The fundamental description of both structural properties and reactions of light nuclei in terms of constituent protons and neutrons interacting through nucleon-nucleon and three-nucleon forces is a long-sought goal of nuclear theory. I will briefly present a promising technique, built upon the {\em ab initio} no-core shell model, which emerged recently as a candidate to reach such a goal: the no-core shell model/resonating-group method. This approach, capable of describing simultaneously both bound and scattering states in light nuclei, complements a microscopic cluster technique with the use of two-nucleon realistic interactions, and a microscopic and consistent description of the nucleon clusters. I will discuss applications to light nuclei binary scattering processes and fusion reactions that power stars and Earth based fusion facilities, such as the deuterium-$^3$He fusion, and outline the progress toward the inclusion of the three-nucleon force into the formalism and the treatment of three-body clusters.
The relation of the shell, collective and cluster models of the atomic nuclei is discussed from the viewpoint of symmetries. In the fifties the U(3) symmetry was found as their common part for a single shell problem. For multi major-shell excitations, considered here, the U(3)$\otimes$U(3) dynamical symmetry turns out to be their intersection.
According to microscopic calculations with antisymmetrized molecular dynamics, we studied cluster features in stable and unstable nuclei. A variety of structure was found in stable and unstable nuclei in the $p$-shell and $sd$-shell regions. The structure of excited states of $^{12}$Be was investigated, while in $sd$-shell nuclei we focused on molecular states and deformed states. The deformed states in $^{28}$Si and $^{40}$Ca were discussed in connection with the high-lying molecular states. Appealing molecular states in $^{36}$Ar and $^{24}$Mg were suggested. The results signified that both …
The microscopic structure of neutron-rich sd-shell nuclei is investigated by using the spherical shell-model in the sd-pf valence space with the extended pairing plus quadrupole-quadrupole forces accompanied by the monopole interaction (EPQQM). The calculation reproduces systematically the known energy levels for even-even and odd-mass nuclei including the recent data for 43S, 46S and 47Ar. In particular, the erosion of the N=28 shell closure in 42Si can be explained. Our EPQQM results are compared with other shell-model calculations with the SDPF-NR and SDPF-U effective interactions.
Damping of rotational motion in superdeformed Hg and Dy-region nuclei is studied by means of cranked shell model diagonalization. It is shown that a shell oscillation in single-particle alignments affects significantly properties of rotational damping. Onset properties of damping and damping width for Hg are quite different from those for Dy-region superdeformed nuclei.
We have performed realistic shell-model calculations for nuclei around doubly magic 100Sn and 132Sn using an effective interaction derived from the Bonn A nucleon-nucleon potential. The results are in remarkably good agreement with the experimental data showing the ability of our effective interaction to provide an accurate description of nuclear structure properties.
Shell effects in nuclei close to the neutron-drip lines have been investigated. It has been demonstrated in the relativistic mean-field theory that nuclei very far from stability manifest the shell effects strongly. This behaviour is in accord with the predictions of nuclear masses in the finite-range droplet model including shell corrections. As a consequence we find a large neutron halo in nuclei near the neutron-drip line. The shell effects predicted in the existing Skyrme mean-field theory in comparison are significantly weaker than those of the other approaches.
We show that the presently available data on the Gamow-Teller (GT) strength in mid-fp-shell nuclei are proportional to the product of the numbers of valence protons and neutron holes in the full fp-shell. This observation leads to important insights into the mechanism for GT quenching and to a simple parametrization of the Gamow-Teller strengths important for electron capture by fp-shell nuclei in the early stage of supernovae.
Unrestricted shell model calculations in the lower $fp$-shell region for the nuclei $^{46}$Ti, $^{46}$Cr and $^{46}$V have been performed for the isovector T=1 positive parity states using the shell model code OXBASH for Windows by employing the effective interactions GXPF1, FPD6 and KB3G. The level schemes and transition strengths $B$($E$2;$\downarrow$) are compared with the recently available experimental data. A very good agreement were obtained for all nuclei.
The shell structure of magic nuclei far from stability is discussed in terms of the self-consistent spherical Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov theory. In particular, the sensitivity of the shell-gap sizes and the two-neutron separation energies to the choice of particle-hole and particle-particle components of the effective interaction is investigated.
We calculate parity-dependent level densities for the even-even isotopes 58,62,66 Fe and 58 Ni and the odd-A nuclei 59 Ni and 65 Fe using the Shell Model Monte Carlo method. We perform these calculations in the complete fp-gds shell-model space using a pairing+quadrupole residual interaction. We find that, due to pairing of identical nucleons, the low-energy spectrum is dominated by positive parity states. Although these pairs break at around the same excitation energy in all nuclei, the energy dependence of the ratio of negative-to-positive parity level densities depends strongly on the parti…
We study the gross properties of even-even and $N=Z$ nuclei with $A=48-64$ using shell-model Monte Carlo methods. Our calculations account for all $0 \hbar ω$ configurations in the $fp$-shell and employ the modified Kuo-Brown interaction KB3. We find good agreement with data for masses and total $B(E2)$ strengths, the latter employing effective charges $e_p=1.35e$ and $e_n=0.35e$. The calculated total Gamow-Teller strengths agree consistently with the $B(GT_+)$-values deduced from $(n,p)$ data if the shell model results are renormalized by $0.64$, as has already been established for $sd$-shell…
Some properties of the modified Bethe-Weizsacker mass formula (BWM) are discussed. As BWM has no shell effect included, the extra-stability or, magicity in nuclei clearly stands out when experimental mass data are compared with BWM predictions. If the shell effect quenches, the BWM predictions come closer to the experimental data.
The first even-even nucleus for which there are J=1+ T=0 states in a single j shell configuration is 48Cr. In this limited model space all T=0 to T=0 M1 matrix elements vanish.
By using a phenomenologically successful Woods-Saxon potential, I study the shape and shell structure of (A) neutron drip line nuclei with 10 \leq N \leq 60, (B) neutron-rich nuclei related to the r- process with 40 \leq N \leq 90, and (C) one-particle spectra in the potential provided by the nucleus 70Fe as a representative of so-called N=40 "island of inversion (IoI)" nuclei. First, the shell structure that is unique in very weakly-bound neutrons is systematically studied, and the approximate neutron number of odd-N nuclei at which spherical (or deformed) halos can be found is pinned down. S…
In weakly bound exotic nuclei, number of excited bound states or narrow resonances is small and, moreover, they couple strongly to the particle continuum. Hence, these systems should be described in the quantum open system formalism which does not artificially separate the subspaces of (quasi-) bound and scattering states. The Shell Model Embedded in the Continuum provides a novel approach which solves this problem. Examples of application in sd-shell nuclei will be presented.
We introduce an algorithm to obtain coefficients of fractional parentage for light $p$-shell nuclei. The coefficients enable to use Jacobi coordinates in no-core shell model calculations separating off the center-of-mass motion. Fully antisymmetrized basis states are given together with recoupling coefficients that allow one to apply two- and three-nucleon operators. As an example, we study the dependence on the harmonic oscillator frequency of $^3$H, $^4$He, $^6$He, $^6$Li and $^7$Li and extract their binding and excitation energies. The coefficients will be made openly accessible as HDF5 dat…
In this work we present $ab~initio$ shell-model calculations for electric quadrupole moments and magnetic dipole moments of $sd$ shell nuclei using valence-space Hamiltonians derived with two $ab~initio$ approaches: the in-medium similarity renormalization group (IM-SRG) and the coupled-cluster effective interaction (CCEI). Results are in a reasonable agreement with the available experimental data as well as with the results from the phenomenological USDB effective interaction. This work will add more information to the available $ab~initio$ results for the spectroscopy of $sd$ shell nuclei.
Shell-model calculation with density-dependent interaction for $pf$-shell nuclei
Graduate School of Science and Technology, University of Tsukuba（筑波大学科学技术研究院）；Center for Computational Sciences and Institute of Pure and Applied Sciences, University of Tsukuba（筑波大学计算科学中心及纯应用科学研究所）；RIKEN Nishina Center（理化学研究所仁科研究中心）
We discuss the role of the broken symmetries in the connection of the shell, collective and cluster models. The cluster-shell competition is described in terms of cold quantum phases. Stable quasi-dynamical U(3) symmetry is found for specific large deformations for a Nilsson-type Hamiltonian.
We have studied p-shell nuclei using a two-frequency shell-model approach with an effective interaction derived from the Bonn-A nucleon-nucleon potential by means of a G-matrix folded-diagram method. Shell-model wave functions of two different oscillator constant are employed, one for the inner 0s core orbit and the outer valence orbits, respectively. The binding energies, energy spectra, and electromagnetic properties are calculated and compared with experiment. A quite satisfactory agreement with the experimental data is obtained, which is in some cases even better than that produced by larg…
We describe the properties of the neutron rich nuclei around N=28 in the shell mode framework. The valence space comprises the $sd$ shell for protons an the $pf$ shell for neutrons without any restriction. Good agreement is found with the available experimental data. The N=28 shell closure, even if eroded due to the large neutron excess, persists. The calculations predict that $^{40}$S and $^{42}$S are deformed with $β=0.29 $ and $β=0.32$ respectively.
We report on a study of neutron-rich nuclei around doubly magic 132Sn in terms of the shell model employing a realistic effective interaction derived from the CD-Bonn nucleon-nucleon potential. The short-range repulsion of the bare potential is renormalized by constructing a low-momentum potential, V-low-k, that is used directly as input for the calculation of the effective interaction. We present results for the four nuclei beyond the N=82 shell closure 134Sn, 134Sb, 136Sb, and 136Te. Comparison shows that our results are in very good agreement with the experimental data presently available f…
The spectral statistics of even-even rare-earth nuclei are investigated by using all the available empirical data for Ba, Ce, Nd, Sm, Gd, Dy, Er, Yb and Hf isotopes. The Berry- Robnik distribution and Maximum Likelihood estimation technique are used for analyses. An obvious deviation from GOE is observed for considered nuclei and there are some suggestions about the effect due to mass, deformation parameter and shell model configurations.
Statistical spectroscopic results using the spectral distribution theory are obtained for the structure of neutron-rich light nuclei going towards the drip line and compared to experimental values available. These results will be useful for nuclear astrophysics problems where often averaged nuclear properties are adequate.
We discuss the present status of the description of the structure of the very neutron rich nuclei, in the framework of modern large scale shell model calculations. Particular attention is paid to the interaction related issues, as well as to the problems of the shell model approach at the neutron drip line. We present detailed results for nuclei around N=20 and, more briefly, we discuss some salient features of the regions close to N=8, 28 and 40. We show that most experimental features can be understood in a shell model context.
The shell corrections and shell gaps in nuclei are systematically studied with the latest Weizsäcker-Skyrme (WS4) mass model. We find that most of asymmetric nuclei with (sub)-shell closures locate along the shell stability line (SSL), $N=1.37Z+13.5$, which might be due to a strong correlation between neutrons and protons near Fermi surface. The double magicity of nuclei $^{46}$Si and $^{78}$Ni is predicted according to the corresponding shell gaps, shell corrections and nuclear deformations. The unmeasured super-heavy nuclei $^{296}$118 and $^{298}$120, with relatively large shell gaps and sh…
We investigate the importance of proton capture on low-lying excited states that are thermally excited in hot stellar environments. In addition to the previously known case of $^{32}$Cl$(p,γ)^{33}$Ar we find several other sd-shell nuclei with large stellar enhancement factors. We discuss the uncertainty this introduces into rp-process nucleosynthesis.
A comparative study is performed of a deformed mean field theory, represented by the cranked Nilsson-Strutinsky (CNS) model, and the spherical shell model. Energy spectra, occupation numbers, B(E2)-values, and spectroscopic quadrupole moments in the light pf shell nuclei are calculated in the two models and compared. The result is also compared to available experimental data which are generally well described by the shell model. Although the Nilsson-Strutinsky calculation does not include pairing, both the subshell occupation numbers and quadrupole properties are found to be rather similar in …
Binding energies and other global properties of nuclei in the middle of the $pf$ shell, such as M1, E2 and Gamow-Teller sum rules, have been obtained using a new Shell Model code (NATHAN) written in quasi-spin formalism and using a $j-j$-coupled basis. An extensive comparison is made with the recently available Shell Model Monte Carlo results using the effective interaction KB3. The binding energies for -nearly- all the $1f_{7/2}$ nuclei are compared with the measured (and extrapolated) results.
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…
The broken pair model has been developed earlier as an useful approximation to the nuclear shell model for even-even nuclei. It is extended and developed here to include odd nuclei too. The model is then applied successfully in the Zr region, using two different sets of matrix elements, the empirical and the realistic sussex ones. The broken pair model results show a considerable agreement with the shell model results wherever available and with the experimental data where shell model calculations are not performed yet.
The structure of nuclei in the lower half of fp shell is investigated by the spectral distribution method using the modified Kuo-Brown interaction. This interaction recently showed success in reproducing observed properties through detailed shell model studies. Spectral distribution studies avoid explicit diagonalization and hold promise for applications to astrophysics.
Spectroscopic factors involving well bound nucleons in light nuclei are calculated with standard shell model, no-core shell model and Gamow shell model. Continuum coupling is included exactly in the Gamow shell model, due to the use of the Berggren basis, which contains bound, resonance and scattering states. Conversely, it is absent from standard and no-core shell models, where a basis of harmonic oscillator states is used. As the A - 1 nuclei for which spectroscopic factors are calculated are either weakly bound or unbound, coupling to continuum is prominent, even though the A nuclei are wel…
The influence of the central depression in the density distribution of spherical superheavy nuclei on the shell structure is studied within the relativistic mean field theory. Large depression leads to the shell gaps at the proton Z=120 and neutron N=172 numbers, while flatter density distribution favors N=184 for neutrons and leads to the appearance of a Z=126 shell gap and to the decrease of the size of the Z=120 shell gap. The correlations between the magic shell gaps and the magnitude of central depression are discussed for relativistic and non-relativistic mean field theories.
We use Lee-Suzuki mappings and related techniques to construct effective two-body p-shell interactions and neutrinoless double-beta operators that exactly reproduce the results of large no-core-shell-model calculations of double-beta decay in nuclei with mass number A=6. We then apply the effective operators to the decay of nuclei with A=7, 8, and 10, again comparing with no-core calculations in much larger spaces. The results with the effective two-body operators are generally good. In some cases, however, they differ non-negligibly from the full no-core results, suggesting that three-body co…
Quantum stabilization of superheavy elements is quantified in terms of the shell-correction energy. We compute the shell correction using self-consistent nuclear models: the non-relativistic Skyrme-Hartree-Fock approach and the relativistic mean-field model, for a number of parametrizations. All the forces applied predict a broad valley of shell stabilization around Z=120 and N=172-184. We also predict two broad regions of shell stabilization in hyperheavy elements with N approx 258 and N approx 308. Due to the large single-particle level density, shell corrections in the superheavy elements d…
This manuscript reviews recent results of large scale shell model calculations on N=Z nuclei. The topics discussed include the role proton-neutron pairing on the binding energies of pf-shell nuclei and his influence on backbending rotors; coulomb energy differences and their relationship with alignment. Proton-neutron correlations are found responsible for the characteristic features of the isotopic shifts in calcium, the parabolic dependence on A and the prominent odd-even staggering.
We present Shell Model Monte Carlo calculations for nuclei within the full major shell 50-82 for both protons and neutrons. The interaction is determined solely by self-consistency and odd-even mass differences. The methods are illustrated for ${}^{124}$Sn, ${}^{128}$Te and ${}^{124}$Xe. We calculate shape distributions, moments of inertia and pairing correlations as functions of temperature and angular velocity. Our calculations are the first microscopic evidence of $γ$-softness of nuclei in this region.
The Monte Carlo shell model is firstly applied to the calculation of the no-core shell model in light nuclei. The results are compared with those of the full configuration interaction. The agreements between them are within a few % at most.
We investigate the shell structure of bubble nuclei in simple phenomenological shell models and study their binding energy as a function of the radii and of the number of neutron and protons using Strutinsky's method. Shell effects come about, on the one hand, by the high degeneracy of levels with large angular momentum and, on the other, by the big energy gaps between states with a different number of radial nodes. Shell energies down to -40 MeV are shown to occur for certain magic nuclei. Estimates demonstrate that the calculated shell effects for certain magic numbers of constituents are pr…
An effective two-body interaction is constructed from a new Reid-like $NN$ potential for a large no-core space consisting of six major shells and is used to generate the shell-model properties for light nuclei from $A$=2 to 6. (For practical reasons, the model space is partially truncated for $A$=6.) Binding energies and other physical observables are calculated and compare favorably with experiment.
We study the fluctuation properties of E2 and M1 transition intensities among T=0,1 states of A = 60 nuclei in the framework of the interacting shell model, using a realistic effective interaction for pf-shell nuclei with a Ni56 as a core. It is found that the B(E2) distributions are well described by the Gaussian orthogonal ensemble of random matrices (Porter-Thomas distribution) independently of the isobaric quantum number T_z. However, the statistics of the B(M1) transitions is sensitive to T_z: T_z=1 nuclei exhibit a Porter-Thomas distribution, while a significant deviation from the GOE st…
We utilize the Shell Model Monte Carlo (SMMC) method to study the structure of rare earth nuclei. This work demonstrates the first systematic ``full oscillator shell plus intruder'' calculations in such heavy nuclei. Exact solutions of a pairing plus quadrupole hamiltonian are compared with mean field and SPA approximations in several Dysprosium isotopes from A=152-162, including the odd mass A=153. Basic properties of these nuclei at various temperatures and spin are explored. These include energy, deformation, moments of inertia, pairing channel strengths, band crossing, and evolution of she…
A shell-correction method is applied to nuclei far from the beta stability line and its suitability to describe effects of the particle continuum is discussed. The sensitivity of predicted locations of one- and two-particle drip lines to details of the macroscopic-microscopic model is analyzed.
Systematic alpha-nucleus folding potentials are used to analyze alpha-decay half-lives of superheavy nuclei. Preformation factors of about several per cent are found for all nuclei under study. The systematic behavior of the preformation factors and the volume integrals of the potentials allows to predict alpha-decay energies and half-lives for unknown nuclei. Shell closures can be determined from measured alpha-decay energies using the discontinuity of the volume integral at shell closures. For the first time a double shell closure is predicted for Z_magic = 132, N_magic = 194, and A_magic = …
One Delta- isobar components of the wave function in closed shell nuclei are considered within the framework of the harmonic oscillator model. Conventional transition potential is the pi- and rho- exchange potential. On the basis of the Delta- isobar configuration wave function, the momentum distribution of the Delta- isobar is calculated for the light nuclei $^4 He$,$^{16}O$,$^{12}C$
The shell model Monte Carlo (SMMC) method is a powerful technique for calculating the statistical and collective properties of nuclei in the presence of correlations in model spaces that are many orders of magnitude larger than those that can be treated by conventional diagonalization methods. We review recent advances in the development and application of SMMC to mid-mass and heavy nuclei.
The basic version of the semi-microscopic particle-hole dispersive optical model is implemented to describe main properties of the Gamow-Teller and charge-exchange giant spin-monopole resonances in medium-heavy closed-shell parent nuclei. Calculation results obtained for $^{48}Ca$, $^{90}Zr$, $^{132}Sn$, and $^{208}Pb$ are compared with available experimental data.
The one- plus two-body isospin nonconserving nuclear interactions are included in the prediction of ground state energies of fp shell nuclei using spectral distribution theory. This in turn is used to calculate the linear term in the isobaric mass-multiplet equation and the predictions are then compared to experimental values after the addition of the Coulomb contribution. The agreement is found to be reasonable as observed for sd shell nuclei earlier. One also sees that in this method the contribution to the linear term comes almost completely from the one body isovector Hamiltonian and that …
We use the shell model Monte Carlo method to calculate complete 0f1p-shell response functions for Gamow-Teller (GT) operators and obtain the corresponding strength distributions using a Maximum Entropy technique. The approach is validated against direct diagonalization for 48Ti. Calculated GT strength distributions agree well with data from (n,p) and (p,n) reactions for nuclei with A=48-64. We also calculate the temperature evolution of the GT+ distributions for representative nuclei and find that the GT+ distributions broaden and the centroids shift to lower energies with increasing temperatu…
The influence of quadrupole and hexadecapole residual interactions on rotational bands is investigated in a single-j shell model. An exact shell-model diagonalization of quadrupole-plus-hexadecapole interaction can sometimes produce a staggering of energy levels in the yrast bands.
Results of large-basis shell-model calculations for nuclei with A=7-11 are presented. The effective interactions used in the study were derived microscopically from the Reid93 potential and take into account the Coulomb potential as well as the charge dependence of T=1 partial waves. For A=7, a $6\hbarΩ$ model space was used, while for the rest of the studied nuclides, the calculations were performed in a $4\hbarΩ$ model space. It is demonstrated that the shell model combined with microscopic effective interactions derived from modern nucleon-nucleon potentials is capable of providing good agr…
It is suggested that the full nucleus-nucleus potential consists of the macroscopic and shell-correction parts. The deep sub-barrier fusion hindrance takes place in a nucleus-nucleus system with a strong negative shell-correction contribution to the full heavy-ion potential, while a strong positive shell-correction contribution to the full potential leads to weak enhancement of the deep sub-barrier fusion cross section.
We demonstrate the feasibility of realistic Shell-Model Monte Carlo (SMMC) calculations spanning multiple major shells, using a realistic interaction whose bad saturation and shell properties have been corrected by a newly developed general prescription. Particular attention is paid to the approximate restoration of translational invariance. The model space consists of the full sd-pf shells. We include in the study some well-known T=0 nuclei and several unstable neutron-rich ones around N=20,28. The results indicate that SMMC can reproduce binding energies, B(E2) transitions, and other observa…
An overview of the ab initio no-core shell model is presented. Recent results for light nuclei obtained with the chiral two-nucleon and three-nucleon interactions are highlighted. Cross section calculations of capture reactions important for astrophysics are discussed. The extension of the ab initio no-core shell model to the description of nuclear reactions by the resonating group method technique is outlined.
We introduce a hybrid many-body approach that combines the flexibility of the No-Core Shell Model (NCSM) with the efficiency of Multi-Configurational Perturbation Theory (MCPT) to compute ground- and excited-state energies in arbitrary open-shell nuclei in large model spaces. The NCSM in small model spaces is used to define a multi-determinantal reference state that contains the most important multi-particle multi-hole correlations and a subsequent second-order MCPT correction is used to capture additional correlation effects from a large model space. We apply this new ab initio approach for t…
A systematic study of the yrast-band structure for the proton-rich, even-even mass-80 nuclei is carried out using projected shell model approach. We describe the the energy spectra, transition quadrupole moments and gyromagnetic factors. The observed variations in energy spectra and transition quadrupole moments in this mass region are discussed in terms of the configuration mixing of the projected deformed Nilsson states as a function of shell filling.
Analytical expressions of the one- and two-body terms in the cluster expansion of the charge form factors and densities of the s-p and s-d shell nuclei with N=Z are derived. They depend on the harmonic oscillator parameter b and the parameter $β$ which originates from the Jastrow correlation function. These expressions are used for the systematic study of the effect of short range correlations on the form factors and densities and of the mass dependence of the parameters b and $β$. These parameters have been determined by fit to the experimental charge form factors. The inclusion of the correl…
Allowed $β^+$ branches of very proton-rich $fp$ shell $Tz=-2$ nuclei at the proton drip-line are calculated in the full fp valence space. The $β^+$ decay half-lives calculated with the standard quenching factor ($g^{eff}_{A}/g_{A}$)=0.74 are in good agreement with existing experimental data. Detailed branching Gamow-Teller strength are predicted but comparison with experiment is still difficult since, in most cases, spectroscopic information is not yet available.
We present the study of weakly bound, neutron-rich nuclei using the nuclear shell model employing the complex Berggren ensemble representing the bound single-particle states, unbound Gamow states, and the non-resonant continuum. In the proposed Gamow Shell Model, the Hamiltonian consists of a one-body finite depth (Woods-Saxon) potential and a residual two-body interaction. We discuss the basic ingredients of the Gamow Shell Model. The formalism is illustrated by calculations involving {\it several} valence neutrons outside the double-magic core: $^{6-10}$He and $^{18-22}$O.
