop a subtractive renormalization scheme to evaluate the P-wave NN scattering phase shifts using chiral effective theory potentials. This allows us to consider arbitrarily high cutoffs in the Lippmann-Schwinger equation (LSE). We employ NN potentials computed up to next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) in chiral effective theory, using both dimensional regularization and spectral-function regularization. Our results obtained from the subtracted P-wave LSE show that renormalization of the NNLO potential can be achieved by using the generalized NN scattering lengths as input--an alternativ…
We extend our subtractive-renormalization method in order to evaluate the 1S0 and 3S1-3D1 NN scattering phase shifts up to next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) in chiral effective theory. We show that, if energy-dependent contact terms are employed in the NN potential, the 1S0 phase shift can be obtained by carrying out two subtractions on the Lippmann-Schwinger equation. These subtractions use knowledge of the the scattering length and the 1S0 phase shift at a specific energy to eliminate the low-energy constants in the contact interaction from the scattering equation. For the J=1 coupled cha…
We consider the NN interaction in pionless effective field theory (EFT) up to next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) and use a recursive subtractive renormalization scheme to describe NN scattering in the 1S0 channel. We fix the strengths of the contact interactions at a reference scale, chosen to be the one that provides the best fit for the phase-shifts, and then slide the renormalization scale by evolving the driving terms of the subtracted Lippmann-Schwinger equation through a non-relativistic Callan-Symanzik equation. The results show that such a systematic renormalization scheme with multi…
Nucleon-nucleon scattering in the $^1S_0$ partial wave is considered in chiral effective field theory within the renormalizable formulation of Ref. [1] beyond the leading-order approximation. By applying subtractive renormalization, the subleading contact interaction in this channel is taken into account non-perturbatively. For a proper choice of renormalization conditions, the predicted energy dependence of the phase shift and the coefficients in the effective range expansion are found to be in a good agreement with the results of the Nijmegen partial wave analysis.
We review the status of ab initio calculations of allowed beta decays (both Fermi and Gamow-Teller), within the framework of the valence-space in-medium similarity renormalization group approach.
The choice of generator in the Similarity Renormalization Group (SRG) flow equation determines the evolution pattern of the Hamiltonian. The kinetic energy has been used in the generator for most prior applications to nuclear interactions, and other options have been largely unexplored. Here we show how variations of this standard choice can allow the evolution to proceed more efficiently without losing its advantages.
The first practical method to evolve many-body nuclear forces to softened form using the Similarity Renormalization Group (SRG) in a harmonic oscillator basis is demonstrated. When applied to He4 calculations, the two- and three-body oscillator matrix elements yield rapid convergence of the ground-state energy with a small net contribution of the induced four-body force.
We analyze the role played by Long Distance Symmetries within the context of the Similarity Renormalization Group (SRG) approach, which is based on phase-shift preserving continuous unitary transformations that evolve hamiltonians with a cutoff on energy differences. We find that there is a SRG cutoff for which almost perfect fulfillment of Wigner symmetry is found. We discuss the possible consequences of such finding.
We use two renormalization techniques, Effective Field Theory and the Similarity Renormalization Group, to solve simple Schr{ö}dinger equations with delta-function potentials in one and two dimensions. The familiar one-dimensional delta-function does not require renormalization, but it provides the simplest example of a local interaction that can be replaced by a sequence of effective cutoff interactions that produce controllable power-law errors. The two-dimensional delta-function leads to logarithmic divergences, dimensional transmutation and asymptotic freedom, providing an example of some …
A new framework for computing the Similarity Renormalization Group (SRG) evolution of three-nucleon forces (3NF) in momentum representation is presented. The use of antisymmetric three-particle hyperspherical momentum states ensures unitary evolutions within certain basis truncations, much like antisymmetric harmonic oscillator SRG evolutions. Additionally, in each partial wave the $T_{\mbox{rel}}$-SRG regulator is exactly represented, similar to recent 3NF momentum representation evolutions. Unitary equivalence is demonstrated for the triton using several chiral two- plus three-nucleon intera…
We report on recent progress of the implementation of the similarity renormalization group (SRG) for three-body interactions in a one-dimensional, bosonic model system using the plane wave basis. We discuss our implementation of the flow equations and show results that confirm that results in the three-body sector remain unchanged by the transformation of the Hamiltonian. We also show how the SRG transformation decouples low- from high-momentum nodes in the three-body sector and therefore simplifies the numerical calculation of observables.
We investigate how the Unitary Correlation Operator Method (UCOM), developed to explicitly describe the strong short-range central and tensor correlations present in the nuclear many-body system, relates to the Similarity Renormalization Group (SRG), a method to band-diagonalize Hamiltonians by continuous unitary transformations. We demonstrate how the structure of the UCOM transformation, originally motivated from the physically intuitive picture of correlations in coordinate space, arises naturally from the SRG flow equation. Apart from formal considerations we show that the momentum space m…
Methods based on Wilson's renormalization group have been successfully applied in the context of nuclear physics to analyze the scale dependence of effective nucleon-nucleon ($NN$) potentials, as well as to consistently integrate out the high-momentum components of phenomenological high-precision $NN$ potentials in order to derive phase-shift equivalent softer forms, the so called $V_{low-k}$ potentials. An alternative renormalization group approach that has been applied in this context is the Similarity Renormalization Group (SRG), which is based on a series of continuous unitary transformati…
In the past few years in-medium similarity renormalization group methods have been introduced and developed. In these methods the Hamiltonian is evolved using a unitary transformation in order to decouple a reference state from the rest of the Hilbert space. The evolution by itself will generate, even if we start from a two-body interaction, many-body forces which are usually neglected. In this work we estimate the effect of these residual many-body forces by comparing results obtained with the Hybrid Multi-determinant method, which keeps the Hamiltonian within the two-body sector, with the co…
I examine the evolution of nuclear forces under the similarity renormalization group (SRG) using traces of the many-body configuration-space Hamiltonian. While SRG is often said to "soften" the nuclear interaction, I provide numerical examples which paint a complementary point of view: the primary effect of SRG, using the kinetic energy as the generator of the evolution, is to shift downward the diagonal matrix elements in the model space, while the off-diagonal elements undergo significantly smaller changes. By employing traces, I argue that this is a very natural outcome as one diagonalizes …
The Similarity Renormalization Group (SRG) is used to soften interactions for ab initio nuclear structure calculations by decoupling low- and high-energy Hamiltonian matrix elements. The substantial contribution of both initial and SRG-induced three-nucleon forces requires their consistent evolution in a three-particle basis space before applying them to larger nuclei. While in principle the evolved Hamiltonians are unitarily equivalent, in practice the need for basis truncation introduces deviations, which must be monitored. Here we present benchmark no-core full configuration calculations wi…
We use the recently proposed In-Medium Similarity Renormalization Group (IM-SRG) to carry out a systematic study of closed-shell nuclei up to $\nuc{Ni}{56}$, based on chiral two- plus three-nucleon interactions. We analyze the capabilities of the IM-SRG by comparing our results for the ground-state energy to Coupled Cluster calculations, as well as to quasi-exact results from the Importance-Truncated No-Core Shell Model. Using chiral two- plus three-nucleon Hamiltonians whose resolution scales are lowered by free-space SRG evolution, we obtain good agreement with experimental binding energies …
Half-life of proton radioactivity of spherical proton emitters is studied within the scheme of covariant density functional (CDF) theory, and for the first time the potential barrier that prevents the emitted proton is extracted with the similarity renormalization group (SRG) method, in which the spin-orbit potential along with the others that turn out to be non-negligible can be derived automatically. The spectroscopic factor that is significant is also extracted from the CDF calculations. The estimated half-lives are found in good agreement with the experimental values, which not only confir…
In recent years, the Similarity Renormalization Group has provided a powerful and versatile means to soften interactions for ab initio nuclear calculations. The substantial contribution of both induced and initial three-body forces to the nuclear interaction has required the consistent evolution of free-space Hamiltonians in the three-particle space. We present the most recent progress on this work, extending the calculational capability to the p-shell nuclei and showing that the hierarchy of induced many-body forces is consistent with previous estimates. Calculations over a range of the flow …
We present the formalism for consistently transforming transition operators within the in-medium similarity renormalization group framework. We implement the operator transformation in both the equations-of-motion and valence-space variants, and present first results for electromagnetic transitions and moments in medium-mass nuclei using consistently-evolved operators, including the induced two-body parts. These results are compared to experimental values, and--where possible--the results of no-core shell model calculations using the same input chiral interaction. We find good agreement betwee…
The unitary correlation operator method (UCOM) and the similarity renormalization group theory (SRG) are compared and discussed in the framework of no-core Monte Carlo shell model (MCSM) calculations for $^{3}$H and $^{4}$He. The treatment of spurious center-of-mass motion by Lawson's prescription is performed in the MCSM calculations. These results with both transformed interactions show good suppression of spurious center-of-mass motion with proper Lawson's prescription parameter $β_{\rm c.m.}$ values. The UCOM potentials obtains faster convergence of total energy for the ground state than t…
We discuss relations and differences between two methods for the construction of unitarily transformed effective interactions, the Similarity Renormalization Group (SRG) and Unitary Correlation Operator Method (UCOM). The aim of both methods is to construct a soft phase-shift equivalent effective interaction which is well suited for many-body calculations in limited model spaces. After contrasting the two conceptual frameworks, we establish a formal connection between the initial SRG-generator and the static generators of the UCOM transformation. Furthermore we propose a mapping procedure to e…
A one-dimensional system of bosons with short-range repulsion and mid-range attraction is used as a laboratory to explore the evolution of many-body forces by the Similarity Renormalization Group (SRG). The free-space SRG is implemented for few-body systems in a symmetrized harmonic oscillator basis using a recursive construction analogous to no-core shell model implementations. This approach, which can be directly generalized to three-dimensional nuclei, is fully unitary up to induced A-body forces when applied with an A-particle basis (e.g., A-body bound-state energies are exactly preserved)…
We merge two successful ab initio nuclear-structure methods, the no-core shell model (NCSM) and the multi-reference in-medium similarity renormalization group (IM-SRG) to define a new many-body approach for the comprehensive description of ground and excited states of closed and open-shell nuclei. Building on the key advantages of the two methods---the decoupling of excitations at the many-body level in the IM-SRG and the access to arbitrary nuclei, eigenstates, and observables in the NCSM---their combination enables fully converged no-core calculations for an unprecedented range of nuclei and…
Ab initio nuclear many-body frameworks require extensive computational resources, especially when targeting heavier nuclei. Importance-truncation (IT) techniques allow to significantly reduce the dimensionality of the problem by neglecting unimportant contributions to the solution of the many-body problem. In this work, we apply IT methods to the nonperturbative in-medium similarity renormalization group (IMSRG) approach and investigate the induced errors for ground-state energies in different mass regimes based on different nuclear Hamiltonians. We study various importance measures, which def…
The Similarity Renormalization Group (SRG) is a continuous series of unitary transformations that can be implemented as a flow equation. When the relative kinetic energy ($\Trel$) is used in the SRG generator, nuclear structure calculations have shown greatly improved convergence with basis size because of the decoupling of high-energy and low-energy physics. However this generator can sometimes be problematic. A test case is provided by a study of initial interactions from chiral effective field theories with large cutoffs, which can lead to spurious deep bound states. We would like the SRG t…
Over the past decade the in-medium similarity renormalization group (IMSRG) approach has proven to be a powerful and versatile ab initio many-body method for studying medium-mass nuclei. So far, the IMSRG was limited to the approximation in which only up to two-body operators are incorporated in the renormalization group flow, referred to as the IMSRG(2). In this work, we extend the IMSRG(2) approach to fully include three-body operators yielding the IMSRG(3) approximation. We use a perturbative scaling analysis to estimate the importance of individual terms in this approximation and introduce…
Unitary transformations of a Hamiltonian generally induce interaction terms beyond the particle rank present in the untransformed Hamiltonian that have to be captured and included in a many-body calculation. In systems with strangeness such as hypernuclei, the three-body terms induced by the hyperon-nucleon interaction are strong, so their inclusion is crucial. We present in detail a procedure for computing hyperon-nucleon-nucleon interaction terms that are induced during a similarity renormalization group (SRG) flow. The SRG is carried out in a basis spanned by antisymmetric harmonic-oscillat…
We examine how the universality of two-nucleon interactions evolved using similarity renormalization group (SRG) transformations correlates with T-matrix equivalence, with the ultimate goal of gaining insight into universality for three-nucleon forces. With sufficient running of the SRG flow equations, the low-energy matrix elements of different realistic potentials evolve to a universal form. Because these potentials are fit to low-energy data, they are (approximately) phase equivalent only up to a certain energy, and we find universality in evolved potentials up to the corresponding momentum…
We have developed an {\it ab initio} deformed in-medium similarity renormalization group (IMSRG) for open-shell nuclei. This is a single-reference IMSRG in deformed Hartree-Fock (HF) basis. Deformed wave functions are more efficient in describing deformed nuclei. The broken spherical symmetry needs to be restored by angular momentum projection, which is computational expensive. The angular momentum mainly capture the static correlations and can be estimated by the projection of the HF state. In this work, we do deformed IMSRG calculation and add the correlation energy from projected HF as a le…
We investigate renormalization group limit cycles within the similarity renormalization group (SRG) and discuss their signatures in the evolved interaction. A quantitative method to detect limit cycles in the interaction and to extract their period is proposed. Several SRG generators are compared regarding their suitability for this purpose. As a test case, we consider the limit cycle of the inverse square potential.
The similarity renormalization group (SRG) has been successfully applied to soften interactions for ab initio nuclear calculations. In almost all practical applications in nuclear physics, an SRG generator with the kinetic energy operator is used. With this choice, a fast convergence of many-body calculations can be achieved, but at the same time substantial three-body interactions are induced even if one starts from a purely two-nucleon (NN) Hamiltonian. Three-nucleon (3N) interactions can be handled by modern many-body methods. However, it has been observed that when including initial chiral…
Effective interactions have been used to compute the pairing gap for nuclear and neutron matter in several schemes. In this work we analyze the impact of phase-shift equivalent interactions within the BCS theory on the $^1S_0$-channel pairing gap for a translational invariant many-fermion system such as nuclear and neutron matter. We solve the BCS pairing gap equation on a finite momentum grid for a toy model separable Gaussian potential in the $^1S_0$-channel explicitly evolved through the Similarity Renormalization Group (SRG) transformation and show that in the on-shell and continuum limits…
Background: Recent developments in {\it ab initio} nuclear theory demonstrate promising results in medium- to heavy-mass nuclei. A particular challenge for many of the many-body methodologies, however, is an accurate treatment of the electric-quadrupole, $E2$, strength associated with collectivity. Purpose: The valence-space in-medium similarity renormalization group (VS-IMSRG) is a particularly powerful method for accessing medium- and high-mass nuclei but has been found to underpredict $E2$ strengths. The purpose of this work is to evaluate the isospin dependence of this underprediction. Met…
We have developed a fully consistent framework for calculations in the Quasiparticle Random Phase Approximation (QRPA) with $NN$ interactions from the Similarity Renormalization Group (SRG) and other unitary transformations of realistic interactions. The consistency of our calculations, which use the same Hamiltonian to determine the Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov (HFB) ground states and the residual interaction for QRPA, guarantees an excellent decoupling of spurious strength, without the need for empirical corrections. While work is under way to include SRG-evolved 3N interactions, we presently acc…
We first examine how T-matrix equivalence drives the flow of similarity renormalization group (SRG) evolved potential matrix elements to a universal form, with the ultimate goal of gaining insight into universality for three-nucleon forces. In agreement with observations made previously for Lee-Suzuki transformations, regions of universal potential matrix elements are restricted to where half-on-shell T-matrix equivalence holds, but the potentials must also reproduce binding energies. We find universality in local energy regions, reflecting a local decoupling by the SRG. To continue the study …
We present two new methods for performing ab initio calculations of excited states for closed-shell systems within the in-medium similarity renormalization group (IMSRG) framework. Both are based on combining the IMSRG with simple many-body methods commonly used to target excited states, such as the Tamm-Dancoff approximation (TDA) and equations-of-motion (EOM) techniques. In the first approach, a two-step sequential IMSRG transformation is used to drive the Hamiltonian to a form where a simple TDA calculation (i.e., diagonalization in the space of $1$p$1$h excitations) becomes exact for a sub…
Efforts to describe nuclear structure and dynamics from first principles have advanced significantly in recent years. Exact methods for light nuclei are now able to include continuum degrees of freedom and treat structure and reactions on the same footing, and multiple approximate, computationally efficient many-body methods have been developed that can be routinely applied for medium-mass nuclei. This has made it possible to confront modern nuclear interactions from Chiral Effective Field Theory, that are rooted in Quantum Chromodynamics with a wealth of experimental data. Here, we discuss on…
The pairing gap plays a fundamental role in the nuclear many-body problem and many large scale and accurate mass formula fits suggest the smooth nuclear mass dependence $Δ\sim 6(1)~ A^{-1/3}~{\rm MeV}$ in the liquid drop model which lacks a theoretical motivation. Within the BCS theory we analyze the impact of phase equivalent interactions on the pairing gap for a translational invariant many-fermion system such as nuclear and neutron matter. To that end we use explicitly the Similarity Renormalization Group (SRG) transformations. We show that in the on-shell and continuum limits the pairing g…
$\mathbf{Background:}$ Realistic nucleon-nucleon interactions induce short-range correlations in nuclei. To solve the many-body problem unitary transformations like the similarity renormalization group (SRG) are often used to soften the interactions. $\mathbf{Purpose:}$ Two-body densities can be used to illustrate how the SRG eliminates short-range correlations in the wave function. The short-range information can however be recovered by transforming the density operators. $\mathbf{Method:}$ The many-body problem is solved for $^4$He in the no core shell model (NCSM) with SRG transformed AV8' …
The Similarity Renormalization Group (SRG) is investigated as a powerful yet practical method to modify nuclear potentials so as to reduce computational requirements for calculations of observables. The key feature of SRG transformations that leads to computational benefits is the decoupling of low-energy nuclear physics from high-energy details of the inter-nucleon interaction. We examine decoupling quantitatively for two-body observables and few-body binding energies. The universal nature of this decoupling is illustrated and errors from suppressing high-momentum modes above the decoupling s…
We review the role played by long-distance symmetries within the context of the similarity renormalization group approach. This is based on phase-shift-preserving continuous unitary transformations that evolve Hamiltonians with a cutoff on energy differences. We find that there is a similarity cutoff of 3/fm for which almost perfect fulfillment of Wigner SU(4) symmetry is found at the two body level. This suggests to look for similar symmetry patterns for three- and four-body forces. We also analyze the impact of potentials based on Chiral Perturbation Theory in Nuclear Structure calculations.
The Similarity Renormalization Group reduces the off-shellness by driving the evolved interaction towards a diagonal band. We analyze the infrared limit and the corresponding on-shell interactions and its consequences for light nuclei. Using a harmonic oscillator shell model we obtain a Tjon line B(4He)= 4B(3H)-3B(2H) which can be understood from a combinatorics counting of nucleon pairs and triplets in the triton and alpha-particle and compares favorably with realistic calculations.
We report on a study of the Gamow-Teller matrix element contributing to ${}^6$He $β$-decay with similarity renormalization group (SRG) versions of momentum- and configuration-space two-nucleon interactions. These interactions are derived from two different formulations of chiral effective field theory ($χ$EFT) -- without and with the explicit inclusion of $Δ$-isobars. We consider evolution parameters $Λ_{\rm SRG}$ in the range between 1.2 and 2.0 fm$^{-1}$ and, for the $Δ$-less case, also the unevolved (bare) interaction. The axial current contains one- and two-body terms, consistently derived…
We present a comprehensive review of the In-Medium Similarity Renormalization Group (IM-SRG), a novel ab inito method for nuclei. The IM-SRG employs a continuous unitary transformation of the many-body Hamiltonian to decouple the ground state from all excitations, thereby solving the many-body problem. Starting from a pedagogical introduction of the underlying concepts, the IM-SRG flow equations are developed for systems with and without explicit spherical symmetry. We study different IM-SRG generators that achieve the desired decoupling, and how they affect the details of the IM-SRG flow. Bas…
Decoupling via the Similarity Renormalization Group (SRG) of low-energy nuclear physics from high-energy details of the nucleon-nucleon interaction is examined for two-body observables and few-body binding energies. The universal nature of this decoupling is illustrated and errors from suppressing high-momentum modes above the decoupling scale are shown to be perturbatively small.
